In markets where Comcast is testing its “data thresholds” (read: hard data caps), it’s also been trying out a so-called “Unlimited” offering where customers pay even more money to avoid paying more money. In Florida, where Unlimited first launched, Comcast priced that program at $30, but the good people of Atlanta will have to pay even more to avoid paying more. [More]
data caps
Don’t Want To Go Over Comcast’s Data Cap? That’ll Be Another $30
By 9.1.15
Comcast has been testing data caps — they adorably call them “data thresholds” — in a number of markets around the country since 2013. In those markets, if customers cross the threshold, they can be hit with overage fees. But if you live in the Miami area and want “unlimited” data, you can get it — for an additional $30. [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]
AT&T Wants To Be Able To Charge Video Streaming Services For Exemption From Customers’ Data Caps
By 5.28.15
Data caps on home broadband stink, but they’re also a reality for millions of internet users (and probably soon for all of us). And as the FCC’s new open internet rules go into effect in the coming days to protect net neutrality, they’re also becoming one of the main ways in which ISPs can soak up extra cash from consumers and businesses alike. [More]
Does Net Neutrality Give The FCC Authority To Overturn Data Caps?
By 5.19.15
While some cable companies, like Comcast and Cox, continue to run regional tests of data caps for their broadband services, at least one major industry analyst is egging the industry to establish harder data caps before the FCC’s new net neutrality rules go into effect in mid-June, even though the new rules don’t actually set any hard and clear guidelines about the Commission’s authority to intervene on the issue of data caps. [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]
Report: FCC May Look Into Comcast’s Don’t-Call-Them-Data-Caps If Implemented Nationwide
By 5.13.15
For more than two years, Comcast has been testing data caps — sorry, “data thresholds” — in various markets around the country. With the possibility of this usage-based pricing model being rolled out on a nationwide basis, a new report claims that the FCC could use its new authority to scrutinize the data limitations. [More]
Verizon: You Should Love Your Mobile Data Cap Because It’s Good For You
By 4.14.15
Nobody likes data caps. They’re an aspect of the mobile era that we all grudgingly accept, but everyone basically hates them. Enter Verizon Wireless! The mobile behemoth has hired an analyst to rescue us — but not, alas, by removing data caps. No, no: Verizon’s analyst is here to tell us why we should actually love them. [More]
4 Things We Still Don’t Know About Net Neutrality
By 2.27.15
The FCC voted yesterday to reclassify broadband and protect the open internet. In other words, at long last, we have a net neutrality rule. And that’s great! But there is still a lot we don’t know, and there are a lot of questions left unanswered. Here are the major things we don’t know, and parts we’re waiting to better understand. [More]
Comcast Rep Lies, Tells Customer That Data Cap Is “Mandated By Law”
By 2.20.15
For nearly three years, Comcast has been trying out data caps — sorry, “data thresholds” — in certain markets around the country where customers who reach a certain monthly usage amount are given the option of buying additional data at an outrageous price. Aside from pure greed on the behalf of Internet service providers, there is no need for most data caps, but one Comcast rep is telling customers that they are required by law. [More]
Govt. Report Criticizes Cable Companies For Cashing In On Data Caps
By 12.2.14
A growing number of cable companies are implementing data caps (sorry — “data thresholds”), which put limits on how much data a subscriber could use before facing penalties ranging from warning messages to throttled speeds to overage fees. A new report from the federal Government Accountability Office says that lack of competition in the broadband market could result in these caps being implemented with no one benefiting other than cable companies’ bottom lines. [More]
AT&T, Where “Congestion” & Data Caps Only Apply To Existing Users
By 9.30.14
Ever since AT&T and Verizon got rid of unlimited wireless plans, both companies have used the questionable excuse of “congestion,” claiming that throttling data after remaining unlimited users pass an arbitrary threshold was necessary to keep data flowing. But in plans announced over the weekend, AT&T is effectively once again offering unlimited data (for a limited time) to new customers, which makes one wonder — what happened to all that congestion? [More]
AT&T and Verizon: Data Caps On Home Internet Service Are Great For Everyone (Especially Us)
By 9.24.14
Verizon and AT&T are big players (and getting bigger) in broadband landline service, but they seem to take a mobile phone mindset with them everywhere they go. Not only do they think that home broadband doesn’t need to be faster than your phone, but also now they’re saying that data caps on your home internet use are perfectly reasonable, too. [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]
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]
Comcast VP Predicts Company Will Implement Broadband Data Caps Within Five Years
By 5.15.14
Most of us like to dictate when and how often we use the internet, but one media company is now considering placing limitations on that use. Any guesses on just who that company is? Sure, that was an easy one: Comcast. [More]
Comcast-TWC Merger Could Bring Broadband Data Caps To Pretty Much Everyone
By 4.14.14
Mobile data caps might be almost universal, but home broadband data caps are much less so. Some providers have them, but many don’t. At the moment, Time Warner Cable is in that “doesn’t” category — but Comcast keeps trying to expand theirs. If the FCC grants the corporate union of the two its blessing, a whopping 78% of Americans could find themselves living under the new normal of limited home broadband. [More]
Comcast: We Don’t Have Data Caps, We Have “Data Thresholds”
By 4.4.14
In its ongoing effort to put lipstick on the pig that is its planned acquisition of Time Warner Cable, Comcast is once again attempting to hide behind double-speak. First, it claimed that it was the greatest supporter of net neutrality around, when it really meant that it was the biggest supporter of what Comcast believes net neutrality should be. Now, another Comcast executive is trying to downplay data caps with the more marketing-friendly term “data thresholds.” [More]
