OMG... Data Limits and the Curse of an Online Life

We have Fios for Internet, TV & Land line phone combined. We don't have a data limit on home internet.

 

First company I have ever heard of that limits home internet use via cable lines or dsl lines. Do you have any other choices for service in your area?

Google Fiber has already come to our greater urban area and will be in our neighborhood maybe this year yet. Spectrum (formally Time Warner Cable) and AT&T are already tearing up our yards trying to get their lines upgraded so they can compete.

 

Oh, they should most definitely warn you when you're close! Ugh, I'd be so annoyed!
UVerse in Houston had a cap but we never hit it. I also know that they'd warn you (email or text or both).
Where we are now, we have FiOS and there's no limit. I say this while my Backblaze is happily uploading a bajillion GB (ok, not a bajillion, but I've ULed, like, 2 or 3 TB in the past few weeks). And of course I DL a bunch and I watch Netflix/Amazon instant. If we had a cap, I'd be sad. Having said that, DH has gone over on our 250MB phone data limit. He forgets to turn off mobile/turn on wi fi. I use like 5 or 10 MB a month lol, but he just forgets. Anyway, as soon as we can, I hope we can get unlimited data or at least a bigger data plan for our phones, esp. cuz I worry that soon AT&T will set a cap. I feel like it's coming.

 

Okay, are you ready for this.......... in my own little part of downunder (as we are 'out in the sticks') we have to use satellite internet as we can't get anything else....... our current, limited plan is.......... wait for it..........



yep! we get a whole 40Gb for the month and when we reach that limit they lower our speed which even makes it hard to upload a layout to the gallery sometimes! (and of course the bonus data of 55Gb is only available between 1.00 - 6.00am!!!!!!! pffffft!! On the old satellite, just before Christmas we were on 37Gb and were paying $20 more! So I guess it has improved a bit! Actually for this month we were given an extra 10Gb as an apology from the provider for all the stuff-ups during the transition over to the new satellite so I have been downloading stuff everywhere!!! I am hoping that the internet down at our new property will be better than this one!!!!!!!

 

i check my comcast usage, shows 2 gig in 2 days. what is counted toward that?
we don't stream. i have only downloaded 365 meg

 

WOAH!!!! That's insane!!!! I had no idea there were internet providers that had plans with limits...in fact, I just logged into our account and I can't find anything that even tells me how much data we use.

Are you locked into a two year contract???

 

Yep. Cox had a limit, we just don't end up anywhere near it.
Are you sure it's not a problem on their end? Like if you are normally around 200 GB, it's weird that you jumped so high! I know I backed up a ton with backblaze recently because I switched from one computer to another, and it only took like 1% of our usage?.

I'd also check to see what devices are logged on. Perhaps someone is stealing your internet?

 

Our provider did this awhile back and it was so frustrating. We went over every single month and paid I think it was $10 for every 50GB we went over which came out to about $40 extra a month average. That's when I ditched the cable tv (because everyone was watching Netflix anyway), kept the internet, and went with a plan that had unlimited data.

 

We must not have a limit. My hubby keeps track of all that stuff and since he works at home & I work at home I'm sure we would have went over our limit if we had one.

But that would be seriously annoying.

 

I wondered this too. Like, if my water usage jumped from 200 gallons per month to using 1000/month, I'd assume something was wrong... but I'm a pessimist lol. (And a cloud backup takes a lot of data.) And shouldn't the Internet co. warn a person, esp if they have such a huge jump in usage? It seems unfair to let you go over without any warning.

 

lol! Thanks Allison, I am taking the next flight out!!!!!!!!

 

My Mum (she lives in NSW) had a very similar plan to this until just recently. It was terrible, we all had to make sure our computers and phone never connected to the internet unless it was really important, and she always capped it, every month, poor thing (though hers only slowed right down, it didn'tcharge extra)

As for me, hubby and I are computer gamers, so when we look for houses to rent the priority is
1. Good internet
2. Good kitchen
3. Enough bedrooms
Lol!!
But we live in town, and the NBN (Australia's new fandangled internet) has just rolled out in our area and we love it! It isn't quite US standards of speed, but it is amazing for us. And we never use all of our data allowance, which is 1000gig or 1500gig.
So jealous of our US froends though, they always win tue race to download the new games, lol!

 

@Chippi Yeah, my sons in town have great internet and I often go and use theirs when I want to download big stuff like TV shows and/or movies! lol! We don't get charged extra when we go over our limit but the speed really slooooooooows down!! We are on the NBN satellite subsidised plan which is why we were moved over to a new satellite late last year. I am about 30kms north west of Grafton NSW, where is your Mum located?

 

Haha my mum would do the same when we lived up there near them. Just come and check all her emails and download her scrapbooking freebies, and watch YouTube. She is in Taree.

 

Oh geez! That is really annoying! We have Comcast too, but I have no idea if we have limits or not? Apparently if we do, we've never hit them. I don't understand why they do limits anyway, other than to make more money. It's not like it costs them any more to provide an open cable right? Maybe I'm wrong on that. I've always said the same thing for cell phone data limits, it's just a way for them to milk more money out of us.

Ona... you limits would make me twitchy! I sure hope it's better at your new place!

 

OMGosh! I had NO idea there are internet limits! We're on FiOS now, but before that we've never had any limits either.

Like others have said, if you have an option, you should change. That is ridiculous that it totally cuts off once you hit your limit. My son has to get on the internet to get to all of his textbooks, and it would be bad if he couldn't do his school work.