You knew it was coming. Now, it’s a reality. You will soon no longer be able to have unlimited Internet access. Just like cell phone providers have caps on data plans, so will Internet providers. Pretty scary, right?
AT&T Broadband is the first to be public enemy #1 with home Internet users. AT&T Broadband has now placed a monthly cap limit of 150GB per month on home DSL users. It will cost $10 for every 50GB of data over that cap. If you download lots of music, videos, movies, and/or games, this cap could be a bummer for you. But, overall, just surfing the Internet or emailing will not even come close to this cap.
Why the Internet support cap? Well, I can only think that AT&T is looking to cash in on all the Netflix streaming accounts among other TV and movie downloaders. By the way, Comcast also limits its monthly usage to 250GB although they do not explicitly mention this. That lack of terminology can add to a high tech support monthly bill.
Once the ability to stream TV and movies was possible, I had a feeling caps would be put into place. Streaming puts traditional TV companies at risk for extinction. Does anyone remember Blockbuster? TimeWarner, Comcast, and FIOS support are now competing against Internet movie and TV streamers which is a tough game to win. Currently, it is possible to stream movies right when they are out in the theaters. So, that leaves TV movie channels and On Demand channels out in the cold. I’m definitely against caps, but I understand it allows for more of a balanced playing field for the old Blockbuster TV companies.