Data Caps

[Oznogrd]

So, apparently my ISP is adding a data cap starting in may. Since you folks tend to be gamers/movie/tv watchers online much like me: About what does your usage look like? Is there a way I can check mine? What do I need to be careful with?

I never thought the internet would become a set portion.

[[Q]]

what ISP you got? Time Warner? companies are doing a bunch of stuff like caps, throttling, and giving less priority to video streamers in order to curb bandwidth hoarders/heavy users.

[Oznogrd]

AT&T U-verse. was the only non cap left that i knew of. I know companies are doing it for various reasons (money, anti-piracy, etc) but i dont want to be going over every month making my parents who currently are paying the bills bitch at me.

[[Q]]

UVerse has a cap? is that company-wide and nationwide? my roommates have been considering switching to that since they're dissatisfied with Time Warner's cable. their internet is great though... very fast in the download department.

[Oznogrd]

UVerse has a cap? is that company-wide and nationwide? my roommates have been considering switching to that since they're dissatisfied with Time Warner's cable. their internet is great though... very fast in the download department.

Uverse cap starting may 3rd.

[Andrew]

Data caps are standard here in Australia. My current limit is 25 GB per month, which I usually reach (or fall a little short of) each month; however, I'm usually well under until the last few days of the month at which point I'll catch up on online series and the like to use up what I've got left. I'm able to check my current usage through my ISP's website, I'd assume your provider would provide a similar service in light of the change.

[J@3]

Mine is 80gb and I reach it basically by 1/2 way through my month. I download movies/tv shows/cd's.

[[Q]]

wow i could neverdeal with a cap. i like being able to do what i want when i want with my internet. i'm definitely steering my roommates away from U Verse

[Andrew]

Mine is 80gb and I reach it basically by 1/2 way through my month. I download movies/tv shows/cd's.

I was on a 100 GB plan for a couple of months, from memory I managed around 96 or 97 GB and kind of struggled to try and use up what was left in the waning days of each month.

[benji]

I never thought the internet would become a set portion.

It hasn't. They're just abusing their government granted monopoly status in attempt to get everyone to pay more as they hit the cap.

Charter instituted a cap years ago, but has yet to create any penalties for violating it. Seriously. You're "capped" but if you go over, nothing happens. No charges, no slowdowns, nothing. Although that's basically how they run the entire company. Such as sending endless mailers to get to me to "upgrade to" the service I already have so I can "LOCK IN THE SAVINGS" at $10-20 more a month. I'm not even sure if I stopped paying the bills they'd cut me off, I imagine they'd just forget about it somehow. When I had it installed the guy asked if I had e-mail and I said yes, so he never setup an account for the website for me to use any of the features. I can't create one because the account number is already on file. Brilliant company. Maybe I should try to get a job there.

There are a wide variety programs you can download to monitor your usage.