When did data caps for home internet become a thing? Is that legal?
November 9, 2015 6:45 PM Subscribe
How much wired data does a family of two adults and two teenagers use?
Now that Comcast is working to implement data caps on internet service (300 GBs per month) I am concerned that my household will be over that. We do a lot of streaming, Netflix, Pandora, Hulu, HBO To Go, the works. And I work from home over the internet.
When I started my service with Comcast there was no mention of data caps. The only other provider is AT&T which does not offer the speeds we need. Now I am not sure what to do other than encourage our city–which is an island and relatively small, 2miles x 3miles–to begin implementing a own municipal ISP. (Key West had begun this some years ago but took a step back when everyone was relatively happy with their service.)
Cutting cable seemed doable before but now 300 GBs does not seem like a lot of data a month for our needs.
Now that Comcast is working to implement data caps on internet service (300 GBs per month) I am concerned that my household will be over that. We do a lot of streaming, Netflix, Pandora, Hulu, HBO To Go, the works. And I work from home over the internet.
When I started my service with Comcast there was no mention of data caps. The only other provider is AT&T which does not offer the speeds we need. Now I am not sure what to do other than encourage our city–which is an island and relatively small, 2miles x 3miles–to begin implementing a own municipal ISP. (Key West had begun this some years ago but took a step back when everyone was relatively happy with their service.)
Cutting cable seemed doable before but now 300 GBs does not seem like a lot of data a month for our needs.
My family (2 adults, 1 preschooler, 1 baby) are cord-cutters with nothing but streaming (99% netflix). We average 300GB/month, but have spiked to 700GB/month when doing full backups, or doing uploading all our photos/music to Dropbox. We have a 500GB cap with very reasonable overage fees.
posted by blue_beetle at 7:03 PM on November 9, 2015
posted by blue_beetle at 7:03 PM on November 9, 2015
I didn't know Comcast is trying to do this! But anyway, back when I was on an AT&T plan, I used a very simple, lightweight freeware program called NetWorx that can track how much data you use. I think you can track each user on the same network, but if it's too complicated to set up you can also have each family member install it individually on their computers and look at what they typically use per day/week/month to estimate total usage.
The most GBs I've used personally in a month was 102GB, and that's because I downloaded all 200+ episodes of a TV series.
posted by picklenickle at 7:08 PM on November 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
The most GBs I've used personally in a month was 102GB, and that's because I downloaded all 200+ episodes of a TV series.
posted by picklenickle at 7:08 PM on November 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
You know you can check how much Comcast data you have used, right? This works even if Comcast doesn't have a cap in your area. On the month I started doing online backups we used, um, 831 GB. A normal month for us, with two adults with pretty heavy streaming and online backup is 250GB. Already 8% of Comcast customers are using more than 250GB/mo. The overages are relatively affordable, at $10 per 50GB, but still a ripoff. So far I don't think anyone is claiming they are not allowed to charge that.
posted by wnissen at 7:19 PM on November 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by wnissen at 7:19 PM on November 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
My sucky regional internet company does data caps - I'm a single cordcutter who uses 75-150 GB a month normally but on occasion I peak to 200 (my cap is 250)
posted by Aranquis at 7:21 PM on November 9, 2015
posted by Aranquis at 7:21 PM on November 9, 2015
I work from home (I'm connected to my company's network via VPN pretty much every day) and we're cord-cutters who watch maybe 10 hours of streamed television per week, and we use 100 GB per month.
posted by iminurmefi at 7:35 PM on November 9, 2015
posted by iminurmefi at 7:35 PM on November 9, 2015
We're a family of four, younger kids than yours. We watch a ton of Netflix between us, and also regularly use iTunes for films and streaming music. One kids does some online gaming, not a lot though. No one works at home. Our usage over the past three months has been between 200-270GB.
posted by Cuke at 7:36 PM on November 9, 2015
posted by Cuke at 7:36 PM on November 9, 2015
My wife and I watch a ton of Netflix, do online backups, and often work from home. We are in the 100-150GB range, but we've definitely exceeded 300GB on occasion.
posted by miyabo at 7:51 PM on November 9, 2015
posted by miyabo at 7:51 PM on November 9, 2015
Oh, and I don't think there is any overage if you use Comcast's business-class service. It's slightly more expensive but is supposed to have much better customer service, and is totally available to homes as well.
posted by miyabo at 7:52 PM on November 9, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by miyabo at 7:52 PM on November 9, 2015 [3 favorites]
As miyabo alludes to, the way to get around Comcat's data caps (and general shittiness) is to upgrade to business class internet. It's a bunch more expensive, but if you work from home and don't want to risk your connection based on your family's Netflix habits, it's really the only way to go. Comcast Business is a very different animal from Consumer Comcast -- not awesome, but not quite as aggressively awful.
Anecdotally, I've heard of people buying two Comcast service plans, with separate cable modems on each one (some shenanigans is generally necessary, like inventing an "Apartment B" in your basement, to achieve this), and then having a router do some sort of load balancing across both of them or switching from one to another mid-month. Apparently this can be cheaper than a "real" business-class connection under some conditions. I don't know the implementation details though.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:38 PM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
Anecdotally, I've heard of people buying two Comcast service plans, with separate cable modems on each one (some shenanigans is generally necessary, like inventing an "Apartment B" in your basement, to achieve this), and then having a router do some sort of load balancing across both of them or switching from one to another mid-month. Apparently this can be cheaper than a "real" business-class connection under some conditions. I don't know the implementation details though.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:38 PM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
Data caps have been the usual thing with Australian ISPs for decades, which is why an Australian developed this useful Firefox extension that helps you monitor your own usage and stay within your data budget. Comcast is not currently supported, but if they offer a HTTP page for usage data, doing so should be easy given some coding skills.
I've been in occasional correspondence with that extension's developer to help keep my own ISP's entry up to date as they fool about with their web site, and found him responsive and helpful.
posted by flabdablet at 8:46 PM on November 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
I've been in occasional correspondence with that extension's developer to help keep my own ISP's entry up to date as they fool about with their web site, and found him responsive and helpful.
posted by flabdablet at 8:46 PM on November 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
Comcast in my area has always technically had a data cap of 250 GB, but they have been officially not enforcing it for several years.
Household of 2 adults, lots of Internet time but no online backups. Video streaming several hours per day, but seldom in HD. Average monthly use of 150 GB. I think one period when I did nothing but watch Star Trek (DS9/Voyager/Enterprise) for about 10 hours a day for a few weeks, we hit just over 200.
posted by monopas at 11:53 PM on November 9, 2015
Household of 2 adults, lots of Internet time but no online backups. Video streaming several hours per day, but seldom in HD. Average monthly use of 150 GB. I think one period when I did nothing but watch Star Trek (DS9/Voyager/Enterprise) for about 10 hours a day for a few weeks, we hit just over 200.
posted by monopas at 11:53 PM on November 9, 2015
Data caps have been the usual thing with Australian ISPs for decades
How many Australian ISPs implement excess charges, though? I've always just been shaped once I reached the limit, and that was with multiple different providers - Optus, Dodo, iiNet.
From the Comcast Website:
Notifications
If you use more than the amount included in your data usage plan in a month, then you will receive an email notifying you that you have reached the data usage plan amount and that another 50 GB has been allocated to your account. You will see an in-browser notification to the same effect.
You will also be provided with in-browser and email notification when you reach 90%, 110% and 125% of your monthly plan. You can also elect to receive notifications at 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% of your monthly plan. You can manage your notification thresholds via your Usage Meter webpage in My Account.
In addition, you can select to receive mobile text notifications when you near or exceed your usage plan.
Courtesy Months
In order for our customers to get accustomed to the new data usage plan, we are implementing a three-month courtesy program. That means you will only be subject to overage charges if you exceed the data usage plan amount for a fourth time.
Overage Charges
On the fourth overage (and any subsequent occurrence), you will be notified via an email and an in-browser notification that you have exceeded your data usage plan amount, that an additional block of 50 GB has automatically been allocated to your account, and that applicable charges will be applied to your bill. Once you have incurred charges for exceeding your data usage plan amount, you will automatically be charged $10 each time we provide you with an additional block of 50 GB of data and no future courtesy months will be given.
To help you keep track of the number of times you exceed your data usage plan and receive a courtesy month, we have added your courtesy month count to your Usage Meter webpage in My Account.
OP, to me it sounds like you'll have enough time and notice to work out whether you're exceeding your data limit that you'll be able to work out an alternative (different plan with more data? moving to a different ISP if you have to) before you're hit with the extra charges.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 2:07 AM on November 10, 2015
How many Australian ISPs implement excess charges, though? I've always just been shaped once I reached the limit, and that was with multiple different providers - Optus, Dodo, iiNet.
From the Comcast Website:
Notifications
If you use more than the amount included in your data usage plan in a month, then you will receive an email notifying you that you have reached the data usage plan amount and that another 50 GB has been allocated to your account. You will see an in-browser notification to the same effect.
You will also be provided with in-browser and email notification when you reach 90%, 110% and 125% of your monthly plan. You can also elect to receive notifications at 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% of your monthly plan. You can manage your notification thresholds via your Usage Meter webpage in My Account.
In addition, you can select to receive mobile text notifications when you near or exceed your usage plan.
Courtesy Months
In order for our customers to get accustomed to the new data usage plan, we are implementing a three-month courtesy program. That means you will only be subject to overage charges if you exceed the data usage plan amount for a fourth time.
Overage Charges
On the fourth overage (and any subsequent occurrence), you will be notified via an email and an in-browser notification that you have exceeded your data usage plan amount, that an additional block of 50 GB has automatically been allocated to your account, and that applicable charges will be applied to your bill. Once you have incurred charges for exceeding your data usage plan amount, you will automatically be charged $10 each time we provide you with an additional block of 50 GB of data and no future courtesy months will be given.
To help you keep track of the number of times you exceed your data usage plan and receive a courtesy month, we have added your courtesy month count to your Usage Meter webpage in My Account.
OP, to me it sounds like you'll have enough time and notice to work out whether you're exceeding your data limit that you'll be able to work out an alternative (different plan with more data? moving to a different ISP if you have to) before you're hit with the extra charges.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 2:07 AM on November 10, 2015
How many Australian ISPs implement excess charges, though? I've always just been shaped once I reached the limit, and that was with multiple different providers - Optus, Dodo, iiNet.
Telstra (BigPond) was still doing totally extortionate excess charges on all their data-capped plans last time I looked, and I believe they still have more broadband customers than any other Australian ISP.
posted by flabdablet at 4:01 AM on November 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
Telstra (BigPond) was still doing totally extortionate excess charges on all their data-capped plans last time I looked, and I believe they still have more broadband customers than any other Australian ISP.
posted by flabdablet at 4:01 AM on November 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
We're a cord cut family of similar size who stream Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and Youtube. We were a Comcast customer until a couple months ago living in one of their early data cap markets. We were constantly bumping the 300 GB cap. Constantly. And I used to purposely do big downloads/uploads (backups, ISOs, etc) at work, if possible.
After using two of the Comcast overage months, we jumped to a competitor. Lucky us, we're served by two cable providers where we live. When I canceled Comcast they tried to up sell me to their business internet for ~$110 a month that has no cap. The lack of competition in most markets is a serious problem though.
Note that you can set Netflix's bandwidth usage in settings.
posted by LoveHam at 4:39 AM on November 10, 2015
After using two of the Comcast overage months, we jumped to a competitor. Lucky us, we're served by two cable providers where we live. When I canceled Comcast they tried to up sell me to their business internet for ~$110 a month that has no cap. The lack of competition in most markets is a serious problem though.
Note that you can set Netflix's bandwidth usage in settings.
posted by LoveHam at 4:39 AM on November 10, 2015
In Windows 8 if you open the internet access and then right click on your home internet connection you can then show estimated data usage for that computer.
posted by zyxwvut at 5:35 AM on November 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by zyxwvut at 5:35 AM on November 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
We have Comcast, because they are essentially a monopoly where we live. We are cord-cutters and online gamers who use a lot of cloud services, and we bump the 300 cap frequently. With two adults we were usually close but not over; with three adults, one of which is a heavy streamer (like, leaves it on overnight), we were always over.
The thing that you don't think about that kills you? Updates. Elder Scrolls Online had like a 50GB day-one update that you had to download. When you combine everybody's desktop, laptop, phone, tablet, Apple TV, smart TV, video game consoles, iCloud photo backup, Dropbox, etc... one well-placed iOS update can take out a huge chunk of your month's data. The month that the Apple Watch came out and not only did iOS update but nearly every app updated? Our household that contained three people, each with all Apple devices, had a MASSIVE overage charge - I think nearly $200. But on the average month, with only two of us, we use a lot less.
It's super annoying and obnoxious. Where I live, the quality of the actual internet we get from Comcast is fine, but every time I pay my bill I'm mad at them for like two days. I would switch in a hot minute if I had any other options.
posted by oblique red at 1:27 PM on November 12, 2015
The thing that you don't think about that kills you? Updates. Elder Scrolls Online had like a 50GB day-one update that you had to download. When you combine everybody's desktop, laptop, phone, tablet, Apple TV, smart TV, video game consoles, iCloud photo backup, Dropbox, etc... one well-placed iOS update can take out a huge chunk of your month's data. The month that the Apple Watch came out and not only did iOS update but nearly every app updated? Our household that contained three people, each with all Apple devices, had a MASSIVE overage charge - I think nearly $200. But on the average month, with only two of us, we use a lot less.
It's super annoying and obnoxious. Where I live, the quality of the actual internet we get from Comcast is fine, but every time I pay my bill I'm mad at them for like two days. I would switch in a hot minute if I had any other options.
posted by oblique red at 1:27 PM on November 12, 2015
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posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:59 PM on November 9, 2015