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Created October 8, 2016 00:58
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Comcast FCC complaint
Comcast has just announced that in November, they will be implementing a 1 terabyte monthly data cap on all customers in the San Francisco area. Customers that go over that amount will automatically be billed an additional $200 "no matter how much data is used" plus another $10 per additional 50 gigabytes used. This is price gouging and abusive to customers who have no other options.
I live in San Francisco somewhat close to downtown. In my personal case, on *average* I use 200-250gb per month. However, since I am a software engineer professionally and a heavy user of my home internet connection, there are some months where I have extremely high usage and can quite easily almost hit that 1tb mark or go over. This can happen if I am having to download a lot of software for projects like Linux installs, related media files, etc. So do simply to do my job, my previously unlimited connection that rarely may go over 1tb will now cost me hundreds of dollars extra a month unexpectedly.
To go further, I do not currently have any other options for very high speed internet access from home. Currently with my Comcast account, I get about 150mb/s download and 20mb/s upload speed. This speed is very important do to the nature of my work, and generally just nice to have for personal uses.
My only options for internet access at all other than Comcast are currently DSL via AT&T or Sonic, and neither of those options approach the speeds available through Comcast at the moment. Sonic guarantees unlimited data in both their DSL and fiber options, which is a sign of a great company, but their fiber option is not available yet in my neighborhood. AT&T also offers a fiber option, but it is not available either and I don't believe they have any unlimited guarantees.
Here I am, a software engineer living in one of the most internet-connected cities in the world and even where I have multiple options for connectivity, the options I need and prefer are extremely limited. What does that imply for all of the other millions of Americans across the country that don't have access to *any* alternatives at all except for Comcast or other individual ISP's?
I encourage our representatives at the FCC to look harshly at Comcast and hopefully come to some corrective actions very soon.
My fear is that the major telco's in the country, bother wired and wireless, are putting these limits in place now because internet use is exploding and they want to charge exorbitant rates in the future. Over the coming decade with the advent of 4k/8k television programming online, gaming and other entertainment, and services such as internet of things, regular data use by average folks will be more than even my peak professional usage is now.
Comcast, AT&T, Charter, and others are trying to set a pattern in place now that will end the historical pattern of unlimited internet access for a regular monthly fee. I have been a user of many different internet services since the days of dialup through DSL, cable, LTE wireless, and hopefully fiber soon. In all cases, my accounts have been unlimited until now. Again, I count myself as somewhat lucky and can't imagine the pains these new policies across the telco industry have been causing to millions of other Americans with no options.
Thanks for your attention.
(I have attached a copy of Comcast email notification with all of the original email content in place. It includes html and will probably be necessary to open with a browser to see it properly formatted.)
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