NEW YORK, NY — It’s official: Comcast next month will cap subscribers’ broadband internet-access usage at 250 gigabytes of transfer monthly. Already active in some markets, the change is scheduled to take effect nationwide October 1st.“We’ve listened to feedback from our customers who asked that we provide a specific threshold for data usage and this would help them understand the amount of usage that would qualify as excessive,” according to a statement posted on Comcast’s website.
The Federal Communications Commission recently ordered the second-largest internet service provider in the U.S. to stop selectively blocking or throttling traffic on its network in order to manage bandwidth availability. Previously, Comcast subscribers enjoyed an “eat-all-you-like-for-one-price” structure.
Going forward, the company will either cut off users who exceed their usage cap or require them to pay extra for over-the-limit usage. Comcast recently floated a fee of $15 for each 10 gigabytes over the cap, but it has not made that structure official yet.
Comcast has said curbing the gluttony of the most aggressive bandwidth users is necessary in order to ensure availability of pipe for everyone. According to the statement on the company’s website, the ISP’s average subscriber uses two to three gigabytes of bandwidth monthly.
“We know from experience the vast majority of customers we ask to curb usage do so voluntarily,” the company noted in its statement.
The 250 gigabytes allotted per customer represents about 125 standard-definition movies or about 60 high-definition movies.
Although some Comcast customers may rebel against the cap, it should be noted Comcast’s limit is much higher than the ones imposed by other ISPs that recently began limiting their users’ bandwidth. Cox Communications’ basic cap is five gigabytes; the company’s high-end cap is only 75 gigabytes. Time Warner Cable Inc. is testing plans with caps between 5 and 40 gigabytes in some markets, and Frontier Communications Co. recently announced plans to begin charging extra for usage above five gigabytes per month.
