Starting Nov. 1, everyone who subscribes to a Comcast internet plan will be limited to 1 TB of data use per month.
After testing different data caps in several markets, Comcast has finally decided that the 1 TB cap would be the most reasonable. Comcast recently sent an email to current subscribers informing them of the change that will take place.
What does this mean for the “average user”?
Probably nothing. Currently, the average customer uses approximately 75 GB of data per month which is nothing close to the 1 TB limit. However, this might affect users in the future.
As more mediums shift toward higher quality videos, audio, and photos, the amount of data used will increase. The growing popularity of 4K resolution videos means that the amount of data consumed will increase as well. Within five years, a 1TB data cap possibly wouldn’t be sufficient for the average user.
According to the official XFINITY data plan website, “The Terabyte Internet Data Usage Plan is a new data usage plan for XFINITY Internet service that provides you with a terabyte (1 TB or 1024 GB) of Internet data usage each month as part of your monthly service.”
What if a user exceeds the 1TB limit?
If a user exceeds the data cap, Comast will automatically add 50GB to your plan and a $10. This will continue until your bill reaches $200.
Comcast has assured customers, that the $200 bill limit is a “principle of fairness”.
“If you choose to use more than 1 TB in a month, we will automatically add blocks of 50 GB to your account for an additional fee of $10 each,” said XFINITY. ” Your charges, however, will not exceed $200 each month, no matter how much you use. And, we’re offering you two courtesy months, so you will not be billed the first two times you exceed a terabyte.”
Comcast is saying that 99 percent of its users never hit the 1TB limit, so nearly every customer will notice no changes.