AT&T and Other Major ISPs Agree to Lift Data Caps, Waive Fees During Coronavirus Crisis

[Tsing]

Image: AT&T



Thanks to a pledge spearheaded by the Senate and FCC, major ISPs have been compelled to suspend their draconian data caps and/or waive late fees for the millions of Americans who have been blindsided by COVID-19. AT&T, Comcast, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon have all agreed to loosen their grip in the wake of increased internet usage due to telecommuting and online/virtual classes.



As a result of the #coronavirus people across this country are going to be asked to move work and learning online. So NOW is a really good time for the FCC to take action to get our nation's broadband providers to lift data caps and remove overage fees. https://t.co/1qJV7whVsR—...

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[Grimlakin]

That's actually pretty cool. For now.

 

[Riccochet]

which just tells you that data caps are an artificial brick wall meant for nothing more than generating revenue. There should be no data caps. Ever.

 

[stickx911]

Time to load up my backlog! Gotta be prepared if I get stuck on a mandatory 2 week isolation.

 

[Brian_B]

which just tells you that data caps are an artificial brick wall meant for nothing more than generating revenue. There should be no data caps. Ever.

I could see a model where data metering could work - we lived with it for Long Distance POTS for decades, and we still use it for other basic utilities. But the current way of implementation is just purely a profit grab, and doesn't work for consumers all.

Sure, I would rather have all-you-can-eat data. But I also realize the telecoms have to be able to provide their service at a profit. I just begrudge them when they are allowed to do that without competition keeping them honest about it.

 

[Riccochet]

I could see a model where data metering could work - we lived with it for Long Distance POTS for decades, and we still use it for other basic utilities. But the current way of implementation is just purely a profit grab, and doesn't work for consumers all.

Sure, I would rather have all-you-can-eat data. But I also realize the telecoms have to be able to provide their service at a profit. I just begrudge them when they are allowed to do that without competition keeping them honest about it.

They have the bandwidth. They have more than enough. It's nothing more than a money grab.

My bro is a backbone engineer for Comcast. They could offer 10 Gbps to everyone with no data caps and still have bandwidth left over.

 

[Grimlakin]

They have the bandwidth. They have more than enough. It's nothing more than a money grab.

My bro is a backbone engineer for Comcast. They could offer 10 Gbps to everyone with no data caps and still have bandwidth left over.

Bandwidth increases are a slower form of performance gain like CDrom drive spin rate drives were back in the day. from 1x up to 100x and stabilized at 40x. But they had warehouse loads of them all before they were done selling 2x. So they just trickled them out to burn through their stock and everyone waited on everyone else to sell the next speed up.

same thing with bandwidth only it's a LOT slower because there isn't any real competition.