Internet Capacity, Data Caps, etc.

[Centuriator]

So...let's play this out...if we have a LOT of people having to say in their homes, obviously they will be on the Internet, big time. Are there capacity limits to how many people can be using the Internet across the USA at any time? Some companies impose data caps. Will they lift the caps and not charge extra fees during this time of viral outbreak? Will the Internet be stressed beyond capacity and simply fail? I'm not sure how all this works across the nation, would appreciate an expert commenting on how the Internet "runs" etc.

Here is an article, from March 6, describing which ISP's have data caps.

Which Internet Service Providers Have Data Caps? | HighSpeedInternet.com

Find out which Internet Service Providers have unlimited data and which providers have data caps and overage fees.

www.highspeedinternet.com

 

[Maggot]

Fuckem. I got tired of paying Cumcast nearly $95 per month (with modem rental, extortion insurance, taxes, etc) and turned it off. Most of the movies werent watching anyway. In my area they are the only viable option. Now I just hotspot/tether from my $40 a month cell phone with 10 gb which I apaid for any way. I find I use it less and have more time for stuff that counts.

 

[Centuriator]

To each his own...my question would apply to however you are accessing the Internet.

 

[Maggot]

To each his own...my question would apply to however you are accessing the Internet.

In that case I believe Consumer Cellular caps me at 25 giggles per month.

 

[PolarisBreach]

Bandwidth is a momentary capacity, meanings it's how much data can fit through the pipe at one time. Data caps are the equivalent of restricting how many miles a month you can drive on the highway - not really effective at reducing rush hour traffic.

The Internet itself will be fine. If you're on a connection where you share bandwidth with your neighbors, like cable, you might notice an impact. More people on teleconferences and kids streaming video are going to be the big users. If it gets to be bad, expect the ISPs to start throttling big users.

 

[tadawson]

The only reason anyone has a cap is that they were too cheap to buy anything good . . . Also, most consumer networking is decepively maketed with the big "Up to XX!" lie, which is reality is a promise to absolutely *never* do better than XX, but allow any level of sucking they choose. IE, for an "Up to 100 mbits" ad, .002 mbits meets that commitment, since no minimum is stated. Buy an jncapped service with a guaranteed minimum speed, or don't complain . . . and yes, it costsmore! Duh! You also *get* more, like local support that *ISN'T* f-ing Bangalor Bob!

 

[Jefe's Dope]

Most internet providers have committed to waving overage fees and eliminating caps during this period. And since there's already a lot of usage on a daily basis, I don't think there will be much of a slow down.

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

Mine is unlimited an down load last speed test was 69Mb

 

[Centuriator]

We have a 200 mgb connection and I'm consistently getting 226-230mgb over our home's WiFi, this is not even a direct hard wire connection the modem, so we are good.

 

[broncoaz]

I’m on a 400 mb plan and am getting the speeds advertised when I don’t run the Nord VPN, I lose about 25% on download speeds with the VPN. My plan is price for life at $43.50 per month with no data caps.

The first image is no VPN, the second is with VPN. Both are taken on my iPad.

 

[Centuriator]

$45 per month for 400mgb? Sweet.

 

[broncoaz]

$45 per month for 400mgb? Sweet.

I was previously on a plan with this provider that was $89 per month for 400 mb. I saw that they were offering $39.99 plus taxes price for life to new customers last summer. I had to cancel for an entire month to become eligible for the new customer deal and then there were some snafus getting my modem released from the old account, so we were down 6 weeks. 6 weeks of crap cellular internet and stealing internet from my neighbor sucked, but I’m saving $546 annually for my troubles.

i did something similar for my SiriusXM subscription. The rate on three vehicles was up to $45 per month, so I called to cancel one truck and get a promo deal on the other two. I ended up with a deal for $14.46 on the remaining two for the next year saving $366.

Between these two monthly bills I can save $912 annually, which pays for 1200+ rounds of 6.5 140 gr American Gunner for my new Bergara, or a great night at the whorehouse.

 

[Centuriator]

I dumped Sirius a long while ago...I get all the music streamed everywhere I want via my Amazon Prime membership and I prefer listening to podcasts anyway on my drive.

 

[broncoaz]

I dumped Sirius a long while ago...I get all the music streamed everywhere I want via my Amazon Prime membership and I prefer listening to podcasts anyway on my drive.

I generally agree, but the streaming isn’t an option on I-17 between Flagstaff and Phoenix because the cell service is non existent on some sections of road. I run about 15K miles per year on I-17. I do listen to lots of podcasts and may kill the sat radio after this one year deal is up, but it’s nice to turn on the car and have it just work vs having to make sure my phone is paired and the correct service is activated.

I thought Amazon music streaming was a separate charge? My brother pays for Spotify and gave me a login on his for free. I do the same with using my folks Netflix login, no point in paying for something I can get for free.

 

[antithesis]

I think the Internet going TITSUP over this is just more panic stuff. As @PolarisBreach said, your local loop is where you are likely to see a hit. For cable Internet, it is mainly the piece of coax that you share with your neighbors that will be you choke point. For DSL, it is the local switch.

With so many businesses relying on cloud resources these days pipes have gotten bigger. People doing things from home rather than the office is just moving usage from one location to another.

I can see one, possibly small, scenario where peering points may see less traffic. Business users that stream things from their office computers will stream from home instead while leaving out the 'business' part. Couple that with local choke points, and overall traffic may down.

 

[Centuriator]

Good point....