I thought data caps for home internet were a thing of the past…
I’ve somewhat recently moved back to a very rural area of the Midwest. Small town. No stop lights. Biggest businesses other than the bars are Casey’s, Subway, and Dollar General.
And we have one ISP (not counting DSL) — Mediacom. When we first signed up, I had to go with the second service tier. But not because of speeds, but so I could have a reasonable 1 TB/mo data cap.
Lucky me, they increased the cap to 1.5 TB. 🙄
I hope that in my lifetime I can see ISPs regulated as a public utility.
Same here, no data cap but upload speeds of 10Mbps is absolutely brutal.
2000/2000 Mbit fiber without a cap for $95/mo. in Maine, US.
This does feel a bit surreal though as prior to this my options were 3/.5 Mbit DSL for $75/mo. (bonding wasn’t an option, no plans by ISP to upgrade), then 25/10 Mbit fixed wireless for $95 /mo. from a local provider (which worked when it felt like it and then was undergoing “maintenance” for weeks at a time making it unusable), then paying Spectrum a $5500+ ransom to run Cable down my driveway and then ultimately pay $115/mo. for 300/20 Mbit. Spectrum didn’t have a cap due to the Charter -> TWC acquisition consent decree but I’m sure it was coming after that expired.
When fiber came to town everything else suddenly got cheaper but screw them, they kept raising the rates and fees when there wasn’t any meaningful competition. Fidium didn’t even charge me an install fee and I’m not under a contract. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I’m reading all the comments and I’m shocked… In France, with uncapped access and 1Gbps down/600Mbps up (theorical) I pay 40€/mo (30€ every six month when I call to complain that it’s too expensive). And it’s definitely not the cheapest provider.
That’s insane !
1Gbps down/700Mbps up here, 35€/month (another french provider), no data caps - for 5 bucks/month more I could have 5Gbps down/1Gbps up, but… well, my home network is still using 1Gbps switches - but all the cabling was built with 10Gbps in mind.
Data caps are pure robbery. We run a non-profit ISP/hosting platform and a non-profit IXP with friends in West France, the only thing you pay (and the only thing end users should have to pay) is goddamn bandwidth.
Interesting that they give you more up than down. Are you on a server plan or something like that?
Edit: lol just noticed what community this is, server plan makes more sense now.
I messed up, that’s the opposite actually ^^
(30€ every six month when I call to complain that it’s too expensive)
Sounds like a Liberty Global owned telecom company… they love their annual price increases ugh, but they are usually the fastest option in most areas
Perhaps unpopular opinion but I don’t know why people are saying they want ISPs to be treated like a utility. Most utilities charge based on how much you use… I don’t have a data cap at the moment but I’d much rather have a cap than a charge per GB used…
For most utilities (water, electricity), there’s a relatively linear relationship between the tangible value provided (energy used, water dispensed) and the cost to provide it (coal burned, water sourced/treated). Even for wind- or hydro-powered electricity, the amount that everybody uses has a proportional amount of wear on the system and consequent required maintenance.
But not so much for ISPs. Instead, you’re basically paying for a “fictional” amount (speed) of a non-tangible product. Granted, there is a linear relationship to the amount of electricity the ISP uses to provide each bit, but it’s negligible.
Instead, what you’re paying for with internet is essentially to recoup the fixed costs of the provider’s equipment. They do need to upgrade every so often to accommodate more capacity and faster speeds, but this is proportional to speeds provided and not data volume used.
That’s rough… No idea how I’d cope with that. I don’t think I’ve ever had a datacap on any residential connection here in the Netherlands. Currently got 1gbps fiber up and down for 50 euros I think.
TV however is still a huge scam. I just want to watch football but have to have a billion other channels too I think. (Ima see if I can change this now lol)
I was very close to closing on a house in rural midwest but I checked isp’s and every one available had caps so I just stayed away.
Great internet is also a deciding factor for us while looking for our next rural midwest home! I use the FCC Broadband Map and availability searches on local ISP websites to confirm available speeds and no data caps. We passed on some great homes because of slow/no internet or data caps.
Our current rural midwest home has 940x35 w/o data caps from a cable-based (DOCSIS 3.1) ISP for $34.99/month. I’m sure they will increase the price after 12 months. When the time comes, I’ll call them again to complain and get a decent price again.
Good choice. I live in the rural midwest and the only thing that’ll reach (even though we’re in the flatlands) is a WISP we pay $170 a month for 12/6. No data caps, but it’s slow as shit. At least it’s not satellite so we can still play games online fairly reliably but damn.
Data caps are everywhere, I’m not sure why you’d think they’re a thing of the past. I believe the scenario is more like “you’re lucky if your plan doesn’t have caps” instead.
1.5T/month is uncomfortable though. One of my VPN services has a 1T/month softcap (speed drastically reduces after that) and it’s usually fine for my household, but one person going crazy on YouTube rabbit holes or us binging something on Netflix, pushes that limit fast.
Terrible scenario, but unfortunately I think there’s too much money involved for the right thing to be done and this kind of service getting the treatment it should have.
No Datacaps for landline in Europe yeah… In many EU countries you can also buy a mobile flat without caps for like 40€.
The US just doesn’t have a good consumer lobby.
Sorry if this is nitpicking but as far as I know, there is no such thing as unlimited mobile data plans.
In most contracts they will say that you have to use reasonably the data plan and you cannot for example constantly max out your connection. Like 24/7 constant max bandwidth used.
In most case it doesn’t really matter but I really don’t like the fact that ISPs get to say it’s unlimited when it definitely isn’t.
It’s unlimited*
- Some restrictions may apply.
I don’t know where you live, but here in Austria you can get truly unlimited ones. People also use them instead of landline connections without any issues.
And depending where you live that might or might not work out well for you. If too many people in your neighbourhood use too much mobile data at the same time as you, speeds will decrease and unlimited data plans in particular will be throttled.
Never got into it that deep myself, I just know other people who never had issues. Prime-time streaming in full hd etc.
But I’m also pretty sure you can sue them, if they can’t keep up the advertised speeds over longer time. Obv only when the infrastructure is actually available.
You can sue anyone for anything, but no one is advertising any guaranteed speeds for mobile broadband, so your chances will be fairly limited. Best you can do is withdrawing from your contract.
For unlimited data contracts you can usually pay different amounts for different speeds. They actively advertise with those maximum speeds and if you can never reach them, even tho they are available at your location, you can report them to a federal agency and take legally warranty claims.
TF you smoking? I pay 25€/ mo. For gigabit connection with no data caps. The US is getting hosed because it’s a corporatocracy and the ISPs have acted like robber barons for the past three decades. Don’t normalize this blatantly anti consumer bullshit.
In the same exact boat as you. We have Mediacom or one DSL. They gave me a really good deal for the first year on my 1gig, but after that it’s going to be about $140 a month. To make matters worse too, the wiring in my apartment building is REALLY old, so the service cuts out randomly sometimes (All tenants in the building are on splitters sharing one cable with the apartment across the hall.) And of course the landlord said that Mediacom was trying to trick me into spending more money and he would absolutely not run new cable. Internet in rural areas of the US is a total shit show. My connection is somewhat stable now, but I can’t wait for something else to come to my area.
And yes I looked into Starlink, my building has a strict NO PUTTING UP ANTENNA policy.
And yes I looked into Mobile Carrier Routers and the fastest I can get is 50mb download with a data cap.
I feel your problem on a spiritual level.
You mentioned the US, so please look up the FCC rules regarding limiting tenants from putting up antennas and dishes. It might be illegal for them to restrict that.
Data caps on home internet services should be illegal. They should also be much higher on mobile, but that’s a whole other topic.
I have 940/940 Unlimited FTTH for $93.45(Canadian).
Data caps on home internet services should be illegal. They should also be much higher on mobile, but that’s a whole other topic.
I’m not convinced mobile deserves to have caps at all, either!
As far as I’m concerned, there’s no reason to limit the amount of data transfer except in times of congestion, and I also don’t see any reason the amount of data transferred during un-congested times should have any bearing on who gets throttled.
You’re way overpaying. I pay $40 for 1.5 Gbps with Bell FTTH. Give them a call and say it’s too expensive and see what they can do for you. Or tell them Rogers (if they’re in your area) offered you 1.5gbps for $60 and ask if they can beat that.
As for mobile, you should look at new plans. $39 gets you 20 GB $50 gets you 40 GB. Seems like plenty of data imo https://www.koodomobile.com/en/rate-plans?INTCMP=KM_HDD_2023_Plans_RatePlans_40gbfor45_ROC_MBSK
Best time to get a mobile plan is Black Friday, should be even better deals by then.
EU - 30 USD 400/200 MBbs fiber no data cap here :)
This is almost started price in Canada
Is it? I get 1.5Gbps for $80/mo no caps and I checked my tiny hometown and they have similar prices. This is in Ontario around Ottawa
I live in the UK and currently have copper cable at about 60mbps for £60 per month. I thought what I had was bad because I have a friend who gets 1gbps for £30 a few miles away.
Where the hell in the UK are you? I’m in the North and pay £26 for 60mbps but get more like 70 due to how close I am to the street cabinet though I haven’t even got copper cable here, just crappy aluminium that is so old I think Alexander Graham Bell himself fitted them.
I’m in leeds and pay £30 a month for 1gig with virgin. You sould move house. Get better broadband.
I’m in the north-west but I’m limited to BT because nobody else has cables down yet. A different company claims to be fitting FttP round here in a few months though.
Similar issue here, full fibre roll out is estimated to be complete in 2025.
I’m just outside Newcastle on the coast and could get Virgin but my neighbours have had a nightmare with it.
They only rolled out their fibre about three months ago so there might be issues with that
Where on earth are you and who with to be fleeced that much?
In the north-west. BT currently have a local monopoly so they can charge what they want
If you’re rural, check out B4RN.
So it’s my impression that (and my knowledge might be out of date here) but almost anywhere that BT is then there should be at least 1 other company that operates on their lines (or rather Openreaches line, after they were split out of BT for competition purposes) so you should be able to get someone else with luck.
Try using Sam knows website and they tell lots about your line and what you can get.
I’m in the US and get 1Gbps for about £30, because my city forced ISPs to sell portions of their networks to third party competitions to break up monopolies.
Crazy that they make you pay in pounds in the US though.
Remember the net neutrality regulations that douchebag scrapped then opted to make a shitty YouTube video about? I do.
Casey’s
you’re in the sticks when your quicky-mart 7/11 option is Casey’s lol. Missouri?
If it’s any slight consolation, I pay ridiculous prices for comcast 100mb in Seattle, and my only other option is shitty adsl that’s even worse garbage.
This makes me seethe and rage and turns my piss to vinegar.
![[RANT] I pay $70/mo for this privilege](https://i.imgur.com/xEZZ9Hb.jpg){kind=link}