Comcast customers in more than a dozen states in the Northeast will not have to worry about too much broadband data yet. In November, the company announced that it would implement a 1.2 TB data limit in early 2021 on broadband users in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
After two months of exemption from overcharging, these customers would have to start tracking data usage in March. A courtesy credit once a year from Comcast would have helped these people that month, but after that, they would have been at risk for any excess fees. Comcast has had a similar data limit in many other parts of its 39-state footprint since 2016.
However, thanks to an agreement with Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, telecom will not apply the new limit until July, which means that if you are a Comcast customer in one of the affected markets, you will not see any charges for surplus on your monthly bill until August. It also agreed to waive any early termination fees until December 31, 2021 for customers who signed a contract before November 2020.
For customers who exceeded their data quota, telecom planned to charge $ 10 for each additional 50 GB that exceeded the limit, up to a maximum of $ 100. To avoid excesses, these customers would have to subscribe to the $ 30 unlimited plan monthly company packages or the complete $ 25 xFi monthly package. Throughout the saga, Comcast stated that 95% of its customers use much less than 1.2 TB per month. With so many internet addicts at the moment for everything from work to school, the planned time for the increase has hit the wrong track.
“As the inhabitants of Pennsylvania continue to navigate this pandemic, we know that millions are relying on the internet to study and work more than ever,” said Shapiro. “This is not the time to change the rules when it comes to using Internet data and increasing costs.”
The announcement came a day after Comcast said it was doubling the speed of its Internet Essentials package for low-income families. As of March 1, the service will support download speeds of up to 50 Mbps. Comcast also increased these speeds at Shapiro’s insistence.