It shouldnt be like this.
A look at their plans in even a single market shows that their pricing is inconsistent.
In most areas, Comcast sets a 300GB data cap regardless of internet speed.
Users then get charged $10 per 50GB for going over.
For the purposes of overage fees, Comcast values 1GB of data anywherefrom two cents to a dollar.
This makes no logical sense.
Comcasts fees follow no discernible pattern or reason.
There also seems to be no real reason for why the data caps are set where they are.
Comcasts data cap sits at 300GB across all residential plans.
That cap doesnt scale based on how fast your internet is or how much data you consume.
AT&T is better than Comcast in this area, but only on a technicality.
The companys data capsscale based on internet speeds.
However, a closer look reveals some disturbing inconsistencies.
For 12-75Mbps, your cap goes up to 600GB.
The math gets worse at the highest tier.
AT&T will offer 1TB of data for users ranging anywhere from 100Mbps to 1Gbps.
If youre one of the lucky few who manage to get into the gigabit tier?
That cap is gone in two and a half hours.
Theres also no evidence that theres a technical reason these caps exist.
Internal Comcast customer service documents specificallyforbid saying that congestion management is behind the caps.
Comcasts VP of internet services saysthe caps are a business decision, not a technical one.
Its unsurprising then thatboth AT&TandComcast offeran unlimited data upcharge for around $30.
These options arent very well advertised, so you may have to call and ask for them specifically.
However, they may save you a lot of overage fees in the long run.
At least until the FCC getstired of hearingsomany complaints about them.
After all, if you need internet and TV, why not get them together for a cheaper rate?
I used my own home as an example to try shopping for internet packages.
My goal was to find a relatively fast internet package without accompanying TV junk.
Both AT&T and Comcast required addresses before I could even see pricing.
Meanwhile Comcast offered a reasonable, affordable 25Mbps plan for $39/month.
Seems pretty easy, right?
This was despite specifically indicating I dont want a television package.
It also comes with Showtime, for some reason.
However, in the fine print, Comcast states that the $39/month price is only for 12 months.
Meanwhile, the AT&T bundles I found are all too slow for my needs.
6Mbps just isnt enough, no matter how cheap it is.
To make this all more confusing, both companies only offer the advertised prices for a limited time.
However, there are hefty fees for leaving early.
Unfortunately, theres no easy way to get around all this confusion.
AT&Ts Gigapower, for example, costs $140/month.
Think about what people who call and sign up wind up agreeing to without even knowing it.
Thats not a great feeling.
Comcasts plans were similarly riddled with upcharges.
That $39/month plan for 25Mbps internet with all the cable packages wasnt just a promotional price.
It also required that I enroll in automatic payments and paperless billing.
There was also another $10/month charge to lease a modem.
Neither company tried very hard to mention their data caps, either.
Comcast had a reference to theirData Usage Planexactly once in a hidden link on the promotions page.
If AT&T mentioned their data caps anywhere, I couldnt find it.
The only defense here is to readabsolutely everything.
Cable company websites are designed to be labyrinths that obscure a wide range of fees and upcharges.
Gigabit Rollout Announcements Are Wildly Overstated
Internet speeds in the US arent great.
For reference, the FCCupdated the legal definition of broadbandto 25Mbps in January of 2015.
So, when a company promises internet speeds in the gigabit range, people pay attention.
You may even keep that promise in mind when youre considering where to move.
Like when Comcast announced that it would start rolling out2Gbps internet speeds to the city of Atlanta.
These kinds of announcements make for great publicity, but in practice theyre extremely limited.
For example, Comcast said it planned tomake gigabit service available in Atlantaas soon as May of 2015.
This didnt happenuntil a year later.
Customers also have to livewithin a third of a mile of Comcasts core web connection.
Then there are installation costs that caneasily exceed thousands of dollars.
In some cases, Comcast has declined customers entirely because the associated costs are too high.
However,living in the city isnt the same as having access.
Verizon has done a similar thingwith its FiOS rollout in New York City.
Most of these rollout announcements are designed to sound impressive tobuild good pressandhelp curry favor with the FCC.
Theyre not a true indication of which services you canactuallyget.
Illustration by Sam Woolley.
