jjmb

So I got an email today for my next AT&T internet bill. $80.41 up from 41.32 in April/May, almost 100% increase! If actually increased to $53.08 in May/June and then rose to current level last month. OK I should have noticed it earlier but this year has been odd and I am having to keep a sharp eye on my parents incoming and outgoing income so a regular bill doesn't get much of look until I decide to look at it. So I thought I would do what I usually do and check the other provider we have in this area and bargain - suddenlink. $39.00 a month but then I notice it has a data cap of 250gb.

I have no idea about how much x number of photos use or how much streaming hulu and netflix but I doubt that we use that much (although I have daughter upstairs who downloads movies). I should imagine that a family would go through that amount of data quite quickly and what happens when you suddenly reach your data cap- stop using the internet until the next billing cycle?

AT&T does not advertise its data cap apparently but at 150gb for broadband and 250gb for U-verse. At&T caps

still going to try the usual bargaining 'I am a local customer' chip, just wish there was some real competition.

scrubbedexpat091

That is more then we even pay... 63.00 a month up this way in Canada for 150gb data limit.

If we don't use netflix, we average around 30-40gb a month surfing the net, uploading photos, and such.

If we use netflix we have to keep an eye on how much we watch it and we can exceed 150gb so we try and limit netflix use.

petitefrancaise

Hi JJMB
I got a letter in the post today from AT&T offering their U-Verse + TV for $60 which is $26 a month cheaper than TWC, so I'm going to phone and threaten to leave. The U-Verse is slower (a bit, I wouldn't notice but I bet dear son would) but apart from that we are getting the tv as well which we aren't with TWC.

Wish google fiber would get a move on out to the suburbs.

gcjunkie

only heavy heavy users go anywhere near 250gb!

username.exe

rbackhouse

I use TWC's roadrunner (have for 15 years now).

Just looking at Aug and July usage it was 258 GB and 261 GB. We are fairly heavy streaming users but certainly not what I would call excessive.

Streaming an HD movie would probably be around the 1 GB mark so its not that hard to hit a 250GB limit.

Personally I wouldn't touch AT&T U-Verse with a barge pole precisely because of this type of crap they pull.

jjmb

Not much choice as Suddenlink and A&TT are our only providers. It Suddenlink that has the official cap - you can get 350gb if you pay 59.99. Must admit I thought the FCC had said companies couldn't add caps but apparently it was only for extremely low caps. ATT does not actually enforce their cap limits unless you are persistent offender.
Reading up about this a little and there is some newer technology coming along for the streaming sites which will be at least double peoples data usage and 250gb will easily maxed out with a family of 4 using various devices to watch streaming tv. Obviously the caps are way for companies to draw people away from streaming back to cable tv.
PF, the $80 is just for internet, no TV. Almost tempted to add TV back as seems we are being penalised for just using the internet. Have never had a issue with U-verse, service has been very good. Just this stupid haggling we have to go through each year!

rbackhouse

The best answer seems to be be competition and for now that appears to be Google Fiber. TWC is having to be proactive in the markets that they will compete with Google. In our area they are upgrading their infrastructure to support their "Maxx" initiative which provides speeds similar to Google Fiber (300/20 Mbps). Supposedly as existing customers we will get this for free. Trying to head off the mass transfers :-)

thinbrit

You might be surprised. A HD movie is 3GB per hour from Netflix (1GB in 'low-def').

My DropBox account is now close to 1TB. I'd use up 4 months allowance just syncing a new device!


I'm in the boonies and have 15Mbps down and 3Mbps up via a wireless link to my ISPs antenna on a water tower in the nearest city. No caps. $50 a month plus taxes

jjmb

Well trying to haggle this year didn't work So it change companies I go. Anyone got a recommendation for a good wifi router as will need a new one.

steveq

We always use Netgear. Never had one fail on me. The new Google one is causing quite a stir.

thinbrit

Depends on your needs. I use Ubiquiti gear ( https://www.ubnt.com ) but I'm covering a small ranch and have 10+ access points. I use the same gear at my business. For SOHO it is awesome gear and rivals the CISCO gear I'm more familiar with (albeit 10 times the cost for CISCO).

TimFountain

Really? Both my wife and I work from home and we have two teenagers who skype, roadblox and netflix day and night. Our average is 500-600GB per month.

jjmb

So in the end I decided to change to Suddenlink as Uverse was not going to lower my bill by much plus no increase in speed.
So now I feel like I am chained to the data cap as I checked how much data we are using each day and it is a surprise. Its only half way through a short month and it shows we have used 161.1 gb of a 350gb allowance. We are not game users. We mainly browse the internet and stream tv. I watch maybe 2.5 hrs of Hulu/netflix a day plus 45 mins in the evening with my husband. My daughter will stream about 10hrs of Hulu/netflix a week plus she has her cellphone on wifi when she is home. I have set Hulu/netflix to lower bandwidth. My husband downloads about 4 podcasts a week. I really find I am limiting my use of the internet etc.
Reading up about caps, it seems all of the providers are now setting them but ATT only implements them for lower DSL users, not Uverse at the moment. But do I risk moving back to ATT uverse, only to find they implementing the data caps?

ChocolateBabz

How do you guys know how much you use? We have uverse is it hidden away somewhere on p at&t's site?

I think we are moderate to heavy users. The Dude (17) is never off a device, whether it's messaging, snap chatting, X boxing, streaming music, YouTube etc. Hubby works from home once a week and we Netflix and I Facebook and FaceTime a bit.

I think our plan and caps seem fine but I'd love a better wi-fi signal. Using the Netgear extender just seemed to make the wi-fi worse everywhere rather than extend good wi-fi to the areas that were lacking - any suggestions from you techie folk?