Comcast 1TB data cap stinks

[CuriousMike]

November was the first month they instituted the cap.
Our household blew through it in 3 weeks.

Last night, we got the "you've gone over" email.

Household of 5; 5 smartphones. Roku. 5 desktops. We stream everything - Netflix, twitch, Steam is damn near always patching our large game libraries. Cloud backups. And then the smaller things like web, youtube, spotify.

So, we're evidently heavy users.

My thinking is that network bits isn't a limited resource like oil or coal.

A friend asked me, "If every household used the internet like your family, do you think the system would hold up?"

I suppose my answer is no.

Data caps suck.

I want my bits.

 

[nakedfrog]

Maybe if you delete the local content for Steam games you don't actually play, that would help?

 

[CuriousMike]

That would certainly help with ensuring updates aren't applied to them; and then one day I decide to play the game and need to re-download it.

 

[nakedfrog]

Actually, now that I think about when I migrated my machine, you could copy the game files to external hard drive/NAS/something, and then just put it back and have it verify the local files when you're ready to actually play that game.

 

[Genx87]

Pay the 50 bucks and get unlimited.

 

[CuriousMike]

Pay the 50 bucks and get unlimited.

Sure - that's where I'm headed.

I just smells like a money grab by Comcast.

 

[Aikouka]

It is a money grab. One of the Comcast VPs even said that it wasn't an issue with network congestion.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Get some coax/fiber and some couplers and swap your internet with the neighbor.

 

[nakedfrog]

Whoa, whoa, whoa... that's a good way to get infected.

 

[jlee]

I bet someone's torrenting.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Doesn't have to be. A 2 hr movie @1080p on netflix is about 6GB of usage. Assuming 4 streams a night (I assume he and SO watch together, kiddos watch alone) that's 720GB a month in 1080p netflix streams. A lot of assumptions there, but 1TB does not go far.

But yes torrenting could eat up a shitload too.

 

[CuriousMike]

Torrenting may occur, but the whole family has Netflix, Spotify premium, Amazon Video and a stout Steam collection.

One small example this month: I put a new SSD in my primary machine, and re-loaded Windows 10.
People in the house were complaining about slow internet, and I discovered the Microsoft Store was kindly re-downloading both Forza's in the background - both of those games combined are > 100GB.

 

[Linflas]

Just glad I don't have to deal with that crap with FiOS.

 

[Oyeve]

Just glad I don't have to deal with that crap with FiOS.

Yet.

 

[Imp]

Damn... I average 30 GB a month alone.

 

[master_shake_]

Sure - that's where I'm headed.

I just smells like a money grab by Comcast.

it totally is.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2...ng-more-than-toll-uncompetitive-markets.shtml

"The cost of increasing [broadband] capacity has declined much faster than the increase in data traffic," says Dane Jasper, CEO of Sonic, an independent ISP based in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Jasper, of course, has reason to challenge his much larger rivals. However, he also backed up his argument with real numbers. A few years ago Sonic (formerly Sonic.net) spent about 20 percent of its revenue on basic infrastructure. Since then, the cost of routers, switching equipment and other related gear declined so much that Jasper says the company's infrastructure costs are now only a bit more than 1.5 percent of its revenue.

For this reason, Sonic has no plans to impose data caps, according to Jasper.

 

[Rifter]

Yeah just me and the Gf hit 400-500GB a month, we also have a 1TB cap.

There is a competing ISP here though that just started offering unlimited data for a extra $15 a months though. The only issue is our current ISP has fiber layed and we are getting 170-200Mbps speeds right now. The other ISP with unlimited data only has 50Mbps service in our area, but they are laying fiber in 2018-2019.

 

[Anubis]

this is just me, no torrenting

 

[Sonikku]

Don't like it? Go with a competitor for internet instead.



Oh wait.

 

[CuriousMike]

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Doesn't have to be. A 2 hr movie @1080p on netflix is about 6GB of usage. Assuming 4 streams a night (I assume he and SO watch together, kiddos watch alone) that's 720GB a month in 1080p netflix streams. A lot of assumptions there, but 1TB does not go far.

But yes torrenting could eat up a shitload too.

Holy cow, that's all? Talk about over compression! I always like to compare 1080p24 of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Movie is only ~90 minutes and required a BD50 (that's a 50GB disk) to record compared to the first movie, which was long and published on a BD25 disk. I cannot imagine how blind I would have to be to accept 6GB for a 2 hour 1080P movie. Well, unless it is 2 hours of 1080P of a black screen.

 

[Loop2kil]

I assume since you're streaming so much that you don't get/pay for cable TV through Comcast? The cap was placed there because they still want that $TV subscription revenue$ and since you're streaming so much now you are destined to hit the cap monthly so they can get paid for your missing TV subscription.

It's strategic no doubt, and placed there just for the non-tv subscribers. I'm surprised it's 1TB and not much lower to guarantee them the monthly overage charge.

And wow that's a lot of downloading!!!!

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Anubis, CuriousMike, volume means nothing without know 'what' it is you are doing. That's what impresses me more. Not the quantity but the quality.

 

[Imp]

Holy cow, that's all? Talk about over compression! I always like to compare 1080p24 of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Movie is only ~90 minutes and required a BD50 (that's a 50GB disk) to record compared to the first movie, which was long and published on a BD25 disk. I cannot imagine how blind I would have to be to accept 6GB for a 2 hour 1080P movie. Well, unless it is 2 hours of 1080P of a black screen.

If you have iTunes, you can shop their Movies section to see their HD sizes. I've rented more than a few movies from there but have gone with SD to save a dollar and I watch it split screen while doing other stuff on my computer anyway.

 

[CuriousMike]

We have the lowest-tier cable tv with them - but we don't even have the cable box plugged in. It's just cheaper to get internet with the package.

An example of quantity would be: The three of us boys all have our own steam accounts, but I share mine with them. Games that we all might want to play, I'll buy on my account and share it with them. I bought the new Call of Duty Infinite in November. All three of us downloaded it to our accounts; that game was .. I don't know. 60-70GB per machine, so we just blew ~ 200GB on a single game.

Sharing windows folders and copying particular \steamapps might be a solution.

But honestly, being corn-holed into the extra $50/month is where we are headed.