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]
data caps
Which ISPs Don’t Cap Monthly Data Usage?
November 15, 2013
Do you know if your Internet service provider caps your monthly data allotment? Are you sure? Not all ISPs are transparent about the caps they place on subscribers. Luckily, the folks at GigaOm have put together a chart comparing caps and overage fees (or lack thereof) at several of the largest ISPs, so you can have a better idea of how many Netflix movies you can watch without hitting the ceiling. [via GigaOm] [More]
Dear Atlanta: Comcast Now Hates You Too
By 11.8.13
Comcast’s slow but determined expansion of its plan to enact data caps and collect overage fees from subscribers has hit its biggest city yet, as the company has decided that Atlanta subscribers should now be hemmed in by these restrictions. [More]
Former FCC Chair Urges Cable Companies To Hurry Up & Implement Data Caps And Usage-Based Pricing
By 10.24.13
Former FCC chair turned cable-industry frontman Michael Powell thinks that, in spite of the fact that delivering data to consumers continues to get less expensive, cable companies should be rushing to put caps on data usage and implement usage-based, metered broadband service. [More]
Comcast Tests Data Overage Fees In Additional Markets
By 8.9.13
In May 2012, Comcast announced it would eventually do away with its policy of throttling data speeds for home Internet users who routinely went over 250GB a month, and that it would instead start charging overage fees for customers who passed the 300GB threshold. The boys from Kabletown had been testing that model out in Nashville for quite some time, and now that test is expanding to at least three other markets. [More]
Why We’re Praying That ESPN Does Not Begin Subsidizing Wireless Plans
By 5.10.13
For the last couple years, some in the wireless industry have been pushing for providers of data-heavy content to subsidize users’ wireless plans in order to guarantee that subscribers don’t hit their monthly usage caps. Apparently, ESPN is mulling over whether it wants to go that route, but we really hope they don’t. [More]
Surprise, Surprise: Expert Says Many Broadband Meters Are Inaccurate
By 2.8.13
While Internet providers look more toward capping data usage and penalizing customers for overages (even though it’s becoming less expensive to provide this service), one expert says many devices used to determine a customer’s usage are not sufficiently accurate. [More]
Straight Talk’s Unlimited Data: Actually Sort Of Limited
By 1.30.13
A Straight Talk mobile plan with unlimited everything for $45 per month sounded pretty great to Thom, and he bought an unlocked Samsung Galaxy to use with the carrier. All has been well since September, when he subscribed to the plan, but now something terrible has come up. Limits. TracFone (Straight Talk is a joint venture between TracFone and Walmart) tells him that he’s running up against the plan’s unspoken 2 GB limit, and they reserve the right to cut him off. [More]
Cable Industry Admits That Data Caps Have Nothing To Do With Congestion
By 1.18.13
A month after one study called shenanigans on the cable industry’s repeated assertion that data caps and usage-based pricing are intended to relieve congestion, the president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association has admitted as much. [More]
New Report Says “Cash Cow” Data Caps Are About Pleasing Investors, Not Relieving Congestion
By 12.18.12 — Updated: 9.30.14
Internet users have been complaining about data caps — and the costly penalties for going over said caps — for years, while both wireless and fixed broadband providers claimed these caps were an absolute necessity to curb runaway use. But a new report attempts to debunk many of the ISP industry’s claims. [More]
Comcast To Remove 250GB Data Cap. Don't Celebrate Just Yet
By 5.17.12
Following the recent news that Comcast would not count any of its own Xfinity streaming video services against Internet customers’ 250GB data cap, the folks at Kabletown have announced they is doing away with that cap — and replacing it with tiered data plans. [More]
How To Check Your Stats If Your Comcast Bandwidth Meter Is Broken
By 7.14.11
After reading the story about the guy whose internet was shut off for a year by Comcast as punishment for breaching their data cap, reader Brian tried to check out his Comcast bandwidth meter. He did not want to have the same fate befall him. However, when he got to the screen, all the data and graphs that had been there months before were gone. Comcast told him that the bandwidth meter isn’t working for some customers but gave him a number to call if he needed to check on his data consumption. [More]
Comcast Denies Man Internet For A Year For Breaking Data Cap
By 7.13.11
There’s been a lot of ballyhoo about ISPs setting caps on how much data you can use, but here’s a story from a guy who actually broke the cap. And now Comcast has shut off his internet for a year as punishment. [More]
AT&T Capping Data On New iPhone, iPad Plans
By 6.2.10
AT&T has officially delivered on the threats made by its consumer business director Ralph de la Vega last December: it’s switching to usage-based pricing on data plans for smartphones and the iPad. Starting Monday, all new AT&T customers who buy an iPad, iPhone, Blackberry or other smartphone and purchase the necessary data plan will have two options: $25 for 2 gigabytes, or $15 for 200 megabytes. [More]
A Glimpse Into The Future Of Broadband With Time Warner Cable
By 3.9.09
Time Warner Cable is running a pilot program in Texas where they’re metering your bandwidth usage and charging extra if you exceed your monthly allotment. This also gives them the opportunity to create a tiered system where you pay more for more bandwidth. Richard is a TWC Texas customer, and his story is a good example of how things work in a tiered, metered system like this. The bottom line: if metered broadband comes to your area, get used to paying extra to take advantage of things like Hulu (which is free) or Netflix video streaming (which you already pay for).
