US Cable Support → Mediacom > New Data Caps

Re: New Data Caps

They are a new thing for most, as most people are loyal grandfathered users.

Actually, not "new" at all. Read through the forums here, you'll find people have been getting calls for at least a year, probably more like two, "informing" them that this was coming.

They actually put the caps in place a year or so ago, and yes, once you're off your initial year, you're forced into their closest available plan. This is how they've always done business.

Again, no, it's not a good idea, as it really breaks non competes, giving them the monopoly, but it's the way that they're ALL doing business now. The only way around it? Get the government involved, but that's not going to happen, either.

One thing that bothers me is that those who use the most data overall arent necessarily ones causing congestion. If you sit at 20mbps downloading large files during peak hours, sure, you're adding to congestion.

But if you're like me and work from home, the simple fact that you're on the internet from this location more hours of the day means that you're going to download more. But my 8am to 5pm usage isnt increasing congestion. Mediacom with its cap is saying roughly 10 gigabit a day is ok. Ok, but 10 gigabit used all between 5 and 10 is a LOT different on the network than 10 gigabit spread from 8 to 10.

Another annoying thing is its not like you have to try to use a lot of data. In many ways you cant avoid it. More and more sites are running streaming video on load. Some of them do it on mute and you dont even know its happening, but its costing you part of your data allowance.

No, no more unmetered full out fun, on the residential side. biz class unlimited and double price

I think the biggest issue I am hearing out of these discussions is an issue of trust. Sure many of us chafe at the idea of having a limit to our activity, but the real issue is that we don't trust Mediacom to be accurate or honest with the meter. They blow smoke about everything else, why not this too?

They could always make their caps revolve around their peak time if they were truly worried about congestion. Use as much as you want other times, but have a meter specifically for the peak hours.

@Ryan: Seems someone could get sued for such inaccuracies.

BTW, what program do you use to track that...think I may need to protect myself from inaccurate billing in the future.

It's part of my router (Netgear)

cool deal, I don't mess with my router too much...any idea where in my router it would be, seeing as I also have a netgear.

I just started running DD-WRT to better track usage as well. Though I did end up opting to bump to the 350GB limit.

That said, Is the limit truly GB or is it Gb? If it's GigaBYTE, then I should never come near reaching it.

I was running DD-WRT, but it wasn't very stable on my router. Worked great on my previous WRT54GL & TL-1043, though.

The website lists as GB, which is gigabyte. 250Gb would only be 31.25GB, which most of could easily blow in just a few days.

My router is (probably a lot older then that)....I don't see any similar options.

Anyone buy the 105/10mbit package? They're going to charge me $99 a month. Supposedly none of that is internet only surcharge.

They said there currently weren't any promos available. Maybe she was misinformed. Anything going on right now I'd be eligible for to knock it down below $99 for a year Chad?

Edit - how did I know it wouldn't be as simple as rebooting the modem. Now to wait for tech support to actually change me over to 105mbit from 50mbit.

I have the 105 for $99, no contract. I only have the service, modem and tax charge.

So it's a little over $105 a month.

As several others have said I think that is quite obvious that caps have nothing to do with congestion or sharing bandwidth equally. It all has to do with cable companies trying to preserve the TV part of their service. If it was about congestion they could easily come up with better solutions. For example, allow people to download all they want between the hours of midnight and 6AM (not count against the cap). This would relieve some the peak hour pressure. But they won't do that because people would then tend to download movies and TV shows during those hours, which would defeat their interests.

The sad thing is that this seems to be the wave of the future and companies keep trying to preserve dying business models e.g. the movie industry when they were first threatened by TV in the 1950s, the RIAA and MPAA currently, etc. It is absurd for a cable company, which for years pushed unlimited downloads as an advertising point, to now try to discourage people from using it. This is exactly what caps do because people are having to be constantly worried that they will exceed their limit.

One last thing. I just don't see how 3% of the users who are heavy consumers could so adversely affect the other 97%. After all, congestion occurs during peak hours when many of the light users (97%) are on at the same time. The heavy users presumably are on at many different times of the day.

I agree. Chad and the others do a great job. OTOH, I could not do a job where the company line is to blatantly deceive and lie to customers.

drslash
Goya Asma
Premium
join:2002-02-18
Marion, IA

I agree. Chad and the others do a great job. OTOH, I could not do a job where the company line is to blatantly deceive and lie to customers.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chad is more than one person, unless he can answer questions 16+ hours a day.
My son worked there bit over 3 yrs and they asked him to go against his core beliefs.
Lie to customers and make them think thier machines are broken when the system was.
That was quite a few yrs ago but i bet not much has changed.

I have been fighting with Mediacom about this for a few days but for me it is not about the CAP. I can live with the cap, not is not a big deal. However for the past 6 years I have paid for 20+ down and 2 up. I was very specific when I signed up and was given the service I asked for.

My service however, when the cap goes into effect in about 2 weeks is being down graded according to Mediacom to 15/1. When I asked about this I was told I have always had 15/1. I explained my sign up and the specific request. They responded that with the last 4 months bills I am on the 15/1 plan.

I asked when was I downgraded and why was I not informed, you would think I was talking to an idiot rock because the smart rock could have followed the discussion better.

As a loyal customer, we have been with Mediacom as a company since 1994, I figured they would cut some kind of contract deal to give me back my full speed and the matter would be settled. Was I ever wrong. I was informed that if wantyed the service I have paid for all this time I would have to pay $20 a month more on my bill.

Well that ended that conversation pretty quick. The good news is Frontier has put in 24/2 service in Carbondale a few months ago and they offered it to me for $45 a month, that BTW is the same as Mediacom is expecting me to pay for 15/1. Add to this the fact that there is no cap and needless to say the move has started.

Also I spoke to Dish network and am getting the same cable channels I have now for $30 less than what I am paying Mediacom and that is not a promotional price (took the free Ipad). Finally they are charging us $40 a month for phone on Mediacom. Took the deal with Alltel for home phone and so in the end I am geting the same service for $50 less and no cap on my internet.

The shame is, if Mediacom had just given me the service I had been paying for and not tried to hike my costs, I would have stayed with them.