Comcast will put a cap on internet data usage in Colorado beginning Nov. 1.
The Pennsylvania-based cable and internet provider announced Thursday that it will be limiting subscribers in a total of 34 markets to one terabyte per month of internet data usage.
The move increases a previous 300 gigabyte cap that Comcast imposed on several markets back in April, the Verge reported. To put that in perspective, 300 GB gets you about 120 hours of high definition video streaming, according to AT&T’s data calculator.
To no one’s surprise, thousands of customers were outraged, as was the Federal Communications Commission. To prove it, the FCC moved to prevent Charter, the Connecticut-based provider that just merged with Time Warner, from doing the same.
According to the FCC agreement, Charter cannot impose data caps for seven years following the buy-out. The condition was designed in large part to prevent internet providers from interfering with online video businesses, the Verge reported.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, these conditions also intend to prevent broadband companies from doing exactly what you think they're doing: frustrating their customers into spending more money.
Since Comcast did not buy Time Warner, the FCC has no power to prevent the company from imposing data caps. But Comcast’s announcement that it would increase user data limitations 1TB comes only days after the FCC made it clear that it took serious issue with data capping.
Now, before you go and throw your router out the window, here’s what you get with 1TB of data.
If you’re a gif-fiend, Comcast reports 1TB is enough for more than one million gifs. Alternatively, with 1TB of data, you can stream more than 700 hours of video, upload more than 60,000 high resolution videos, tweet about 1.8 billion times or invite 15 of your best gamer friends over for a solid month of multiplayer online thrills.
Comcast says the 1TB cap should suffice for about 99 percent of its customers, though for those who exceed 1TB, by operating web crawlers or hosting servers (which is not actually allowed), users can purchase additional 50 GB blocks for $10 a piece, opt for a $50 unlimited data plan or, of course, switch providers.
Multimedia business & healthcare reporter Chloe Aiello can be reached via email at [email protected] or twitter.com/chlobo_ilo.
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