One of the knocks on the movement by some broadband carriers to ‘metered broadband,’ or broadband caps, is customers have no way of knowing how much broadband they use during a given time period. Comcast is the first major broadband carrier to address this issue, with the pilot launch of Comcast data usage meter in their Portland, Oregon market.
“This is a tool we promised to provide, and we are pleased to deliver it today after rigorous employee testing and the completion of an independent analysis conducted by NetForecast,” says Comcast on their Comcast Voices blog. Comcast currently places a 250 GB cap on its residential subscribers. Comcast does not charge for “overage.” Rather they have a hard cap of 250 GB for all customers.
Broadband metering has seen its fair share of controversy, with consumer groups passionately arguing they are not necessary. Numerous carriers have toyed with the idea including Comcast, Frontier, AT&T, and Time Warner Cable, among others. Verizon CTO Dick Lynch is on record as saying metered broadband is inevitable. This controversy is far from over.
