Hey, remember when your home broadband was effectively unfettered by monthly restrictions on downloads? Well, internet service providers would prefer that you didn’t have such free and easy access to data, because they want those data caps to be for all your internet use, everywhere, as soon as they can make it happen. [More]
broadband caps
Comcast Expands Data Caps To Another 23 Markets Starting Nov. 1
By 10.7.16
We’ve all been guessing it was going to happen for months, but that doesn’t make it any more fun when it actually does: data caps are marching across the nation, and coming for millions of Comcast customers from coast to coast. [More]
Comcast Charges Customer $1500 For Data They Didn’t Use, Insists Meter Is Perfect
By 9.6.16
A couple in their early 20s, living in Nashville, subscribed to Comcast home internet service. In their area, that came with a 300 GB data cap. All well and good for these two, since they don’t use much data… except Comcast claimed they did, and billed them for $1500 in overage in less than three months. [More]
FCC Chair: Video Streaming That Doesn’t Count Against Your Data Caps Is “Innovative” And “Highly Competitive”
By 11.20.15
The FCC’s Open Internet Rule — net neutrality — has been in effect for months now, but that doesn’t mean every question about the ins and outs of who can do what with their network is settled. Far from it, in fact. Some questions, like zero rating, have been hanging out there unresolved all this time. Except now they’re a bit more resolved, and it seems to be totally okay for the time being. [More]
Charter Promises TWC, Bright House Merger Will Not Include Data Caps… For A Few Years, Anyway
By 6.29.15
Nobody likes home data caps. And nobody really likes their cable companies. So how can Charter and TWC look like good guys and maybe gain a little favor while planning out their merger? By promising to skip the data caps once they’re joined. At least, for a while. [More]
Report: Cleveland’s Cox Cable Customers Will Soon Be Subject To Data Caps
By 5.14.15
Cox cable customers are about to join many of the rest of us nationwide in a club that nobody particularly wants to be in: the not-so-illustrious crowd of those who have usage limits on their home broadband service, and have to cough up extra cash for any extra bits and bytes. [More]
Comcast Says that Mobile Data is Competitive, but it Costs $2k to Stream ‘Breaking Bad’ Over LTE
By 8.18.14
Comcast keeps on claiming that mobile broadband is real competition for wired home broadband. But for most users, it’s just plain not. Not only is the speed and reliability of mobile broadband still hugely variable depending on location and time of day, but also mobile data is still clearly not competitive on price. [More]
5 Things We Learned From The GAO Report On Broadband Caps
By 7.31.14
Broadband data caps might not be affecting everyone just yet, but that could easily change as the current wave of ISP merger mania continues. A preliminary government report taking a look at data caps, both wired and wireless, was released this week. It finds that ISPs and subscribers are far from being on the same page when it comes to how much data consumers move. [More]
These Are The End Times For The Gaming Console
By 6.11.14
The newest, fastest, shiniest, next generation of video game consoles — Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 — launched to great fanfare last fall. They are both generally well-received and have sold in respectable numbers. Both companies have declared success, and not without reason. And yet, in spite of all the indicators of a thriving console business, this is almost certainly the last generation of set-top video game consoles we will ever see. [More]
Latest Data Says TWC-Comcast Merger Bringing Broadband Caps To Nearly 80% Of Users
By 5.21.14
The future just keeps looking brighter for those who make money from data caps, and more limited for everyone else. The latest data out on home broadband caps now shows that if the Comcast and TWC merger goes through, 79% of internet subscribers — four in every five Americans with a broadband connection — will face a monthly data cap on their plans. [More]
Customers Failing To Fling Themselves At Limited Broadband Usage Cap, TWC CEO Admits
By 3.13.14
Back in 2012, Time Warner Cable unveiled an optional metered broadband plan: the current iteration gives customers a $5 monthly discount, but caps their usage at 30 GB. It’s not really surprising that customers aren’t exactly throwing themselves at such limited broadband access. What might be a little more surprising is that even the TWC CEO admits it’s a total dud. [More]
