• Comcast's new charge: Unveiled a $30 charge in Florida to let customers escape the 300GB monthly usage limit. Nation's largest cable company has been trialling data caps in 9 states with different policies. Generally, exceeding monthly limit leads to an extra $10 for each additional 50GB and customers can exceed caps for 3 months before penalty.
• Unlimited data option in Florida: Customers in Fort Lauderdale, the Keys, and Miami can pay $30 per month for unlimited data. This eliminates the 300GB monthly cap but they have to pay the extra $30 each month even if using less than 300GB.
• Cost comparison: Customers using more than 450GB per month may benefit from the unlimited data option. For example, using 530GB with unlimited data costs $30 while without it would be $50 for the additional 250GB.
• Not available in other states: The unlimited data option is not available in the other 8 states where Comcast is imposing usage limits (Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina).
• Data cap details in trial areas: In trial areas, customers buying 505Mbps or 2Gbps plans don't face data limits. Outside data cap trial states, customers don't face limits or overage charges regardless of the plan. Comcast may impose limits within a few years throughout its territory.
• Reason for 300GB data cap: A company VP said it's a business decision rather than technical necessity.
• Customer interest: Customers facing the data cap showed interest in an unlimited option in a survey, with 60% expressing interest in a $30 per month unlimited plan. About 10% of customers consume almost half of the data on the network and these trials are based on flexibility and fairness.