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Comcast Backs Off Plan to Impose New Fees on Heavy-Duty Internet Users

LinuxBender 6y ago
They've been doing this in other states for a very long time. I had to spend 45 minutes negotiating with them to get exemption from the fee or the extra monthly charge to bypass it.
tushar-r 6y ago
Huh. Meanwhile here in India, AirTel had shifted us to unlimited data midway through last year. It was always possible to buy more data for a month, but competition with the new Jio fiber meant that this change happened. Though AirTel framed it as "for the benefit of students and people WHF-ing". I don't see them being able to reverse this for a few years. We'd been asking for an upgrade from VDSL to fiber for over a year, and due to the pandemic and competition that was done very quickly/painlessly as well. Almost within a month of Jio Fiber being announced or some such similar timeline. This is interesting because with all the friends and other groups I've spoken to, Jio fiber's execution in our city has been quite bad. Service personnel aren't showing up and other issues including "You can't have two internet connections, get rid of AirTel/ACT first and then we can set you up." That said, I can't wait for both providers to get together and move towards the fee-heavy side of the market in the next few years once they feel more secure. (/s)
mjevans 6y ago
2000000000000 bits of data, even without factoring in overhead, is absolutely UNreasonable for modern connections or uses. 69 hours @ 8000000 bits/sec unidirectional video + audio (per month) ~6.5 hours @ Youtube HDR (2160p (4K) 60fps) #2 ~0.6 hours @ Gigabit Speedtest download / 'full' line use (approx 950Mbit) #2 https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en#zippy=%2Cbitrate https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en#zipp... A more reasonable proposal would be to take the median use in a given tier, then multiple that by a number such as 10, and proclaim anyone higher than that on the curve is abusing that package.
- tass 6y ago
  You just described Optus netstats from 20 years ago. It was fun trying to get a score as close to 10 without getting in trouble. https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/94kqpq53#r5005448 https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/94kqpq53#r5005448
- alisonkisk 6y ago
  What do you think is happening currently? Do you think th median user uses over 100GB/month?
  - mjevans 6y ago
    Among those who pay for Gigabit internet when there are cheaper packages? Probably yes.
rahimnathwani 6y ago
They've been doing this in California for a long time. The cap used to be 1TB. Overages are $10 for each 50GB, with a cap of $100/month. An example of the email you get if you go will soon go over: Subject: You’ve used 75% of your data this month You’re getting close to exceeding your Internet data plan So far, you’ve used 75% of the data included in your plan for February 2021. We’re letting you know because your bill can be impacted if you go over your 1.2TB (1229 GB) plan. As a courtesy, we waive overage fees for the first month you exceed your data plan in a 12 month period. You have yet to use your courtesy month. Keep in mind that after you have used your courtesy month, you’ll be charged $10, plus tax, for every 50 GB of data you use over 1.2TB, up to a maximum of $100 per month. To monitor and track your data usage, visit xfinity.com/usagemeter.

They've been doing this in other states for a very long time. I had to spend 45 minutes negotiating with them to get exemption from the fee or the extra monthly charge to bypass it.

tushar-r 6y ago

Huh. Meanwhile here in India, AirTel had shifted us to unlimited data midway through last year. It was always possible to buy more data for a month, but competition with the new Jio fiber meant that this change happened. Though AirTel framed it as "for the benefit of students and people WHF-ing". I don't see them being able to reverse this for a few years. We'd been asking for an upgrade from VDSL to fiber for over a year, and due to the pandemic and competition that was done very quickly/painlessly as well. Almost within a month of Jio Fiber being announced or some such similar timeline. This is interesting because with all the friends and other groups I've spoken to, Jio fiber's execution in our city has been quite bad. Service personnel aren't showing up and other issues including "You can't have two internet connections, get rid of AirTel/ACT first and then we can set you up." That said, I can't wait for both providers to get together and move towards the fee-heavy side of the market in the next few years once they feel more secure. (/s)

mjevans 6y ago

2000000000000 bits of data, even without factoring in overhead, is absolutely UNreasonable for modern connections or uses. 69 hours @ 8000000 bits/sec unidirectional video + audio (per month) ~6.5 hours @ Youtube HDR (2160p (4K) 60fps) #2 ~0.6 hours @ Gigabit Speedtest download / 'full' line use (approx 950Mbit) #2 https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en#zippy=%2Cbitrate https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en#zipp... A more reasonable proposal would be to take the median use in a given tier, then multiple that by a number such as 10, and proclaim anyone higher than that on the curve is abusing that package.

tass 6y ago
You just described Optus netstats from 20 years ago. It was fun trying to get a score as close to 10 without getting in trouble. https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/94kqpq53#r5005448 https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/94kqpq53#r5005448
alisonkisk 6y ago
What do you think is happening currently? Do you think th median user uses over 100GB/month?
- mjevans 6y ago
  Among those who pay for Gigabit internet when there are cheaper packages? Probably yes.

rahimnathwani 6y ago

They've been doing this in California for a long time. The cap used to be 1TB. Overages are $10 for each 50GB, with a cap of $100/month. An example of the email you get if you go will soon go over: Subject: You’ve used 75% of your data this month You’re getting close to exceeding your Internet data plan So far, you’ve used 75% of the data included in your plan for February 2021. We’re letting you know because your bill can be impacted if you go over your 1.2TB (1229 GB) plan. As a courtesy, we waive overage fees for the first month you exceed your data plan in a 12 month period. You have yet to use your courtesy month. Keep in mind that after you have used your courtesy month, you’ll be charged $10, plus tax, for every 50 GB of data you use over 1.2TB, up to a maximum of $100 per month. To monitor and track your data usage, visit xfinity.com/usagemeter.