Comcast begins planned expansion of 1TB data cap for internet customers

By Brad Jones October 7, 2016

comcast data cap expansion center philadelphia88 jpg — Image used with permission by copyright holder

In April 2016, Comcast warned customers that the 1TB data cap that was being tested in a select number of markets would soon be rolled out elsewhere. Now, the company has announced plans to introduce the cap in 18 more areas starting November 1, including California, Colorado, and Oregon.

Comcast claims that 99 percent of its customers use less than 1TB of data over the course of a month — the median usage is just 75GB, according to a report from Engadget. However, the amount of data the average person uses is only going to increase as the way we consume entertainment continues to shift.

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It was recently reported that anyone looking to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered will need a whopping 130GB of space available on their system, meaning that anyone looking to download the game will be using a big chunk of their allotted terabyte. Cord cutters who stream 4K video rather than watching TV also run the risk of reaching the cap.

Fortunately, the consequences of exceeding 1TB of data usage are fairly lenient. Customers won’t be penalized for the first two months they go over the limit in a 12-month period. After that, they’ll be charged $10 for each additional 50GB of data they use, up to a maximum charge of $200.

Any customers who are confident in their abilities to use more than 1TB of data can pay for unlimited usage ahead of time, which costs $50 on top of their current rate.

Here are the areas where the data cap is set to take effect on November 1:

Alabama (Dothan)
California
Colorado
Florida (North Florida, Southwest Florida, and West Palm)
Southeastern Georgia
Idaho
Indiana (Indianapolis and Central Indiana, Fort Wayne, and Eastern Indiana)
Kansas
Michigan (Grand Rapids/Lansing, Detroit, and Eastern Michigan)
Minnesota
Missouri
New Mexico
Western Ohio
Oregon
Texas (Houston)
Utah
Washington
Wisconsin

For the time being, Comcast’s 1TB data cap won’t make much of a difference to most users. However, it could soon be restrictive, as content like streaming video and video games continues to take up more bandwidth — if the company doesn’t adjust its cap in line with this growth, customers will lose out.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…

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