There's no good time to establish internet data caps and charge customers who exceed their too-low monthly limit, but this is a particularly awful time to do so. As reported by The Verge, Comcast is rolling out its 1.2TB monthly data cap – and the $10 per 50GB overage fee – to more states in 2021.
Which states are affected by the policy change? "Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, as well as parts of North Carolina and Ohio," according to the outlet.
What's the timeline? For customers who aren't paying for Xfinity's expensive unlimited plan, the 1.2GB cap will begin on January 1, 2021 – but fees for exceeding that limit won't start until March 1 in "select markets," depending on your service plan; Comcast will cover the fees in Jan. and Feb. with a bill credit.
"Starting in March 2021, customers not on an unlimited data plan who exceed 1.2TB in a month will have a one-time courtesy month credit under the plan applied to their accounts, and will be responsible for any data overage charges after that," according to the fine print on Comcast's website. "Blocks of 50GB will automatically be added to customers' accounts for an additional fee of $10 each plus tax. Charges will not exceed $100 each month, no matter how much data a customer uses."
If you haven't gotten a heads-up, you will – expect a notice with your bills. The rest of us know the drill.
For many Xfinity customers, this 1.2TB cap won't be a huge hurdle. It'll be manageable enough. But for families – especially when multiple people are working from home, kids are learning remotely, and everyone's streaming everything – it sure can be. For gamers, it's even more of a struggle. When a single game can eat up 100GB and your library is constantly updating itself, that terabyte goes quick.
I'm pretty careful with my download habits and try to plan out my month well in advance, but that can only go so far. I'd say that more often than not, I feel like I'm threading a needle with my data cap.
This situation is going to get worse in the United States before it gets better, that's for damn sure.
