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- Comcast plans to add data caps to its home internet plans starting in January.
- In 14 states and the District of Columbia, customers with Xfinity Internet plans that are not unlimited will be limited to 1.2TB of data per month, or face overage charges.
- Comcast has had data caps in other parts of the country since 2016.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
Comcast is adding a data cap for some of its home internet plans starting in January. The telecommunications giant recently confirmed that it is introducing a 1.2TB limit on Xfinity Internet plans in 14 states and the District of Colombia.
If customers who do not have unlimited plans exceed this limit, they must pay $ 10 for each additional 50 GB of data. Additional charges maximum to $ 100. Although the plan changes begin in January, Comcast said customers would not face additional charges for January and February. Instead, they will receive a “credit” for those two months, and another free pass for another month during the rest of the year. News of the cap was first reported by the Stop the Cap advocacy group.
The change comes at a time when customers increasingly depend on internet access, for everything from remote work to school to socializing. In June 2019, Americans were using an average of 271 GB of data per month. In June 2020, that number climbed to 380 GB, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The hood is especially great for cord cutters, who stream Internet TV rather than watch cable, and players. Blockbuster games like “Madden” and “Assassin’s Creed” can range from 50 to 100 GB to download, and many games receive updates that also use data. Online multiplayer play, on games like “Call of Duty” or “Fortnite”, is also data driven.
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Wall Street Journal data on data usage for different devices shows that people use the most data on streaming players, game consoles, and connected TVs each day, with streaming players clocked at 5, 4GB, 4.4GB game consoles, and 3.6GB smart TVs. Computers track these platforms at less than 2GB per day, the Wall Street Journal reported.
As a result of reports, some consumers wrote that they would end their Comcast service, while other slammed Comcast for putting a limit at a time when Americans increasingly rely on the Internet. Others wondered if 1.2 TB was a large enough cap at accommodate most families no problem.
“That’s why monopolies are bad. Comcast can exploit us for profit during a pandemic just because it wants to,” consumer group Public Citizen wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “Comcast should be broken up.”
Comcast did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment, but responded to customer concerns on Twitter.
“About 95% of our customers are using less than 1.2TB and are not affected by this plan, even with the increase in usage, as customers are educating and working from home during COVID-19”, Comcast wrote on Twitter Tuesday.
“1.2TB is a huge amount of data and you can do a lot of it in a month. Stream around 500 hours of HD video per month or spend nearly 3,500 hours of video conferencing (Zoom, FaceTime, Google Duo, Houseparty, etc.), enough for a video conference for almost 4 consecutive months, ” he added.
“This data plan is based on a principle of fairness. Those who use more Internet data pay more. And those who use less Internet data pay less,” Comcast wrote.
The change will affect customers in northeastern states, including Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont, according to captures from Comcast website screen published by Stop the Cap. Verizon is a competitor in these regions.
Outside of the Northeast, customers in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, and the District of Columbia may also be affected. In other parts of the country, customers without an unlimited plan have had data caps since 2016, according to The Verge.
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