Still, with bandwidth usage rising tremendously thanks to streaming services like Netflix, not to mention gaming and the impending onslaught of 4K content, it stands to reason that Comcast’s 300GB cap will quickly wear out its welcome. After recently expanding its “trial” 300 gigabyte monthly data cap in several cities around the Southeastern USA, it looks like public relations circulated a memo to customer service representatives telling them how to discuss the new plans.
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But perhaps the most interesting part of the memo is the admission that the data caps (or whatever Comcast wants to call them) are not about managing congestion. Not too long ago, we highlighted a comment from Comcast’s VP of Internet services Jason Livingood who intimated that the Company’s data caps have nothing to do with technical issues but were rather borne of business considerations. Customers can enroll in an unlimited plan for an additional $35 per month.
Consumer advocates are raising concerns about Comcast’s plans to impose Internet data caps on even more customers.
Starting in 2012, customers in Nashville were capped at 300 gigabytes a month but could buy an additional 50 gigabyte allotments for $10.
Under a list of “Do’s and Don’t’s” the documents instruct customer care agents not to say the program is about congestion management and instead tell customers it’s about “fairness and providing a more flexible policy to our customers”.
Still, the median Comcast customer uses just 40 GB of data per month, according to Charlie Douglas, a company spokesman. There aren’t any other factors at play here other than the fact that Comcast often has little competition in the markets it operates.
Comcast has said that data caps are fair because it allows the company to charge heavy data users more for their activity. “That those who use more data pay more, and those who use less pay less”. It also tells them not to use the term “data cap”. “They tend to use more data and they pay for that by paying for speeds faster than the average subscriber does”.
The Philadelphia company has had data caps in a small chunk of its market since 2012.
With more than 20 million customers, Comcast is the largest broadband and cable TV provider in the United States. Charter, in a June filing to the Federal Communications Commission in its bid for Time Warner, pledged to hold off on data caps for three years should the merger be approved. Comcast offers what seems like a bit of a break for these folks: they get 5 GB of data per month and a $5 credit if they use less than that.
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The new rules are now under legal challenge by a few legislators and states’ attorneys general, who argue free-market principle should govern access to Internet services.
