I have to say it actually seems very reasonable. I don't quite get where the entitlement to unlimited data comes from. 1TB is a lot, and it has renewable "grace" months so a fluke doesn't turn into a giant bill - that's not rent-seeking behavior. $50 fixed tax on very heavy users is entirely appropriate. If real time vr becomes a thing and it becomes normal to use more than 1TB then I imagine the number will increase.
I'm not entitled to unlimited bandwidth -- but it is what I expect. I'm one of the customers affected by this and it's quite irritating for one simple reason: The cost of my internet connection is going up by 62% (or up to 253%) with no change in service whatsoever.
I pay $80/mo for a 250Mbit connection, which would (at full usage) allow me to download up to 82TB/mo. So my $79 now covers 1.2% of what it previously did, and I'm forced to pay $129 to get the same thing.
Of course, that's assuming that I actually opt into the $50/mo for unlimited data. My general monthly usage is only about 750GB, so I probably won't do that. If I need to download a few TB of data (which I do every couple months), I'll be paying $10 per 50GB block over 1TB -- up to $200. So that $79 I was paying before? Woops, that's $279 for the month.
The fact that this is screwing few users doesn't change that they're screwing us.
To put this in perspective, I'm in Japan. I have 2gb net, and I use more than 1tb regularly.
My wife watches a lot of Netflix, YouTube etc, I play a lot of gaming. Running at 60+GB a pop for some of these games, plus mods.
I also stream TV and movies while I code(I work from home most of the time), invariably I'm on a Skype call with video to two or three people while coding too(it's fine as long as I keep the iPad volume down for movie/TV).
That's with only two of us. I'd hate to imagine how much data we would use if we had two teenage children.
When I was in Australia, 1tb was very difficult to use, now that I have this much speed available and we're use to so much on demand, it would be mind numbing to have to micro manage it.
Oh for the record, that costs me approx USD $50 too. (Maybe 60, I'll have to ask my wife).
I'm not sure where to place your comment. You use a lot of bandwidth, all the time. Are you proud of that? I'm not judging; I just want to understand what you are claiming.
I don't quite get where the entitlement to unlimited data comes from.
It's not "unlimited" or some undeserved "entitlement."
Until the last mile providers like comcast started overselling, paying an ISP for an X bits/sec connection meant getting to use X bits/sec all day and all night. You got (line_bps * billing_period_sec) bits and ISPs didn't stick their nosy nose into your business.
Years ago Comcast started overselling internet access. Some users called their bluff and tried to use that X up/Y down they thought they bought. Comcast couldn't be arsed to continue delivering what they sold, so they instituted data caps.
The cable providers with honest marketing - of which I don't know if any are left - would sell you X/Y guaranteed, and if your neighbors weren't using their capacity, you'd get to exceed the rate you bought.
There normal charge per GB for me is ~$0.073, their new fees charge $0.20 per GB over 1TB.
Charging $10 per 50GB above 1TB is clearly punishment for anyone that doesn't subscribe to Comcast cable or digital products. This is an attack on the competition, Netflix, Youtube, et al.
1TB is not a lot. I download around 300GB a month on my 10/1 ADSL line, and I don't even watch HD video or stuff like that--it's mostly torrenting of software/movies. I'd probably go over 1TB if I had fibre.
That said I find data caps reasonable, but 1TB is not reasonable.
