Comcast Internet data limits spark frustration for Northeast customers

[Judi Lynn]

Comcast will charge customers in 14 states and D.C. more if they exceed 1.2 terabytes of data in a month.

By
Rachel Lerman
November 25, 2020 at 4:00 a.m. CST

SAN FRANCISCO — Comcast said this week it would start charging more for heavy users of home Internet in the Northeast, sparking complaints from some customers as the global pandemic keeps life online.

Home Internet usage has skyrocketed during the pandemic as more people work from home and attend classes online, not to mention spend hours and hours streaming TV and games.

Comcast initially responded to this trend by giving people relief from data caps, which have already been in place across the central and western U.S. for a few years. That reprieve ended in July, and now the company is expanding its controversial data thresholds to the new region starting next year.

Comcast Xfinity customers in New York, Virginia, Maryland and 11 other northeastern states, plus D.C., will be able to use up to 1.2 terabytes of data each month before they start getting charged more, regardless of what speed plan they use. After that, data will be charged at $10 for 50 gigabytes, up to a maximum of $100 additional each month.

Comcast says with that much data, you could stream five hours of 4K video every day for a month, or take part in 3,500 hours of video conferencing.

More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/25/comcast-data-caps/

[Zoonart]

1. Need to regulate these gonifs.

[C_U_L8R]

2. Sound like they're gunning after Netflix, Apple TV, YouTube, Hulu, etc...

While Comcast charges way too much for less and less.
Might be a good time for some competitors to step up.
I'd switch if there was a better alternative.

[abqtommy]

3. plus update* I've been getting monthly emails saying how much data I've used and saying

that if I go over they'll have to put me in a higher-cost plan. I sure wish we had a decent alternative here in New Mexico.

*The data hog in our house is my son. He's used to streaming gaming content 24/7 so I've
started putting his puter on "pause" when he's asleep. (I shut my puter down every night.)
I just checked our Comcast data usage and it's way down so what I'm doing is working!

[Dem2]

4. I got a little nervous, so checked

I used 50 gig last month. That's 0.05 terabytes, guess I'm safe - lol.