What Xfinity Internet Data Usage Plans will Comcast be Launching?

Re:What Xfinity Internet Data Usage Plans will Comcast be La... by tzs on Thursday November 20, 2014 @08:29PM (#8639303)

> I have a 100Mbps cable Internet connection from them, so I can download about 10MB per second. At that advertised speed, I could burn through a 300GB cap in about 8 hours

For most people, higher speed isn't about being able to download more data per month. It's about their data not taking as long to download. Average use is only 50 GB/month, according to data quoted in the discussion on North American usage earlier today [1].

E.g., I have 30 mbps Comcast instead of 3 mbps DSL because when I need a 1 GB file I'd much rather get it in 5 minutes than in 45 minutes.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8635420

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Re:What Xfinity Internet Data Usage Plans will Comcast be La... by lostcolony on Friday November 21, 2014 @08:36AM (#8641159)

'Average use' is 50 GB/month, but note that it went up -5 gigs- in one year, and that that's an -average- across all fixed type lines. I.e., you are averaging people on satellite, grandmothers who just check email and facebook, etc, with the more typical family of four streaming video across multiple devices.

I want to know the distribution curve, because I bet it's a pretty flat distribution. Presumably Comcast knows that too, and that's why they even -have- that "use only 5 gigs a month and save $5", which is the biggest ripoff I've ever heard of, but which, for grandma checking her email, might make sense (provided her grandchildren never visit her and use the internet).

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Re:What Xfinity Internet Data Usage Plans will Comcast be La... by ianlevesque on Friday November 21, 2014 @10:09AM (#8641565)

Grandma checking her email still uses dialup, or in the case of my grandma, her 3G connection on her iPhone. The 5GB plan makes sense for no one.

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