While Comcast plans to increase their data caps on landline connections, Verizon is looking at forcing subscribers of unlimited data plans into tiered data plans. These recent changes by providers are set to impact consumers in negative, much to the chagrin of customers.
Comcast has increased the usage cap of their current landline data plan from 250GB to 300GB. Upon exceeding the limit, the user can pay another $10 for 50GB of data. The Vice President of Comcast has also assured customers that no user will be disconnected on exceeding the data cap, but will instead be able to retain access at throttled speeds till the next billing cycle. It’s important to note that an average user in the US only consumes about 32GB of data per month, with only 1 percent consuming more than 300GB. In such a scenario, Comcast’s new plans do not benefit its customers at all. Analysts think that this move is just a marketing gimmick to allow the company to put one over its rivals.
Meanwhile, Verizon’s move to force subscribers of unlimited data plans to a tiered data plan structure post upgradation to 4G LTE devices has raised the ire of thousands of customers. However, Verizon is also planning to introduce family sharing plans which allow users to share a plan with multiple family members which have come to be regarded as a significant cost saving measure.
Going by the usage, most subscribers end up paying more on unlimited plans as it is. Through this move Verizon mainly hopes to increase their revenue from every user, since increase in usage will push a user into a higher tiered data plan. Even though charging the customer with a fixed charge is a good means of encouraging usage through an unlimited data plan, it is not economically sustainable. Operators are therefore looking at eliminating unlimited data plans.
Cisco Systems is predicting a sharp increase in the internet traffic from 2010 to 2015, going up to 80.5 exabytes every month, with YouTube and Netflix gaining popularity. Cisco is also predicting an increase in mobile traffic mainly on account of people increasingly streaming videos and music from their phones. Since wireless and broadband users in the same location share network capacity, excessive usage on any one user’s part can hold up the entire neighbourhood’s connection speed. Though companies are offering consumers with increased data caps, the FCC and the Congress should take a closer look at how these data caps are set and evaluated.
