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.
Home internet data caps WERE a thing of the past when Obama appointed Tom Wheeler as FCC chairman, who then pushed rulings to classify ISPs as a public utility and started enforcing net neutrality. Companies that didn’t play ball started getting fined until they fell in line. Being a former executive for a major ISP, he was very familiar with the anti-competitive practices and underhanded tricks those companies had been using for years; and he used those practices against them to finally make some pro-consumer progress for internet access in the US.
Then, Trump came in and put Ajit Pai in charge of the FCC (no joke, my phone kept auto correcting his name to Shit Pie). Anyways, Shit Pie tore down those rulings and undid all those years of progress as part of the Trump administration’s anti-Obama initiative. Even though it was proven time and again that what he did was directly against public opinion, and that ISPs were flooding the public commentary with bot posts(some even made by dead people); Shit Pie continued to meme about himself and drink from an obnoxiously large Reese’s coffee mug while doing so. At this point, every provider of internet services has added back data caps in the US, and they have continued to increase their prices to maintain that 99.9% profit margin. They’ve also locked down more areas to prevent municipal broadband services from forming, and they’re even pushing for legislation to prevent them from ever happening.
The current administration has done absolutely nothing. In fact, they’ve been so unremarkable, I have no idea who is in charge of the FCC, and I don’t feel like looking it up.
The Biden admin tried to nominate an amazing woman, Gigi Sohn, worked for the EFF. But try to guess who opposed her?
Ajit Pai used to be a lawyer for AT&T, just like the previous guy was an executive for the ISPs. However Ajit Pai was nominated by Obama originally. Trump made him head, but don’t get it twisted - there is a bipartisan concerted effort to fuck you. Tom Wheeler was just as bad as Pai - they were considering getting rid of net neutrality already in 2014 under him.
They basically just wait for the right moment to strike. If they fail they wait a few years and try again. They have a lot more patience persistence and attention than the public. They will always win.
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.
In Thailand I’m getting 400Mbps upload and download with unlimited data.
It costs about 300฿/mo ≈ $8.7/mo
'Murica #1!!! (In high internet prices)
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But you also get paid less
Although I agree that people get paid less here, I highly doubt that it costs an ISP in the US 8x more to transfer data than an ISP in Thailand.
I’m not really trying to argue that Thai internet is cheap, it’s that internet elsewhere is exorbitantly expensive.
What kind of rube works in the same country they live in? I met a lot of WFH workers when I visited Thailand, and not a single one of them was working for a company in Thailand.
Median income is $23k in Thailand. $31k in US. It definitely doesn’t make up the difference.Edit: Used Personal income for US and Household for Thailand. It actually doesn’t bring the gap significantly closer.
Dude… The US is doing it wrong. SE Asia. 1Gbps symmetrical, unlimited, unrestricted. ~14US$.
Australia looks like an interesting case. Iknow that in some countries, ISPs have to provide service to both urban and rural customers at the same price, which means that urban customers actually subsidize people living in rural areas. In some other cases, the gouvernements help pay for this.
Isn’t there a project in Australia that the federal gouvernement is subsidizing the role-out of fibre?
I have no idea, but that idea didn’t work out all that well in the US. The gov provided funding for expansion to the countryside for all the major telecoms…and they just pocketed without actually implementing anything.
Idk but pricing in Australia is fucked. The fibre network isn’t that large to begin with afaik, and even if you do have fibre you have to pay an arm and a leg for good speeds.
E.g. I pay like $70 USD a month for 100/40.
Symmetric gigabit costs several hundred a month, they’re not intended for residential customers.
USAGE ALLOWANCE?!?!
Laughs in Scandinavian
I have luckily never heard about data caps in Scandinavia except for mobile broadband.
Do they even exist at all, here?
I had a friend years ago that had a cap, but that was literally the only one I’ve heard of in my life here (Sweden)
Yeah, the ISP cartels sucks. I’ve been stuck paying $170/mo for uncapped 1000/35mbps connection.
Thankfully, before the end of the year, a local ISP is moving into my area. They offer uncapped symmetrical gigabit, for $75/mo… I’ll be saving $95/mo for BETTER service.
The longstanding ISP cartels should seriously be punished for the abuse of their market positions and failure to appropriately use government funding they’ve been given.
$40 for 2 Gbps unlimited in Singapore. Caps on home broadband are frankly nonsensical.
I’m paying $40 CAD/mo for 1.5 Gbps down and 940 Mbps up here in Canada. Unlimited bandwidth, of course.
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
Looking at all you guys with your gigabit connections, meanwhile I’m in Aus and lucky to get 30 down and 15 up
Not eligible yet for the fttp upgrade? Hang in there mate.
I got upgraded from fttn to fttp at the start of this year.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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
I’m in leeds and pay £30 a month for 1gig with virgin. You sould move house. Get better broadband.
Where I am, there was only one provider of internet for a long time, and I was paying for a plan that’s more or less what you have right now. Then another company came in and laid fiber, and both companies slashed prices and now I get over double my download speed, no data cap, and something crazy like 50x the old upload speed all for like 20 dollars less a month! Before I switched to the fiber company, the first company even increased my download speeds without increasing the price! Anyone who says competition doesn’t change things is crazy.
Competition is beautiful ain’t it?
Lol Germany here checking in 500/50 for 29.99
What?! That’s so cheap! Mine is 1000/50 (cable) for €60. Also Germany.
Confused American here, I thought third-world countries all had gigabit for $20/mo!
The fuck that’s so bad. I pay 45€/m for Vodafone, unlimited with 400Mbps. For mobile I also have unlimited plans with about 100€/m (for both me and my wife, with a premium smartphone). Change your provider man.
Are you high? S/he’s paying 15 euro less than you each month with slightly worse upload speed than you but also with faster download speed
I think he just hit the wrong reply button. Probably meant to reply to helmet91’s comment.
I pay around 20$ for 1000/500 uncapped, driven by the fact that there is healthy competition.
Well, the internet companies have successfully bribed politicians to avoid competition. This is just the normal result of everyday corruption.
Hey! I’ll have you know that Comcast and Time Warner are in the fiercest of competitions. They are practically bankrupting themselves while slashing each other’s throats. /s
Capitalism working as intended
I had uncapped 500/50Mbps for €10 but now I moved to a village and I’m stuck with 100/10Mbps for €20 :(
You’re lucky, I’m on 25/2Mbps and I pay £32 per month for the privilege.
Lmao rural USA checking in, 20Mbps down for $200 a month. Kill me
I’m slightly baffled by all this. I’m scheduled to get my line upgraded to be able to handle 100mbps in 2025 and I’m currently able to get 48mbps which costs me about USD55/mo. I only got the upgrade from 8mbps in 2019 (stupid conservative govt). While I’m looking forward to the better connection, I don’t really find a problem with 50 at the moment. I work from home, I stream multiple instances of media, I torrent things sometimes. I think I’m on an cap of 1tb but tbh I’d have to check if that’s what it still is, I haven’t looked for a long time.
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I’ve got 1000/1000 fiber for €32, which I think is a pretty good deal in the Netherlands at the moment. I will go back to 100/100 for probably a similar amount after my contract is up as 1000/1000 is simply overkill for our use case. But who knows, maybe I’ll find another deal.
I’ve got 1000/1000 fiber for €32
you lucky bastards. higher qol and better broadband? hope your nipples freeze off, I’m envious.
Jokes on you. I don’t have nipples.
![[RANT] I pay $70/mo for this privilege](https://i.imgur.com/xEZZ9Hb.jpg){kind=link}