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ANampaIDusr
join:2005-11-19
Nampa, ID

ANampaIDusr

Member

Possible changes coming from Cableone - No more caps charges

Rumor has it that new CO plans will be announced around June 3rd. They will be getting rid of bandwidth usage limits, aka no longer charging that absolutely ridiculous $.50c per GB overage.

Rumor is that they will have guidelines of 300GB-500GB/mo. And if you consistently go over it, you will be encouraged to move to a higher plan. But that should keep most people happy.

Looks like the consumer outrage got to them. Many account reps and customer service people were getting very irate customers. I moved to CenturyLink DSL 40/20 plan after my Cableone rep basically told me they were a better deal for me. I've pushed up to 800GB/mo (I have a google drive account that I sync to various items) and CL has never given me a complaint at all. I'm quite happy with them. I was lucky that they ran fiber to my local DSLAM that I am about 600' from. I typically get 37mbit down and 15mbit up. Something I wish Century link would do is actually set the VDSL2+ configuration to 42mbit down and 22mbit up so the actual throughput actually got closer to 40/20. Something I admired about cableone was that when I had a 12/1.5 plan, I actually got 13.5/1.6 actual. Which wins praise.

Again this is just a rumor. But watch for an announcement including a 70mbit plan.

Pashune
Caps stifle innovation
Premium Member
join:2006-04-14
Gautier, MS

Pashune

Premium Member

Interesting. New plans were supposed to be announced around the beginning of Spring, at least according to a rep on Facebook.

If this means getting a fairly priced unlimited or 300 GB+ cap plan then I'll happily wait it out.

I remain on a 10/1 grandfathered plan that has served me well for quite sometime.
ANampaIDusr
join:2005-11-19
Nampa, ID

ANampaIDusr

Member

I was banned from posting on CO's FB page after calling them out on the $.50/GB overage charges and stating that I switched to DSL that had no caps. Several other people's posts were deleted too. For an ISP, it seems they had a moment in time where they forgot that people can use these crazy things like web forums (dslreports.com) and FB (even when they moderate their page and delete comments) to call them out on their ridiculous price gouging attempts. If they had done something like $0.05c per GB, I could maybe understand it. But in the real world, none of us want to think about our bill changing.
* My cell phone has unlimited data/long distance/voice to other cells/texts and reasonable usage to land lines. I know what my 5 line family package bill will be every month within $5.

* My DSL is 40/20 and combined with my basic phone line it is $82/mo - No surprises.

* I run Ooma VoIP on my DSL and it is $7/mo for unlimited calling to north America and lots of other places.

For just under 2 years I talked to my Cableone rep about what I should do with the DOCSIS 3 upgrade that would allow me to do the 50mbit package.. Went back and forth.. Told him I've been loyal since 1999 and I wanted a set bill, no metering, no over charging, etc. Even said I was perfectly happy with being throttled down a bit if my corner of their network was loaded. In the end, he finally said "Go with DSL - we can't compete". I respected his honesty. (fyi I was on grandfathered 13.5/1.5 package) -- From what I understand from a friend at CO - everyone from the customer service reps, the managers were getting frustrated by the big influx of complaints and outraged customers. They had to be, I had 3 friends here in Nampa alone that I told to run the Century link DSL address check after being fed up with the CO nickel and dime BS and they switched.

Just to note, once my 12mo contract is up with CL, mt $90/mo rebate for the 40/20 package will expire. I emailed them and they said at the end of that 12/mo all I needed to do was renew for 12mo and they would enable the monthly credit. A tricky game indeed, and of course I don't know if the cost will be higher or lower. But if higher, I can certainly survive dropping down to a lower package. As long as I'm around 20mbit down and 5-10mbit up I can survive. With doing Google drive and my video work (lots of big uploads/downloads it is a luxury, but not an requirement).

giannim00
@cableone.net

giannim00 to ANampaIDusr

Anon

to ANampaIDusr
Are there any truth to these rumors? Has anyone else heard any news about this? This would be a great change...

Rockman
@texoma.net

Rockman to ANampaIDusr

Anon

to ANampaIDusr
New install in our new home located in Sherman, TX
Internet and cable TV
50 mps
300GB
1 HD DVR standard cable
$99.00 per month
fieroloki
join:2007-07-29
Van Alstyne, TX

fieroloki

Member

Oh snap!! 300Gb cap?? Might be worth it finally.

anonymousper
@windstream.net

anonymousper to Rockman

Anon

to Rockman
said by Rockman :

New install in our new home located in Sherman, TX
Internet and cable TV
50 mps
300GB
1 HD DVR standard cable
$99.00 per month

Here's to hoping that happens to the area I live in (although I'd go without cable tv, as I can just watch tv with the internet at that speed easily)

liviorn
join:2009-06-21
Rio Rancho, NM

liviorn to ANampaIDusr

Member

to ANampaIDusr
CO was perfectly fine for me for last three years. The only thing I do not like about their service are not the caps, but the upload speed which bugs me lately for being on the down side. I was getting around caps by scheduling heavy use during night hours. With that I rarely, but I do approach triple digits for total GBs used (including off peak hours).
Since I've started to use upstream more, I've decided to use a dedicated server over Europe where I am slowly putting things I need to upload faster later on. That costs me $40.
So right now I'm paying for two Internet services for a total of $95 a month. Maybe I should look into some business Internet plans from CenturyLink. I will have to wait and see what they come up with this year. I might drop CO. I am now sure yet. Still, on the other hand, even a 20mbit ideal upload speed from CenturyLink isn't a full 100mbit up\down the server has.
ANampaIDusr
join:2005-11-19
Nampa, ID

1 edit

ANampaIDusr

Member

I guess we will see when they "officially" announce it. But either way, I suggest no one sign up for any package that allows them to charge based on usage. You want a set bill every month no matter the traffic. If you repeatedly/consistantly go over 1TB a month I can understand them notifying (or warning) that they would like it if you kept the traffic levels lower - but in no way should they charge you more on your bill. Once the packages come up, call them and make sure you get switched over. The more complaints they have the better. And as I've mentioned before, if you can get DSL that is fed with the VDSL2 service (40/20 package) go for it. I move about 1TB a month mostly due to my security camera DVR and Netflix and it has been rock solid and they've given me no warnings. One Century Link rep I talked to last week said that for customers who are fed by Fiber to the DSLAM, they've only had to get on those moving 5-10TB/mo or serving pirated torrents.

More importantly to me -- DSL has much higher upload speeds. Something Cableone is not likely going to do any time soon. With Google Drive and my security cameras, I hate to have anything less than 5mbit upload speeds. 15 is what I get now and it is pretty smooth.
truckinusa
join:2006-01-23
Plano, TX

truckinusa

Member

I was in the office on Friday to complain about internet downtime and the overpriced $50 unlimited plan. They said they will officially announce on Monday the 300gb plan. It has no off peak hours, but it is is 50mbps. It costs $50. The next tier up from that is 400gb and then 500gb. They didn't know what happens when you go over yet. You will be able to switch on Monday supposedly and the plan goes into effect on the 10th.

Peter M
@96.18.41.x

Peter M

Anon

Do you know if the upload speed will be greater?

StSin
@comcast.net

StSin to ANampaIDusr

Anon

to ANampaIDusr
FWIW I've heard that in western Idaho the new plans will take effect 6/10. The top end plan is supposed to be 70Mb down (500GB guideline). As the only thing century link can give me residentially is (up to) 8Mb down, I'm hoping that the west idaho network isn't oversaturated again...
John Patrick
join:2001-06-07
Sioux City, IA
·Sparklight

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Now I can switch to the faster 50Mpbs plan finally they wake up and get some common sense. June 10th no more data plans.

»www.cableone.net/AAU/pre ··· ees.aspx

lordpuffer
Legalize It Joe!
Premium Member
join:2004-09-19
Old Town, ME

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Good news!

wayne
@qwest.net

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I would like to comment that cable one is infact giveing you 300gb
But there takeing away the option 12:00am to 8:00 am option where your not monitored it seems to me that thisbis a waist of time because lets say if your streaming watching netflix or some thing like that your limited to the 300gb cao and if you watch in hi-def of 1080i or p or have smart tv like I have you will chew thrue 300gb in no time. Now I spoke to cable one today for clarification of exactly what this means basicly its the same they won't charge for going over but they said if you go over more than a 1or 2 gb more than twice you will be forced or asked to go to the next plan and they count by the byte so any thing you do talking on phone I use vonage for phone service so unless you use cable ones phone service you will chew up your 300gb very fast in my eyes its just not worth the hassle. I am with centrylink Iam going to stay with them they dont put restrictions on you or complain about how much you use and there cheaper too granted cable one may have the speed we all want but it just means you will chew thrue the 300gb they give you makeing it seem like there doing there customers a favor there not its just the same they have done so far but looks good but if you look at it from angles its a waist of time and money.
m33crob
join:2013-02-06
Phoenix, AZ

m33crob

Member

I think you're mis-calculating things a bit here. You are basically speaking under the guise of theoretical usage and NOT actual usage. Personally, I think it would be somewhat difficult to hit these caps (legally.) For example, I watched every single episode of BSG in super hd on Netflix and the total usage was about 100 gb. This is not typical usage for a household and this will do just fine for most.
bastage
join:2011-02-14
Kuna, ID

bastage

Member

With streaming HULU, Netflix, Amazon Prime & Crackle on an almost daily usage I easily use greater then 300gb a month..

That said I am really interested in the new plans. I have been on the 10/1 since they switched as the 50gb a month was garbage.. I am looking now at the 60 or 70, but if they are at a reasonable price (ie 50/60/70 is 50-60/60-70-70-80) then I wont complain & I will gladly just pay the piper his dues..
StSin
join:2013-06-03
ARRIS SB8200

StSin to m33crob

Member

to m33crob
Here's a reminder of how much bandwidth netflix uses that might be of use to people like M33crob (whom by the way I congratulate on his small use of bandwidth in this new bandwidth heavy world.)

»www.gci.com/kb/netflix-m ··· ta-usage gives a decent rundown, to save you the clicking, Netflix HighDef streams use 2.3GB of bandwidth per hour. (Amazon, hulu, nbc, bbc and the like have similar HD usage) 300GB = 130 hours of HD tv. If you live alone that's a bit of high def tv (4.3 hrs a day) but most people don't live alone. In my house there are 3 streaming users and each of us most assuredly watch more than 2 hours of HD tv on average a day not to mention streaming radio, email, sharing pictures, sharing videos, etc.

Most people who do things illegal as M33 thinks all of us high bandwidth users do (sorry, I'm sick of being told surely I don't use X amount.) actually use LESS bandwidth as they only "watch" the show once then they own it and can stream it from their own computers using no outside bandwidth. I can't tell you how many times my little one has watched My Little Pony (in HD)...

And bastage: at least in western idaho each step up is ~$25. Apparently I am moving to cableone at the right time

rekd0514
join:2009-03-24
North Sioux City, SD

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Member

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What about the business plans, are they changing as well?
rekd0514

rekd0514

Member

On their facebook they responded saying new busniess plans are coming soon as well, just not on June 10th. I think I will upgrade to the 50mbps plan from the old 10mbps plan if it doesn't auto upradge on the 10th (they say it will). If I have problems with it, I will move on to a business plan with no caps at all.

Pashune
Caps stifle innovation
Premium Member
join:2006-04-14
Gautier, MS

Pashune

Premium Member

said by rekd0514:

I will upgrade to the 50mbps plan from the old 10mbps plan if it doesn't auto upradge on the 10th (they say it will). If I have problems with it, I will move on to a business plan with no caps at all.

The facebook rep. told me a different story in that legacy users below 50 mbit won't be automatically upgraded without calling in first. Weird. We'll all see soon though.
ANampaIDusr
join:2005-11-19
Nampa, ID

ANampaIDusr to rekd0514

Member

to rekd0514
Reld: AFAIK business plans with cableone are always unlimited. Meaning if you have a 50mbit download speed, on a business account, you should be able to download 50mbit/sec non-stop (think cloud) 30-60TB/mo.

As for consumer or home office(SOHO »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sm ··· e_office) you can consider that 10-20TB/mo is reasonable. Cableone has many in the upper management that are penny pitchers who who want to milk their consumers for every cent they can, but thanks to competition they are slowly realizing they are on the wrong side of history. They can't keep over billing customers for profit vs utilizing high capacity existing coaxial cable lines for massive throughput to the end user. --- or on the copper side of the last mile point, they should work very hard to run fiber to every DSLAM [both rural and dense residential] to be pumping out VDSL2+ 50-100mbit lines to the end user.

America needs a new 2025 goal - call it the minimal broadband capacity per home goal - 90% of homes have 1gbit (downstream) and 100mbit (upstream) capacity. Just think what this would do to the American economy. Far less travel to work, massive productivity gains, security and economic benefits.

Massive bandwidth begets new economic benefits that so few can understand. It amazes me that in mid 2013 we still as so far behind.

jasonkradiog
@cableone.net

jasonkradiog to ANampaIDusr

Anon

to ANampaIDusr
They are probably confusing things. On the 10th, we'll probably all be "upgraded" to the new terms and data guidelines. That might be what the one rep was thinking. But the speed increase will probably require a call. That's my best guess (but only a guess). Otherwise there wouldn't be mention of a 5, 10, etc plan in the AUP.
fieroloki
join:2007-07-29
Van Alstyne, TX

fieroloki to ANampaIDusr

Member

to ANampaIDusr
Not all business plans are unlimited. A few are still restricted.

anon001
@windstream.net

anon001 to ANampaIDusr

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I went ahead and called them, and told them, just change my Current 10mbps to the 50mbps now, and then switch me to the 300gb/mo thing when its the 10th.

I mean why wait several days for the switch, when you can technically get it now >.>

It only took them about 1min or so to switch me over over the phone. Didn't even need to manually restart my router (they did it on their end automatically), or restart my PC. Moving from 1.2Mbps average download speed to 6.5mbps download speed is nice change.

I average about 200-250gb so overall its a good enough switch for me.

Pashune
Caps stifle innovation
Premium Member
join:2006-04-14
Gautier, MS

Pashune

Premium Member

said by anon001 :

I went ahead and called them, and told them, just change my Current 10mbps to the 50mbps now, and then switch me to the 300gb/mo thing when its the 10th.

I mean why wait several days for the switch, when you can technically get it now >.>

It only took them about 1min or so to switch me over over the phone. Didn't even need to manually restart my router (they did it on their end automatically), or restart my PC. Moving from 1.2Mbps average download speed to 6.5mbps download speed is nice change.

I average about 200-250gb so overall its a good enough switch for me.

I have to get a D3 modem first Otherwise I'd go ahead with the change unless there's a way they can force the profile on my modem early. I'd get 24 mbits max down or something like that..
Pashune

Pashune to ANampaIDusr

Premium Member

to ANampaIDusr
BTW, does anyone know if the new 50 mbit plan will require a contract or not?
ANampaIDusr
join:2005-11-19
Nampa, ID

1 edit

ANampaIDusr

Member

No matter what Cableone says they will offer you, make sure you specify in your agreement that you will not pay any overages or pay for cancellation of your contract if they don't give you unlimited internet. 1TB/mo is easy for most customers to reach. They just want to force you into bundled packages which is BS. If you have the option for DSL, especially when the DSL is fed from fiber to your neighborhood hub, go with it.. Because Cable simply cannot compete unless they are willing to put customers ahead of huge profits (and ripping off the majority of people who aren't wise enough to examine their contracts). When a company tells you that you have unlimited bandwidth, then tries to over bill you because you are what they call an extreme user (aka a normal user watching netflix/hulu/etc -- then tell them you aren't interested in their service.. They will escalate you to their "retainment department" which in the long run is admittance to "we are trying to screw over anyone who isn't educated enough to realize what we are doing.

I've been with century link for 8 months now, moving around 4TB/mo of data and they have no problem with it. I'm not a business, but I need upload speeds higher for my personal use (video editing) to Google drive, etc. For my 11 years with Cableone One, in the end, they could only give me an argument that if I needed more throughput I must be a business and thus I should pay them $150-$200/mo. Well too bad, thank goodness for competition or they would be ripping us all off.

If you want VoIP service, I suggest you don't go with Cableone or Century bundled offerings. It is there way to stick it to you. I use Ooma (Basic talk is also good) where I pay $10/mo without being tied to my ISP.

Edit: Cross talk here »CableOne new speeds/bandwidth limits:

.. and my summary, Cableone wanted to pull the old trick that many of us can remember of cell phone companies giving you a surprise extra $300 bill because your kid texted or talked too much. Invest in your infrastructure guys.. Look into the future, your customers are going to have devices likes home security cameras and such. Don't hook us on plans that you advertise as unlimited and then cry like babes when your over subscribed hubs can't handle the traffic. I am in town but have MANY peers in rural areas who get ignored stuck on old ADSL lines that should be pushed to VDSL2+ tech sooner. People pay for 1.5mbit down and can't even watch a 380p youtube video without big buffering delays? Not cool.