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How expensive is internet on USA?

disgraciau

disgraciau

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,901
Ibiza, Balearic Islands, Spain
It's a curious question. I'm spanish and here we have some expensive internet packs (my father is paying like 70 €/month for a cellphone + landline + 100 Mbps optical fiber pack with the Movistar company), and when I came to this website I found an interesting (and shocking) thing: there is some kind of data cap on USA. When I see a thread with a game revealing its download size sometimes I read comments like "RIP data cap". Is it that normal (and cheap) to have Internet with data cap? Do you also have unlimited data cap?

As i've said, it's a pretty curious question, because here we don't have data cap for Optical fiber AFAIK.
 
guacamole party

guacamole party

Member
Oct 27, 2017
535
Its extremely variable depending on location and provider. For example, here in the Pacific NW I pay $65 a month for 1Gig up and down without a data cap - but in my prior location (in the same city) I was paying $90 for 250down/15up with 1TB data cap.
 
MetatronM

MetatronM

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,851
$55/month 200/200 Mbps Verizon Fios here, no data cap.


Many providers DO have data caps, though, particularly in places where there's only one or two real available options for service.
 
samoscratch

samoscratch

Member
Nov 25, 2017
2,838
We pay about $100 for 200 down/15 up(lol) and we have caps as well after 1TB we have to start paying in blocks
It's bullshit.
On top of that we have no other real options in my area.
 
GoldenEye 007

GoldenEye 007

Roll Tide, Y'all!
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,833
Texas
$75 roughly for 200/10 mbps with Spectrum. No caps.

This is Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.
 
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Chaosblade

Chaosblade

Resettlement Advisor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,592
Varies heavily depending on where you live and what providers are available.

My provider offers 100mb/$35, 200mb/$45, 500mb/$55, 1gb/$75. All without caps. But there is also some competition here.

My parents live in the same county, around 15 miles away. They only have one cable provider, and pay $70 for 100mb with a 1TB data cap.
 
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greelay

greelay

Member
Oct 26, 2017
154
I pay $45 for 200 mbps. But I feel like no two people pay the same amount for the same bandwidth in this country. Seems completely arbitrary.
 
ReAxion

ReAxion

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,882
it's normal to have data caps now. the ISPs didn't concede anything to subscribers when they did this, nothing got cheaper on the low end, higher speeds got cheaper, but caps remain. some let you pay your way out of a cap.
 
VonGreckler

VonGreckler

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,284
Suburbs of Philadelphia and I get 100meg symmetrical from Verizon FiOS for $40 a month
 
0ptimusPayne

0ptimusPayne

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,748
About $75 for frontier fios 100mbps with a phone line for my fax for work. I have unlimited data, and beat up my usage every month with no slow downs for the last 2.5 years.
 
Nostremitus

Nostremitus

Member
Nov 15, 2017
7,777
Alabama
Depends entirely on location.

In Missouri I was paying $100 a month for ~25-80mbps (advertised as 100mbps, but never, even under the best circumstances reached that speed.

In Alabama I'm paying $35 for 100-150mpbs (advertised as 100mbps, but only drops that low when the network is slammed)

both of these unlimited data
 
Bigkrev

Bigkrev

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,307
I've got Comcast in a state without data caps. I get 200 down and a upload speed so low I can't even find it on the website, along with TV for $110 a month. Same plan would be $100 without TV.
 
BennyWhatever

BennyWhatever

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,781
US
$50/mo for 200down/20up with Spectrum. No data cap. That's a negotiated price, though; it's regularly $65/mo.

I also have an option for 300/300 Fiber for $50/mo, but there's a 1TB data cap.
 
efr

efr

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Jun 19, 2019
2,893
$35 for 150down 5 up lmao
$50 more for unlimited.
$100 for a partitioned 4TB external hard drive to keep all my games on to try and prevent going over the cap every damn month. I paid the extortion $50 one month and downloaded 4TB worth of games.
 
The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,985
With Charter Spectrum in the North East, I'm currently paying $65/mo for 300mbps down / 20mbps up (listed), unlimited, no caps. The service is pretty good, I average about 430mbps down (my router does daily speed tests), 20mbps up and it's solid, rarely dropping or disconnecting.

I'm on a 2 year promotion and it's going to go up to $80 after that.

tzgKVOyl.png
 
samoscratch

samoscratch

Member
Nov 25, 2017
2,838
disgraciau said:
Is there a reason why some have data caps? Is it because it is cheaper or is it because there is some kind of technical limitation?
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Honestly I think it's because they can, there are no real options, they are monopolies, so the ISPs know they can do whatever they want. I doubt it's technical limitations. I do think you need to control the flow of data somewhat, there are always people that will abuse the system but they could at least provide us with acceptable caps and speeds, 15MB upload in this day and age is laughable.
 

Deleted member 12379

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,999
Comcast, MA, $60/mo for 300/15. 1TB cap.

Comcast said its customers' monthly Internet data usage increased 34 percent between Q1 2018 and Q1 2019, rising to a median of 200GB. The rise is being driven by streaming video, and, in particular, 4K video, Comcast said.

I wish they'd show how many folks hit the cap each month.
 
Conkerkid11

Conkerkid11

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
13,949
$120 a month with Comcast for about 1gb down and 35mb up. $50 of that is solely to remove the data cap. I've also got my own modem. Not fiber either. Nobody offers fiber where I live.

I use an average of 2TB a month.
 
ned_ballad

ned_ballad

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
48,220
Rochester, New York
BennyWhatever said:
$50/mo for 200down/20up with Spectrum. No data cap. That's a negotiated price, though; it's regularly $65/mo.

I also have an option for 300/300 Fiber for $50/mo, but there's a 1TB data cap.
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When I tried negotiating with Spectrum, I was told they don't do that anymore, because their price was already lower than what Time Warner's was before the merger (which is true, TWC was 80 dollars a month).

When pressed further, they even started the cancellation process until I had to back out because I obviously didn't want to go all the way.

I'm not that good at strong arming sales people, though.
 
Chaosblade

Chaosblade

Resettlement Advisor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,592
It's also worth noting that a lot of people that don't have caps might have Spectrum. One of the conditions of the merger that resulted in Spectrum (Time Warner Cable + Charter) was no data caps, but that condition expires in 2023. It's very likely that Spectrum will start rolling out data caps at that point.
 
abellwillring

abellwillring

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,919
Austin, TX
Our home internet bill is like $75 a month for 200 mbps. My phone bill is something like $98 a month + $58 a month for the iPhone itself via the Apple iPhone Upgrade Program.. I've kept my grandfathered AT&T Unlimited plan from back in the day which is now no longer a great deal especially since they've informed me they'll throttle me if I go over 22 GB in a month. Might need to have a talk with customer service.
 
Aomame

Aomame

Member
Oct 27, 2017
475
I pay $45/mo for 20Mbps down, 2Mbps up in central NY through Spectrum, no data caps. My only other option in the area is satellite.

US internet infrastructure and governmental regulation is fucked.
 
FLUXCapacitor

FLUXCapacitor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,074
I pay $60 for 500Mbps Comcast. My city is starting construction on their own fiber network at the start of the year though and they promise competing rates. I imagine ill be able to get 1GB for the same price.
 
The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,985
disgraciau said:
Is there a reason why some have data caps? Is it because it is cheaper or is it because there is some kind of technical limitation?
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It's mostly about competition. In the North East and West Coast, data caps are less common because there's more broadband competition. In one case with Charter Spectrum, they merged with TimeWarner (or someone else I forget) in 2016, and the FCC required them to not apply data caps for at least six years (2022).

There is no consumer justification for it, it's all about increasing costs to consumers through hidden charges. A company like Comcast in, say, the midwest, will say they offer $60/mo 100mbps internet, but will charge $10 per 50GB or something over a certain amount of bandwidth (now-a-days I think it's 1TB of monthly bandwidth for most Comcast customers w/ caps). It's just a hidden way of advertising one price, but having a separate real cost to consumers. There's no consumer benefit.
 
Wraith

Wraith

Member
Jun 28, 2018
8,892
Bandwidth speed, data caps, and pricing vary widely based on where you live and what provider(s) you have access to.
 
BennyWhatever

BennyWhatever

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,781
US
ned_ballad said:
When I tried negotiating with Spectrum, I was told they don't do that anymore, because their price was already lower than what Time Warner's was before the merger (which is true, TWC was 80 dollars a month).

When pressed further, they even started the cancellation process until I had to back out because I obviously didn't want to go all the way.

I'm not that good at strong arming sales people, though.
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The trick is to have competition and bring that to the table. They DO know what services are available in your area (so you can't BS them), but they don't have to know that you won't switch to them. When mine went up to $65, I called and said "hey AT&T just sent me this thing that I could get better internet for $50 and I might switch. Can you match it?" and they said "oh okay, yeah we can do that." So now, it's $50/mo.
 

Allforce

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,136
70 a month for like...350 dn/50 up. No cap and never heard of anyone around here having one. But there's no Comcast that I know of in this state and options are plentiful so pretty much everyone is competing non-stop.

I'm on WoW Internet. Best ISP ever.
 
yumms

yumms

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,156
$72 for 200/100, no cap. This is in the area where there is no competition.
 
The Teachinator

The Teachinator

Member
Oct 28, 2017
967
I pay $79.99(all fees included) for Verizon Fios 1GB internet and a tv package that includes pretty much all channels but the premiums. I have this price for 2 years. Every two years we cancel and my wife signs up. I DO NOT pay for boxes, modems or DVR. I use Apple TV and use the respective apps to watch TV.

I live in a market that has Cablevision and Spectrum. Guess what? Competition keeps prices in the basement.
 
defaltoption

defaltoption

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
11,484
Austin
My current promo is like $55 with tax for 450mpbs no caps normally its around $75 with tax. 1Gig is about $100 on promo I believe they told me last time I asked. I have Spectrum used to be Brighthouse and they're my only option.
 
mikeamizzle

mikeamizzle

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,058
The Teachinator said:
I pay $79.99(all fees included) for Verizon Fios 1GB internet and a tv package that includes pretty much all channels but the premiums. I have this price for 2 years. Every two years we cancel and my wife signs up. I DO NOT pay for boxes, modems or DVR. I use Apple TV and use the respective apps to watch TV.

I live in a market that has Cablevision and Spectrum. Guess what? Competition keeps prices in the basement.
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westchester? its one of the few legit benefits of this area haha
 
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