Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is planning to add data caps to home internet and from January 1, 2021 customers will be hit with an extra charge for consuming a lot of data. The hike has become a tradition for cable companies.
Comcast introduces data caps
This year the number of Americans working from home, taking online classes, or streaming their favorite shows increased in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The broadband and cable company is leveraging this opportunity by imposing a data cap of 1.2 terabytes to the 39 states in which it operates. Comcast has over 30.1 million subscribers nationwide and the company indicated that the data cap will not affect around 955 of its customers and they have included unlimited options for more money in the offering.
Fox News’ Brett Larson said that customers can easily reach this limit especially considering most are streaming content and are on Zoom meetings every day. He added that cable companies are always trying to find more ways of making money off customers in form of the data caps that will result in a surprise bill as from January.
For instance, streaming “The Crown” on Netflix takes around seven gigabytes per hour and around 280 gigabytes for the whole season which is almost over a fourth of a terabyte according to Larson. A zoom call can cost almost 1.5 gigabytes an hour and if one has two kids learning online for eight hours a day per week that could be 192 gigabytes.
Cable companies looking to compensate for lost revenue by cord-cutting
Consumer Reports’ senior policy counsel Jonathan Schwantes says that cable companies are after making money. He says that nowadays at home whether you have set up a Wi-Fi network or not all someone can eat is the internet. Most people don’t think twice about the amount of internet they are consuming or using since it is unlimited but that could change from January 1. Cord-cutting has increased significantly during the pandemic and that lost cable companies scrambling for new ways to compensate for lost revenue.