Comcast Expands Usage Caps, Still Pretending This Is A Neccessary Trial Where Consumer Opinion Matters
from the pay-more-for-less,-you're-welcome dept
As we've noted for some time, Comcast continues to expand the company's usage cap "trial" into more and more markets. As a clever, lumbering monopoly, Comcast executives believe if they move slowly enough -- consumers won't realize they're the frog in the boiling pot metaphor. But as we've noted time and time again, Comcast usage caps are utterly indefensible price hikes on uncompetitive markets, with the potential for anti-competitive abuse (since Comcast's exempting its own services from the cap).This is all dressed up as a "trial" where consumer feedback matters to prop up the flimsy narrative that Comcast is just conducting "creative price experimentation."
Last week, Comcast quietly notified customers that the company's caps are expanding once again, this time into Chicago and other parts of Illinois, as well as portions of Indiana and Michigan. Comcast recently raised its cap from 300 GB to one terabyte in response to signals from the FCC that the agency might finally wake up to the problems usage caps create. And while that's certainly an improvement, it doesn't change the fact that usage caps on fixed-line networks are little more than an assault on captive, uncompetitive markets.
To sell customers on the exciting idea of paying more money for the exact same (or less) service, a notice sent to Comcast users last week informs them they're lucky to now be included in the "terabyte internet experience," as if this is some kind of glorious reward being doled out to only the company's most valued customers. The company also tries to shine up its decision to start charging users $50 more per month if they want to avoid the cap as an act of altruistic convenience, and tries to make the caps seem generous by measuring them in terms of gaming hours and photos:
"We know customers want a carefree online experience that doesn't require them to think about their data usage plan, and we offer a plan that does just that...What can you do with a terabyte? Stream about 700 hours of HD video, play more than 12,000 hours of online games, or download 600,000 high-res photos in a month."How generous. You can also check your email account 8 billion times under our totally unnecessary restrictions. As we've long noted, caps are solely about protecting legacy TV revenues from Internet video, while creating new ways (zero rating) to distort the level playing field. And as AT&T and Verizon give up on unwanted DSL customers and cable's broadband monopoly grows in many areas, this incredible "experience" will be headed in your direction sooner than you probably realize.
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Filed Under: usage caps
Companies: comcast
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As that is about 23 hours of HD video a day, or 400 hours of gaming a day, so why do they need caps, other than scaring people into paying to avoid a problem they are very unlikely to run into.
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There's me, the wife, 3 kids and we can watch in 2 locations at once. 5 hours a day in 2 locations. Not that hard to do.
If you have 4k, and use their 'ultraHD', thats 7gb/hour or 140 hours of watching, just 4-and-a-bit a day (and you get 3 locations).
I counted up what I used back in Jan amongst all my devices - came to over 1.5TB without even trying, and that's only on a 60/4 connection.
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Most people will say that 700 hours a month is just over 23 hours a day and there's no way they can use that much data... until they factor in all the mobile devices and apps and streams for the entire family. Then, like you said, they're using 5T of data without even noticing.
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Phrasing
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We can add one more:
Abusive data caps.
Xfinity [x] / Google Fiber [ ]
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Price cuts?
How much are they reducing the package prices?
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Is this...
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@2
4 = 100GB
40 = 1 TB roughly
so no you dont get 700 hours you get 40-80MAX
also a HD stream from games might use for 10 hrs a play a day about 200+ GB
think the 4K coming ripoff it gets 4 times worse
so if mom n pop watch 2 movies a night 50GB times 30 = 1.5TB
scenario 1 wth kids
and say each kid plays 20 hrs a games so 60 HRS a month or about another 300GB
scenario 2 with kids
1 kid watches a movie each night at 25GB X30 =750 GB
2 play games =200GB
= 900 gb
with #1 you need 1.8 TB
wth #2 you need 2.4TB
NOW imagine X4 all the above as 4K games and movies come out
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Don't most online games have their art assets already loaded onto the computer/game console when you install the game and then later patch games?
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Where it really starts to add up
Remember that one reason there was such pushback on Microsoft's attempt to kill physical discs was that we don't all have high-bandwidth plans with unlimited data to get our games.
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Caps and 'cap exception deals' are the modern protection racket essentially, a way of telling a company "That's a mighty fine business/service you got there, be a shame if something were to happen to the connection between you and your customers. But tell you what, you pay us a modest fee, and I'm sure that won't happen."
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Wonder if they are trying it in the Detroit area
Scattered suburbs stuck on Bright House, soon to be Charter/Spectrum.
PS the article title is unneccccessarily long.
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When you fully utilise your 75Mb/s internet connection you will reach our profit chosen cap in less then 4 hours. Plz try our 25Mb/s if you want to enjoy full utilisation of your internet connection for longer without paying extra.
However if you want to enjoy unlimited data you can always pay 50 dollars more each month giving you the satisfaction to never have to look at our inaccurate usage meter that we have developed to pester the poor and to line our pockets with more green.
Your welcome.
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Kinda outraged
Does this make what Comcast is doing ok? No. I remember years ago they said less than 1% of people use 200 GB. The letter they sent me said the same thing about 1 TB. They obviously have the foresight of what is going to happen with internet and they're trying to capitalize on it. But it looks like a losing battle. Any kind of competition makes them back off and their greed is probably going to be their downfall (hopefully).
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Comcast might be evil. They are certainly trying to increase profits - all companies are.
But there is so much wrong with the entire premise of this "argument" about usage caps.
If you break down the costs of providing an Internet service, there is (very broadly):
- customer support
- last mile access (so the cost of a physical dsl phone lines or cable systems)
- metro-backhaul
- core routing
- access to the rest of the world
Each one of those things has a cost, and the costs for all but customer support scales with how much customers download. Obviously the costs vary, but if there is a population of users that download double compared to another population, they COST MORE.
Offering services without caps disadvantages customers that do not download large amounts, because what Comcast and TW and everyone else is averaging usage and costs across all customers and charging accordingly. Like all you can eat buffet's, if your not that hungry and only eat a salad then your not getting value for money.
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If this is actually something that ISPs are worried about, then caps are still not the answer. The fairest thing to do is to just meter usage and charge a flat rate per Kb or whatever.
However, two things make it clear this is not the issue: what the ISPs are telling their shareholders, and that the cost of bandwidth is low enough that the the price impact of heavy users is barely noticeable.
This is nothing more than a naked money grab -- which in our system is not necessarily an "evil". The objectionable thing is that Comcast, like other ISPs, keep trying to sell it as something more than that.
They're simply lying. Comcast isn't the only one -- I was in an AT&T store today, and they had a big poster advertising their "unlimited" service. In the fine print at the bottom, it mentioned that if you used more than a preset amount, your connection speed will be reduced.
Which makes the "unlimited" claim a lie. That sort of thing is the actual problem.
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Which makes the "unlimited" claim a lie. That sort of thing is the actual problem."
Yes, thats a problem. It should be a straight consumer protection issue though right?
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I knew it, and finally some proof...
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Houston, Tx - Incoming Data caps...
You can A> Pay $50 a month additional for 'unlimited' data or B> pay an additional 10$ per month for each block of 50gb over the 'cap'.
I work 8-9 hours a day, with another 2 hours spent commuting to/from work. The kid, pretty much gone 10 hours a day himself. Figure avg min 6 hours sleep a night...figure a rough 400 hours 'free' to stream movies, surf the net & play games a month.
So seriously, we were using 2-3gbh constantly? Replace the modem and suddenly that dropped by 300-500gb per month... that'd be a $50 difference if I pay for this new 'cap', or $60-$100 paying by month.
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