Worried about broadband caps? Here's how to check your usage.

[Woochifer]

As announced back in March and discussed in a previous thread, AT&T has begun capping their residential broadband service this month, and Comcast already has data caps in place. With caps of 150 GB for their DSL customers, and 250 GB for UVerse and Comcast subscribers, these data limits are sufficient to cover most web activities -- except video or P2P usage. If you download videos, stream Netflix, or watch full length programs on Hulu and other streaming sites, then these limits fall very much within normal daily usage.

Consider that, by my estimate, an hour of "DVD" quality streaming on Netflix requires about 675 to 900 MB. That would allow for a daily average of 5-6 hours of viewing. Without accounting for uploads and other internet usage, that falls within normal TV viewing, if most of your TV viewing is on Netflix or other streaming sites.

However, the data consumption goes up considerably when viewing "HD" quality video. Video downloads on iTunes in 720p consume more than 2GB per hour. 1080p downloads would require even more. Now, you're talking about the one movie getting close to the daily average data allotment.

With that in mind, Ars Technica posted a great article on how AT&T, Comcast, Rogers (Canada), BT (UK), and BigPond (Australia) subscribers can check their broadband usage.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/n...e-monitors.ars

Checking AT&T's broadband monitor, I saw that the first month after we added the Netflix streaming service, our data usage ballooned up to ~120 GB. That was with relatively modest usage, a couple of movies, three seasons of Bones, and a few of the Doctor Who specials. Our normal internet usage was between 30 and 40 GB per month, so adding Netflix had a definite impact.

So far this month, we're up to about 50 GB, and that's with most of my viewing back on Directv for the NBA and NHL playoffs.

[kexodusc]

Neat. When I had Rogers, they'd provide alerts at various levels - 90% and above of the broadband cap, to give you heads up before exceeding the limit and being hit with surcharges.

Since switching to Bell's fiber optic service, we have unlimited usage...for now.

[bobsticks]

I'm waiting for the "Sit-At-Home-And-Stare-At-The-Wall" surcharge for too limited broadband usage.

[Woochifer]

Neat. When I had Rogers, they'd provide alerts at various levels - 90% and above of the broadband cap, to give you heads up before exceeding the limit and being hit with surcharges.

Since switching to Bell's fiber optic service, we have unlimited usage...for now.

With Rogers, I would hope for some kind of warning, given that their standard DSL service only provides for a paltry 25 GB of data. I keep reading various items about the broadband situation in Canada, and it sounds absolutely backward up there.

I'm waiting for the "Sit-At-Home-And-Stare-At-The-Wall" surcharge for too limited broadband usage.

Well, if you got that P2P thing going, you can burn through a lot of data while watching the paint dry, given how much gets pulled through the upstream.

[kexodusc]

With Rogers, I would hope for some kind of warning, given that their standard DSL service only provides for a paltry 25 GB of data. I keep reading various items about the broadband situation in Canada, and it sounds absolutely backward up there.



Well, if you got that P2P thing going, you can burn through a lot of data while watching the paint dry, given how much gets pulled through the upstream.

It's not so bad if you shop a bit...the most popular plans in my neck of the woods are unlimited. And those who don't shop probably don't use the 25 GB cap. Most are 60-100GB now, and I suspect as more consumers wisen up after uing netflix for the first time, the issue will fix itself. But it's a disturbing trend and slimey strategy on the part of providers.

[Feanor]

With Rogers, I would hope for some kind of warning, given that their standard DSL service only provides for a paltry 25 GB of data. I keep reading various items about the broadband situation in Canada, and it sounds absolutely backward up there.
...

I got PO'd with both Rogers and Bell and when with a local DSL-based service. Of course, they use Bell infrastructure. I'm limited to 50 GB but that hasn't been a problem yet since I'm not using Netflix. I pay $35/mo. for "up to 5 Gbps", (never much more than 2 Gbps of course).

Yes, the situation here in Ontario is backward: service is relatively poor and expensive -- a pity because once Canada was a leader in internet service. But greed trumps everything. Bell and Rogers figured that they had a virtual monopoly and opted to take the profits rather than improve infrastructure. BTW, the two of them have the worst customer service known to humanity.

Recently they requested to go to metered usage, they said, to fund intrastructure improvement. This request was approved by the regulator but blocked by the politicians. I'm not opposed in principle to metered usage but this was just another money grab by these guys.

[bobsticks]

Well, if you got that P2P thing going, you can burn through a lot of data while watching the paint dry, given how much gets pulled through the upstream.

Thank God for Dropbox.

It'll be interesting to see how this effects Netflix longterm. At this point it's just as easy for me to just hit the Redbox when grocery shopping though I'd imagine those in rural areas have fewer options.