Heard about data caps? Charlotte home internet users can rest easy — for now
Two words that made national headlines around Thanksgiving may have some Charlotte home internet users wondering if they’re about to get socked with unexpected surcharges on their monthly bill.
Comcast, one of the nation’s largest cable and internet providers and which owns the Xfinity brand, announced plans to impose first-time data caps on its household customers along the East Coast. Exceed the usage limit or “cap” on your plan and expect a surcharge, the company said.
Comcast data caps have been in place for years in other parts of the country, but the company’s move to expand such caps to more states drew immediate alarm from such consumer groups as Stop the Cap! The group advised people to switch internet service providers (ISPs) and “organize a noisy but legal protest in front of a local cable store,” among other actions.
The good news for Charlotte?
Spectrum, which BroadbandNow.com ranks as the Queen City’s “most popular” internet provider, places no such caps on users — at least for now. No. 2 AT&T does have a data cap, but no-cap options as well.
Charter Spectrum also has no modem fees or contracts, Patrick Paterno, the company’s Charlotte region spokesman, told the Observer.
“We have never had data caps,” Paterno said. “All our home broadband products are unlimited, and we intend to stay unlimited.”
Charter Spectrum petitioned the Federal Communications Commission in June to let it request a data cap on home users if the company so chooses a couple of years from now, but Paterno said that’s not Spectrum’s intention.
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Charter Spectrum has been prohibited from imposing data caps since the company formed out of the 2016 merger of Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications and BrightHouse Networks.
The FCC at the time banned Charter Spectrum from imposing a data cap for seven years, which the company now wants cut to five years in case market conditions continue to change.
The petition drew immediate opposition from such consumer groups as Stop the Cap! and elected officials such as New York State Sen. Jen Metzger.
“Even if there were legitimate reasons for sunsetting these provisions, which there are not, the timing of this request by Charter could not be worse for customers,” Metzger wrote the FCC on Aug. 31.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly increased the dependence ... on data-intensive uses of the internet for school, work, telehealth services, and social connection,” Metzger wrote.
“Moreover,” she said, “millions of ... Americans are struggling financially as a result of the pandemic and economic contraction, and simply cannot afford any new costs.”
The commission has yet to rule on Charter Spectrum’s request.
Some CLT providers have data caps
AT&T does have a data cap, which many ISPs have begun adding to home internet packages in recent years, according to BroadbandNow.com.
AT&T gives customers two warnings before charging an overage fee. It put such fees on hold for months during the pandemic.
Most AT&T plans have a data cap of 1 terabyte — 1,000 gigabytes — with an overage fee of $10 for each 50 GBs exceeding the cap, according to HighSpeedInternetcom, which helps consumers compare service plans.
“That’s par for the course with ISPs, and 1 TB is plenty for most people, though we always prefer unlimited where possible,” the site explains.
The average U.S. household is forecast to have used a monthly 344 GBs of data this year, up from 268 GBs from two years earlier, according to DecisionData.org.
The Wall Street Journal reported a far higher household monthly usage average of more than 400 GBs by the end of March this year. That was 100 GBs more than the 2019 monthly average.
Satellite-based ISPs HughesNet and Viasat also have data caps, according to HighSpeedInternet.com.
Rock Hill-based provider Comporium also has data caps on its plans, according to BroadbandSearch.net.
Most caps imposed by ISPs, however, “are very high, which means that they don’t affect most cord cutters,” according to BroadbandNow.com, which promotes broadband usage nationwide. “Fiber plans generally won’t feature caps.”
Read the fine print
Until they see the extra charge on their bill, many consumers have no idea about data caps, according to HighSpeedInternet .com.
“Many providers have data caps, but most tuck them away in the fine print,” according to the site.
To avoid exceeding your data cap, budget your average data usage for the month and stick to it, the site advises.
Consumers can figure out their budget with an online data calculator, such as the one from internet provider Armstrong, according to HighSpeedInternet.com.
A data calculator provides “a quick readout of how much data it takes to do particular tasks,” according to the site.
Browsing the web, checking email, streaming music and playing games online don’t consume much data, according to HighSpeedInternet.com.
“You’ll use up a lot more data by watching movies or TV on a streaming service like Netflix,” according to the site, which warns that file downloading “is where you really gotta watch out.
“The richer and more high-tech the file, the more gigs you’ll use — that means you’ll spend a lot more data downloading prestige video games than you would a handful of MP3s.”
