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gatorkram
Need for Speed
Premium Member
join:2002-07-22
Winterville, NC

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Re: Caps and Overages are Back

The price they charge for overages is ridiculous. $10 for 50GB. This would mean, the included 350GB on my plan is worth $70 of my $80 fee.

So there you have it, I pay a $10 access fee, and then forced to purchase 350GB of data.

moldypickle
Premium Member
join:2009-01-04
Haughton, LA

moldypickle

Premium Member

Just to contrast the entire idea, why are we ok with the pricing structure of cell phones if this is a huge deal?

Just a thought that came to mind

gatorkram
Need for Speed
Premium Member
join:2002-07-22
Winterville, NC

gatorkram

Premium Member

said by moldypickle:

Just to contrast the entire idea, why are we ok with the pricing structure of cell phones if this is a huge deal?

Just a thought that came to mind

In my mind, cell phones have always been overpriced. I still view them as a luxury device, though less and less all the time. They also have always charged for data usage, at least as much as I have been involved with them, so it's no surprise.

When I signed up for SL, they had no such fees and limits. I also do NOT view my internet access as a luxury, without it my life would be much harder, if not impossible. I do almost everything online, from paying bills, to acquiring food.

Obviously again someone could make the same arguments about their cell phone. My only answer is, you knew what you were getting when you signed up, unlike myself and many others, when they signed up for cable internet service, it was touted as always on, and unlimited.

At the end of the day, I say fight one battle at a time, and I picked this one first.

moldypickle
Premium Member
join:2009-01-04
Haughton, LA
ARRIS SB8200
Ubiquiti UDM-Pro
Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-nanoHD

moldypickle

Premium Member

I've had a cell phone since before data. Then the mobile internet came. I've been through 3 or 4 reinventions of the pricing scheme and we all should have gone down the road of no longer unlimited mobile data just a couple years ago. Cable is doing the same thing now.

Demog
@cebridge.net

Demog

Anon

Unless you have a contract, you are subject to price increases, caps etc. You are not entitled to what you have in perpetuity without one.

Heck even when you do have a contract they find a way around it. Look at what the cell companies did with the grand fathered unlimited data plans. Since they couldn't take them away, they started throttling heavy users.

As ISP's infrastructure gets more sophisticated I would not be surprised if they start throttling specific heavy use customers. As someone else noted, for ISPs the real issue is at night when everyone gets home and fires up netflix.
Uplinkpro
join:2008-02-11
Lake Charles, LA

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Well not all of us have cell phones for this exact reason. Personally though I agree, we should be outraged at phone bandwidth caps - we should be outraged at ALL caps.

Edit: And another day where my meter is showing lower usage than SL's, 8.7 compared to 8.9. Not as large as some other differences but as mentioned before SL should always be showing lower than my router's meter.

moldypickle
Premium Member
join:2009-01-04
Haughton, LA

moldypickle

Premium Member

Just a short bit about my cellphone again, just checked my data meter on my phone vs what att says i have consumed, they don't match, lol
Uplinkpro
join:2008-02-11
Lake Charles, LA

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I would actually think some of us wouldn't mind just being throttled slightly during peak hours, at the very least throttling wouldn't charge us more money for going over their arbitrary limits. Even though I say that though for the most part some people are getting throttled already due to SL overselling their network's capacity.

But let's get off of that for a bit and lets look at what else is happening. There has not been any official announcement anywhere about caps being reinstated - the only thing even telling us it has been reinstated is the warning letters (their faq doesn't count cause they can change it at will and retroactively). That leaves their customers, the ones being the most affected by this change, as the ones alerting their fellow customers of a policy change started by Suddenlink. I don't know about you, but to me pissing off some customers and having them be the only real mouthpiece about something like this is a really bad idea. The least they should be doing right now is acknowledging this change.

Also, why should I pay more for the 30 Mb/s plan when it's the same cap as the 15 Mb/s plan. With that you're effectively paying more for less...

Edit: And yet another day where the meter is 6% above what my router is showing (theirs shows 7GB mine shows 6.657GB). So that's several days where their meter which should always be below mine is consistently higher than mine by a margin larger than their proclaimed ±1%
TurboNerd
join:2013-02-22
Clovis, NM

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Thank heavens Caps and overages are not back. Unless Billing Misled me but the HelpDesk says it is. Billing does not have a line item and says it was yet again postponed to a later date. Probably because their meters are off more specifically the "View internet usage meter" and their "actual" meter that would be used for billing.

Using a sniffer it shows 113G. SuddenLink shows different.
If we think we are at 120G (according to the meter i can see) and are actually billed at 129G (which i cannot see) we are being misled by their meter and will get the lovely warning when it comes if it comes.

Amazingly Verizon's Data Meter vs Android Meter is SPOT ON with each other and .03% off of the sniffer. (that's because i can't put it between the network device (phone) and computer, just the phone to computer, Internet Connection Sharing Cat5 through the sniffer to the used computer and that .03% is Microsoft's ICS overhead every byte of it.

Internet connection sharing is the only way i can get full uninterrupted speed from my ps3 over wifi/adhoc vs lousy performance over standard wifi.

Verizon sure as hell made their meter accurate, since they went to their tier plans. (although i am grandfathered unlimited) knowing a class action would be had.

SuddenLink better make sure it's is accurate, because if i get billed extra they sure as hell better prove it. I don't care if it includes CMTS overhead which i cannot sniff without violating Terms of service/Acceptable use policy.
Just want to know what they monitor and how they monitor it. So long as it is accurate to that methodology, and can be repeated.

All goes down to consistency in my mind, Like showing we were not online for 3 days. Meanwhile Billing shows usage for 2 those 3 days. When we were online for all 3 days.

Come on SuddenLink get your crap together and be consistent and not say YES we have implemented a cap and another say NO we have not.
We need to be educated so we know what actions we need to take, weather it be a higher tier, modifying our online habits, or DROPPING you all together.

With data caps shouldn't your commercials say "Do the same in less time with faster internet". Instead of the Misleading yet still correct "Do More in less time" (until you hit the cap and we charge you in fine print)
Uplinkpro
join:2008-02-11
Lake Charles, LA

3 edits

Uplinkpro

Member

Well something interesting to note. There was supposed to be a warning sent at 200Gb of data used (for 80% of 250 for my plan) and I didn't receive a warning either when I hit that amount in real time nor after the meter updated like when I received the warning e-mail for the last cycle. This either means they say they'll send out warnings but don't, caps were on in our area but were shut off, or there was an issue with their e-mailing sending out warnings when they weren't supposed to.

As I'm trying to stay under 250 GB since I can't afford to be paying anymore than the $150 a month I'm currently paying I don't want to push for high usage until I can at least use double that amount on a "warning" so earliest I would be able to confirm this would be next month unless we somehow go over out usage this month.

Btw, that $150 is for TV, phone, and what appears to be 15/1 (hard to tell cause it spikes a lot) internet service. We currently have a digital box (was a DVR but we downgraded to save money) that we don't even use yet were told if we kept it and just had basic cable for one tv we'd be charged more -_-

Edit: Also, to reiterate
»suddenlink.com/allowanceplan/
quote:
2. How much usage am I allowed on my Suddenlink Internet account?

Consistent with our Acceptable Use Policy and Residential Services Agreement, Suddenlink re-established usage allowances for residential (non-business) Internet accounts in most of its service areas as of May 2, 2013. Where in effect, those usage allowances are as follows:
So there are definitely reasons to be confused when you get mixed messages from multiple people and even their automated services when they claim that the plans were put back into place for "most" areas, yet don't inform anyone in said areas of the plans being put into place until after the fact.

Edit 2: Though this seems it could be them working on the notification as per part 6 of the linked allowance plan page (which seems to be a fairly new addition, as well as part 9). Can't they realize all of this is just one major headache for everyone involved.

moldypickle
Premium Member
join:2009-01-04
Haughton, LA

moldypickle

Premium Member

uplink, get ahold of them and ask about the commercial that's on tv saying that existing members can get new customer pricing. Should drop it down a bit. Hell, I've even got mailers for the triple play for 99/month (sl200 and 15/1.5)

Gaff
Just like the gypsy woman said
join:1999-09-05
North TX, US

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After receiving a $6 increase on my bill from last month to this month, I did an online chat a few minutes ago hoping to get some kind of reduction on my bill, if for nothing else than being a good customer (between my wife and I we have been Suddenlink customers for around a decade).

I talked with "Shronda G" and, after a sizable delay, was told that the $6 increase was for "a rate increase in your area" and that there were no discounts or any other reductions I could receive, other than downgrading my service.

Disappointing, but there you go.

moldypickle
Premium Member
join:2009-01-04
Haughton, LA

moldypickle

Premium Member

Might I ask if what you are paying is anywhere close to what you can see on their website?

Gaff
Just like the gypsy woman said
join:1999-09-05
North TX, US

Gaff

Member

No idea, it refuses to show prices for my area when I try to look.

"Sorry, we were unable to find any web offers for the service combination you selected.
Please change your selection or contact us via Live Chat, Email, or Phone (877-694-9474)."

Even if I select things by themselves it still comes up as that.

moldypickle
Premium Member
join:2009-01-04
Haughton, LA

moldypickle

Premium Member

Interesting. Apparently you're in a zero competition market, lol

Gaff
Just like the gypsy woman said
join:1999-09-05
North TX, US

Gaff

Member

Sadly this is true

Suddenlink is the only cable player in town, and DSL here tops out at 6Mbit. There is no U-Verse or FIOS, so the incumbents can essentially do whatever they want, such as $6 price rises, whenever they feel like it.