194 US ISPs Now Impose Some Form of Usage Caps As we've long noted, broadband caps and overage fees don't really help manage network congestion. They are however a wonderful way for ISPs to (ab)use the lack of last mile broadband competition to impose completely arbitrary, unnecessary and confusing price hikes, which also let them hamstring streaming competitors via a practice known as zero rating. This not only lets them charge customers more money for the same service, but make cutting the traditional TV cord more expensive for the end users.

A website by the name of Broadband Now continues to track which ISPs impose caps, and notes that as of this week, there are 194 different ISPs that impose some manner of usage limits on customers. "Statements from Internet providers suggest that data caps are a necessary step to combat network congestion," notes the site. "Opponents of data caps believe that the motivation for data caps has more to do with recovering declining cable revenue or creating a roadblock for streaming services like Netflix. Whichever side you believe, the outcome is the same -- data caps are becoming commonplace." Again, this isn't really a debate. Even the broadband industry was ultimately forced to admiit that usage caps have nothing to do with congestion. Several industry CEOs have indicated that usage caps and overage fees are little more than a glorified price hike on uncompetitive markets, and there have long existed smart network management technologies that are far better for managing peak usage congestion. There's obviously a few examples such as rural WISPs that struggle with limited capacity and spectrum, but there's simply now rational justification for such limits on major fixed-line ISPs. Aand as many telcos struggle to upgrade DSL customers to next-generation broadband speeds above 25 Mbps, cable providers are grabbing an There's obviously a few examples such as rural WISPs that struggle with limited capacity and spectrum, but there's simply now rational justification for such limits on major fixed-line ISPs. Aand as many telcos struggle to upgrade DSL customers to next-generation broadband speeds above 25 Mbps, cable providers are grabbing an even larger broadband monopoly , meaning that there's a lot more of this sort of price gouging to come.







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Most recommended from 106 comments

Joe12345678

join:2003-07-22

Des Plaines, IL 10 recommendations Joe12345678 Member Needs to be a fair 3rd party meter at the client side Needs to be a fair 3rd party meter at the client side Ostracus

join:2011-09-05

Henderson, KY 8 recommendations Ostracus Member Swimming in entertainment. What makes them think stuff like this will stop people from cutting the cord? There are so many ways to be entertained without the ball and chain that's cable TV.

isp10002

join:2012-10-24 ARRIS CM3200

Asus RT-AX88

4 recommendations isp10002 Member Armstrong Armstrong does this. They impose caps to be anti-competitive and make you buy their TV services, rather then cutting the cord and streaming. Basically its just acting like a Monopoly. The standard internet tier on Armstrong has a cap of 400GB, while all other higher tiers have a cap of 1TB.

dslwanter

Not changing my username of 17 years.

Premium Member

join:2002-12-16

Mineral Ridge, OH 4 recommendations dslwanter Premium Member Not entirely correct Broadband Now says Armstrong Cable has a 1TB cap, this is incorrect, their standard tier has a 400GB cap. Higher tiers are 1TB. Most of their users are on the Standard tier as that is the typical bundled option.

tallguy11

join:2002-02-08

Lamont, AB ARRIS TG3482

(Software) pfSense

3 recommendations tallguy11 Member unlimited is possible for people saying that they need to charge for data.. Shaw cable (canada's largest cable company / isp) just lowered its price on their top tier (150mbps for $84.90 cad) and added unlimited data... so that right there shows that the data costs next to nothing for them to be able to do that