Comcast: We Don't Have Caps, We Have 'Data Thresholds' Comcast has slowly but surely been expanding their deployment of usage caps, largely in less competitive markets where users can't vote with their wallet. It's really no secret that Comcast would like to see every user on a cap eventually, something their top lobbyist David Cohen recently tried to downplay at an investor conference. The not-so-secret goal is to get users on metered broadband to jack up data prices before the inevitable decline of TV and digital voice revenues (which are just data, after all). The problem for Comcast? Consumers prefer simpler flat-rate data pricing, and Comcast's trials are largely about figuring out how to market what's effectively a price hike so it sounds more attractive. Case in point: in a piece exploring the impact of Comcast's Time Warner Cable acquisition, quote: Comcast takes issue with this story noting that it does not have a data cap when one defines a cap as “to place a limit or restriction on (prices, expenditure, or other activity).” Instead the trials of 300 GB per month limits in select areas have been called both a “data threshold,” and now a “flexible data consumption plan,” that Comcast wants people to know are in trial mode only. Comcast's trying to get their deal approved, so the last thing they want the press focusing on is their very obvious plan to get the lion's share of users on caps, making unlimited broadband a very pricey luxury option down the road. Please note that I'm not pushing you down the stairs, I'm "adjusting your projected trajectory using kinetic energy." Case in point: in a piece exploring the impact of Comcast's Time Warner Cable acquisition, GigaOM's Stacey Higginbotham points out that should the merger be approved and Comcast's cap plans proceed, about 79% of US broadband customers will find themselves under a usage cap courtesy of limited competition. Amusingly, Comcast contacted the author to insist that the company doesn't technically have "usage caps":Comcast's trying to get their deal approved, so the last thing they want the press focusing on is their very obvious plan to get the lion's share of users on caps, making unlimited broadband a very pricey luxury option down the road. Please note that I'm not pushing you down the stairs, I'm "adjusting your projected trajectory using kinetic energy."







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Most recommended from 121 comments



ILpt4U

Premium Member

join:2006-11-12

Saint Louis, MO 5 recommendations ILpt4U Premium Member Newspeak Orwell was right. Just about 30 years off... Oedipus

join:2005-05-09

San Mateo, CA 5 recommendations Oedipus Member It's not a "meltdown" ...it's an "unrequested fission surplus."

newview

Ex .. Ex .. Exactly

Premium Member

join:2001-10-01

Parsonsburg, MD 3 recommendations newview Premium Member Comcast puts their other hand in my pocket 300Gb ... or about 10Gb per day.



So ... each member of a family of 4 can watch ONE Netflix HD movie per day ... no email, no music, no web browsing, no VOIP phone calls, no gaming ... to keep from hitting the cap at the end of the month. But Comcast will gladly sell you another 50Gb for 1000% markup just like the cell phone companies do.



These caps are about one thing only ... maintaining their dying cableTV business model. HiDesert

join:2008-08-17 3 recommendations HiDesert Member Public Utility Its high time to make broadband a public utility. Comcrap buys congress and what it wants. Its sad.

buzz_4_20

join:2003-09-20

Biddeford, ME (Software) Sophos UTM Home Edition

Ruckus R310

3 recommendations buzz_4_20 Member Pricing. They want the cake and to eat it as well.



The don't want usage based billing - as it applies to any other service being delivered to a home.

They want the high monthly fee AND the usage based billing.



And of course we consumers like flat pricing, we've all gotten screwed by these kinds of companies too many times.