“Don’t say data cap. This is not a cap. We do not limit a customer’s use of the Internet in any way at or above 300 GB.”
— from a leaked Comcast customer service script instructing customer service representatives on how to handle customers amid the company’s expansion of broadband data caps to more cities. Here’s the deal on the data caps that supposedly aren’t: If a customer goes over 300GB, Comcast will charge $10 for each additional 10 GB. Or customers can pay an additional $35 a month for an unlimited plan.
Comcast confirmed last week the company is expanding the caps to some Southern cities. The move is no shocker. My colleague Troy Wolverton wrote last year that Comcast Senior Executive Vice President David Cohen predicted that within five years, all of the company’s broadband Internet customers would be subject to data usage caps — although Cohen later tried to backtrack on his comments. At the time, Cohen said the number of customers affected by the data caps would be low because most Internet users don’t eat up that much data.
More from the leaked script, which Comcast told Ars Technica is “consistent with what we’ve been saying internally and externally”: “If a customer calls in with any questions associated with the usage policy and how it relates to Net Neutrality, Netflix or observations about how XFINITY services are or are not counted relative to third party services, do not address these items with the customer. Immediately escalate to the Customer Security Assurance (CSA) Team.”
One Comcast customer who’s paying the fee for unlimited broadband told the Associated Press: “I think the idea of limiting your usage is absolutely insane. It would make sense if the cap was 2 terabytes, but 300 [gigabytes] is just low enough to punish streaming.”
The company — which calls the caps a matter of “fairness” — told the AP that 8 percent of its customers go over the 300GB cap.
Photo from Associated Press
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