Xfinity Data cap exceeded?

[bondoao1]

Recently we cut cable with Xfinity, and just have internet (300mbps) which was a much needed cost savings of $160 per month (times are real tough these days).

This was our first full month with only streaming for TV, Kids online school, and my regular 4-6 hrs (maximum total) of gaming on weekends. 

Sunday night I was notified that we have used 90% of our internet data allowance, then less than 24 hours later I got another notice that we have used 100% of our data allowance.

I was then charged $10 for an extra 50gb and I will be charged another $10 if I go over that 50gb until I have been charged $100 in overage charges.

But, then did have an offer of unlimited data for an extra $30 a month.

 

Has anyone else ran into this issue with Xfinity internet? Seems like they give you just enough to go over so you have to pay the extra to get unlimited.

 

/rant

[AbydosOne]

1 minute ago, bondoao1 said:

Has anyone else ran into this issue with Xfinity internet? Seems like they give you just enough to go over so you have to pay the extra to get unlimited.

You have 1.2TB (big 'B') of bandwidth per month allotted. The first overage is supposed to be free (so I would check on that). You can see your current usage on the Xfinity account page.

 

Is it a real cost for you to use more bandwidth on Comcast's side? No. Do you have a choice? Probably not. US telecoms collectively suck.

 

If you can't figure out the draw (10% in a day is quite a bit (>100GB) and it sounds like something you'd have to intentionally do), the $30 might be worth it in the long run, at least until the world is slightly more normal.

[Donut417]

3 minutes ago, bondoao1 said:

 

Has anyone else ran into this issue with Xfinity internet? Seems like they give you just enough to go over so you have to pay the extra to get unlimited.

Metro Detroit has been capped for the last 2-3 years. My advice is to teach your kids not to turn on streaming unless they are actually watching it. Look at OTA antennas, they are a great way to save on data. Or you pay the extra. Just a heads up, AT&T(DSL), Comcast, Cox, all have caps. So it’s not a Comcast only affair. Though Comcast was one of the first. 

[bondoao1]

5 hours ago, AbydosOne said:

You have 1.2TB (big 'B') of bandwidth per month allotted. The first overage is supposed to be free (so I would check on that). You can see your current usage on the Xfinity account page.

 

Is it a real cost for you to use more bandwidth on Comcast's side? No. Do you have a choice? Probably not. US telecoms collectively suck.

 

If you can't figure out the draw (10% in a day is quite a bit (>100GB) and it sounds like something you'd have to intentionally do), the $30 might be worth it in the long run, at least until the world is slightly more normal.

Yesterday was my wife's first day unemployed, so I'm sure she was streaming all day as well as internet school for our kid, might explain the 10% used in 1 day. 

 

5 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Metro Detroit has been capped for the last 2-3 years. My advice is to teach your kids not to turn on streaming unless they are actually watching it. Look at OTA antennas, they are a great way to save on data. Or you pay the extra. Just a heads up, AT&T(DSL), Comcast, Cox, all have caps. So it’s not a Comcast only affair. Though Comcast was one of the first. 

I was just talking with a co-worker and after our discussion I have the impression that if you have cable (even basic), then you have unlimited data with Xfinity, but to make up for lost revenue by people cutting the cable, they are capping internet only accounts, and charging extra for unlimited data. 

I understand the business side of it, but it still stings a bit.
Before we cut cable, I wasn't working so much overtime so I was gaming a lot on weekends as well as uploading to youtube, plus my kid games/streams, and my wife streams a lot (netflix). 
We never had any issues and looking at our usage on our account, it seems that we are a bit over normal usage (not much), but we had spikes in usage that are more than what we used this October that coincided with times I had a week or 2 off from work.
We never had an issue with a cap back then which is why it was a bit of an unexpected and painful surprise. 

I think I will have to work a bit more overtime and pay the extra $30/mo for unlimited.

 

 

 

 

 

[Donut417]

31 minutes ago, bondoao1 said:

was just talking with a co-worker and after our discussion I have the impression that if you have cable (even basic), then you have unlimited data with Xfinity, but to make up for lost revenue by people cutting the cable, they are capping internet only accounts, and charging extra for unlimited data. 

To my understanding thats incorrect. When we had cable, we were capped. The only way to get unlimited is A) Rent their XFI gateway for $25/m or B) Pay an extra $30 a month. 

 

33 minutes ago, bondoao1 said:

We never had any issues and looking at our usage on our account, it seems that we are a bit over normal usage (not much), but we had spikes in usage that are more than what we used this October that coincided with times I had a week or 2 off from work.
We never had an issue with a cap back then which is why it was a bit of an unexpected and painful surprise. 

I think I will have to work a bit more overtime and pay the extra $30/mo for unlimited.

OTA TV is still a thing. Thats how my family does Live TV. I use a HDhomerun and a Plex server to not only record live TV, but share the Antenna signal with 3 TV's in the house. That helped curb usage a bit on our end. We only use 600-700 Gigs a month out of the 1.2 TB we now get monthly. You just have to be a bit smarter with updating. For example set Windows machines to metered connections and that will stop them from downloading updates automatically. Only update the games that you play actively. For Video Streaming, maybe turn the quality down. 4K video can eat a lot of data, so when possible use 1080 or 720p. 

 

The cap is the reason I never upgraded to a 4K TV. Because I fear 4K streaming. While I could do 4K Blu-ray's, in order to rip them on to my Plex server, I would probably need another 10TB hard drive or something of that nature. 

[bondoao1]

15 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

To my understanding thats incorrect. When we had cable, we were capped. The only way to get unlimited is A) Rent their XFI gateway for $25/m or B) Pay an extra $30 a month. 

 

 

Ah, this makes sense because before we cut cable, we rented all the equipment from Xfinity for the internet but I went out and bought a modem and wifi router so we wouldn't have to rent them anymore. We used to have a complete bundle of cable, internet, landline, and security system. When I returned all the stuff it literally filled the trunk on my Honda civic with the modem, routers, security hardware, cable boxes, etc. 

[bondoao1]

Just an update, I went to the Xfinity store here in town and added the unlimited data. They hooked me up and dropped my internet price from $70/mo to $60/mo for the same speed, then add the $30/mo for unlimited data. All in all its like I just added the unlimited data for $20 in stead of $30. Either way, every little bit of savings helps.

 

Thanks again for the comments guys.