Charter is planning data caps

[Donut417]

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/06/charter-seeks-fcc-ok-to-impose-data-caps-and-charge-fees-to-video-services/

 

Was surfing on Twitter when I came across this. I knew this would happen eventually. So that means that Comcast, Cox, AT&T and Charter will now have data caps. I wonder how long WOW, Verizon and others will hold out. 

 

Also I wonder what the caps going to be? 1TB like Comcast and others? Wonder if they will make it a hard cap or soft cap with overage charges. 

[The_russian]

That's pretty interesting. I was expecting/hoping that after the whole Covid situation ISPs wouldn't reinstate data caps, since the reason to have them was that the infrastructure would not support higher usage, which as we saw was BS. Most if not all ISPs lifted the data caps when lots of people started to work from home, and all the ISPs seem to be handling the higher data usage fine as far as I can tell. 

[Windows7ge]

We've figured out how to transfer over 1Tb/s over a wire but ISPs still want to impose data caps...

 

I wouldn't be able to deal with that. I use a lot more than 1TB/month.

[Donut417]

3 minutes ago, The_russian said:

einstate data caps

Our Comcast data cap goes back in to effect on the 1st. So yeah its going to suck. Lucky I downloaded all my steam games and such, LOL. I know I blew thru a TB easily this money . 

 

2 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

I use a lot more than 1TB/month.

We would probably use way more than 1TB as well, but we do what we can to stay within the limit. Even though I don't pay the bill I make sure my parents stay in check with it, I told my mom I refuse to allow Comcast to have any more money from us. 

[The_russian]

Quote

 

ISPs enforce data caps primarily to boost revenue rather than to manage congestion. Comcast says it imposes a data cap to ensure "fairness" among its customers but coincidentally does not impose the data cap in the Northeast United States, where Comcast faces strong competition from Verizon's un-capped fiber-to-the-home FiOS service.

Comcast has boasted that its network has enough capacity to handle the pandemic-related surge in broadband use even without any usage caps, but that fact isn't likely to play a big role in whether Comcast eventually reimposes the cap. Comcast and other ISPs dropped caps temporarily to avoid a public-relations problem during the pandemic; once the crisis is over, they'll be tempted to restart the data-cap revenue stream, especially in regions where they don't face any meaningful competition.

 

Well scratch what I said, apparently Comcast isn't even pretending that data caps are for managing congestion anymore.

 

Quote taken from the following article:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/06/small-isp-cancels-data-caps-permanently-after-reviewing-pandemic-usage/

 

[Donut417]

4 minutes ago, The_russian said:

pretending that data caps are for managing congestion anymore.

 

I knew this the min Comcast sent me an email saying out they are seeing unprecedented usage but their network was handing it like a champ. 

[TetraSky]

I've always wondered what do you have to do, legally, to download more than 1TB per month. (Unless you have a big family)

I've barely reached 200GB last month... and the months prior to that as well. Even though I basically watch 4 to 8+ hours a day of 1080p/60fps content on various streaming platform, just leaving it up in the background.

 

In any case, most ISPs in Canada have had data caps for the longest of time. But they've gone unlimited for maybe a year or two now, even more so on the third party reseller side of things which were offering unlimited for over a decade now.

 

It's strange to me that ISPs in the US are only just now embracing data cap. Did they figure out that their aging infrastructure wouldn't be able to cope with the ever increasing demand so they decided to charge people extra after a set amount of data?

[Donut417]

1 minute ago, TetraSky said:

've always wondered what do you have to do, legally, to download more than 1TB per month

In my home we have 3 adults including myself. Video games are only getting bigger and I have a big steam library, add all the updates for Windows, MacOS, Android, Linux and all those games. The add the fact that Cable is expensive so we told them to screw off. Netflix, Hulu, Prime and Starz is what we used to entertainment. We also have an antenna connected to the network via Plex so we can get broadcast TV. The two adults in my home (my parents) are in their 60s, they watch a bit of TV. Even without the pandemic during the Winter months, that's all there is to do, is stream. When roads are icy and dangerous you don't want to go anywhere. I wonder what my sisters usage Is with the 4 kids. That would be interesting to see. 

 

5 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

Did they figure out that their aging infrastructure wouldn't be able to cope with the ever increasing demand so they decided to charge people extra after a set amount of data?

As stated above, Comcast said their network was fine with all the usage. Keep in mind Comcast is the largest cable provider and unlike many providers they acutally do upgrade their network. They have been running fiber as well as putting more nodes in to lessen congestion. Coax has room to grow, its the telephone companies that are in trouble as DSL is DEAD, not much more can be done with it. So now they either are deploying Fiber or Wireless. T mobile offers unlimited data on their home internet, but Im not sure if over 1TB of usage would be allowed, they do have language in their TOS that pretty much says they can terminate your service if they feel you're over using the network. 

[The_russian]

5 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

I've always wondered what do you have to do, legally, to download more than 1TB per month. (Unless you have a big family)

I've barely reached 200GB last month... and the months prior to that as well. Even though I basically watch 4 to 8+ hours a day of 1080p/60fps content on various streaming platform, just leaving it up in the background.

Constantly stream shows and movies in 4k, download games, download game updates (looking at you, Modern Warfare), I'm sure they are a bunch of other ways to hit the limit. 

6 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

It's strange to me that ISPs in the US are only just now embracing data cap. Did they figure out that their aging infrastructure wouldn't be able to cope with the ever increasing demand so they decided to charge people extra after a set amount of data?

You might have misread, we have had data caps for a while too, they just got temporality lifted due to covid-19. Their infrastructure can definitely handle a higher load, I mean it just did we don't even have to say hypothetically, they just love charging customers every chance they get because they know they can get away with it. 

[Donut417]

9 hours ago, The_russian said:

shows and movies in 4k,

This is a big part why I don't have a 4K TV. Because I figure why bother, I cant easily get 4K content. Yeah I could buy Blu-ray's but at $30 a pop, it gets expensive fast.