Sounds pretty good, right? Like so much in life examination shows that Comcast’s “gift” to its subscribers is less than it seems. PC World which reported the story seems not to understand its implications. Comcast like most of the cable companies has data usage limits. In Comcast’s case it’s about 250-300 GB a month. Thus faster broadband speed mean you’ll reach their usage limits faster and find yourself paying more for their service.
With more internet uses for just about anything imaginable it’s not very hard to exceed your cable company’s data limits. Cloud storage keeps getting cheaper, more videos are now streamed over the internet. Backup your hard drive to the cloud in one month and you’re likely to go over cable’s limit. Watch a bunch of Netflix movies in HD and your data usage will soar. Whats the point of having “free” higher speeds if all they do is raise your monthly bill?
Why is this happening when everything else concerned with electronics is getting cheaper? It’s nothing more than the lack of competition in the cable business. The satellite providers haven’t yet figure out how to provide high speed internet service so they only compete with cable for the TV market.
There are local and regional internet providers that offer internet service without data caps, but they are a very small part of the internet provider whole. The cable companies say that only a few of their subscribers go over their data limits. But this number is sure to grow. The cable companies place no limit on TV usage. The only way for the consumer to make them behave is to take their business elsewhere as soon as the opportunity to do so presents itself.
