Glenn C. : Hi! Thank you for choosing Suddenlink Online Support. My name is Glenn C. and I would be happy to assist you today.

me: why are data caps so low?

Glenn C.: I do apologize for the trouble with the usage limits.

me: why are data caps so low?

Glenn C.: The data caps were made by taking the average usage and doubling it.

me: Alright. So I have 50mbps with a 250GB data cap. 250GB = 250,000MB. 50mbps = 6.25 MBps. 250000 / 6.25 = 40000 seconds. 40000 seconds = 11.1 hours. So why is my MONTHLY limit only 11.1 hours of continous usage? I'm only supposed to use my internet at it's fullest for 11.1 hours for the entire month?

Glenn C.: I do apologize for the confusion however that's not how your internet works.

Glenn C.: At any given time you are not using the internet connection completely.

Glenn C.: Also going from site to site and event streaming does not do constant usage.

Glenn C.: They only use a full connect for a short period.

me: that's untrue. When I download a game on steam it shows right up there, roughly 6.1MB/s

me: GTA V is 60 GB, Fallout 4 was about the same, there goes half my monthly limit

me: in an afternoon

Glenn C.: Yes that's because downloading is on a 1:1 ratio.

Glenn C.: If you download a gig then its a gig of usage.

me: indeed. So I ask again: why are the caps so low?

Glenn C.: The cap was made based off of the average usage per month for our customers and doubled.

Glenn C.: If you stream then that's on about 5:2 ratio. Its all depends on what you are doing on your internet connect.

Glenn C.: Unfortunately downloading causes the most usage.

me: But why have a cap in the first place? It seems kind of arbitrary to just decide no one can use more than twice the average, why not 3?

Glenn C.: Consistent with our Acceptable Use Policy and Residential Services Agreement, Suddenlink has applied monthly data plans to residential Internet accounts in most of its service areas. Data plans are one step among several that help us continue delivering a quality Internet experience for our customers. Other steps include the sizable investments we’ve made and continue making to provide greater downstream and upstream system capacity and more bandwidth per home. Even with those investments, a relatively few customers use a disproportionate amount of data, which can negatively affect the Internet experience of those who use far less. That’s why, as a complement to our network investments, we’ve established data plans. In short, we want to help make sure the vast majority of our customers continue to have a great Internet experience — and that the relatively few who consistently use much more data than normal have a choice: either use a little less or pay a little more. We believe that's a fair and reasonable approach.

me: http://www.phillymag.com/business/2015/11/07/comcast-leak-data-cap/

me: maybe your script is different, but I can't imagine your infrastructure is any different than comcast's

Glenn C.: Infrastructure changes from company to company. However I do apologize for the trouble with the usage. Downloading is on a 1:1 ratio. Unfortunately that is the easiest way to run up your usage.

me: Infrastructure changes from company to company? In what way?

Glenn C.: Unfortunately Im not a infrastructure technician. However every company does do it differently.

me: different fibre optic tech or....

me: cause it seems like it's just an arbitrary limit to make more money of people

Glenn C.: No as stated above we took the average of all our customer and doubled it.

me: but why double? Why not triple? Or 2.5x, or just keep it at average? It's completely arbitrary

Glenn C.: That's how we came to that amount. Im very sorry that downloading those games caused so much usage.

Glenn C.: We doubled it to make sure there was plenty of usage. The reason for only doubling it I do not know. All I can tell you is what the limit is and how we came to that.