Beginning November 1, Comcast is applying 1-terabyte data cap to residential broadband customers in nearly a dozen states. Which means additional fee will be charged for going over the monthly limit. Usually, home Internet providers avoid placing a cap on data usage leaving it to the discretion of the wireless carriers. This is going to change.
Even though Comcast claims that users will not hit the limit, the cap will restrict many customers. Some of the states affected are: California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin among others.
Customers will be provided alternatives to opt out of the data cap. Pay Comcast $50 a month extra for unlimited data or switch to an expensive fiber-optic service, Gigabit Pro, for $300 a month. Switching to lower-end plan with slower service will also let the customers avoid the plan.
According to the Charlie Douglas, a company spokesman the fact that the change affects primarily western and central U.S. and not northeast customers is intentional. However, the possibility hasn’t been ruled out.
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Brian Fung, Nearly a dozen new states are about to get Comcast data caps, Washington Post (October 7, 2016), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/10/07/comcasts-internet-just-got-a-lot-more-like-cellphone-service/