AT&T’s Data Cap: Will it affect you?

AT&T announced today they will be implementing a 150GB data cap on residential DSL customers and 250GB for U-verse customers. For those of you unfamiliar with data measurement here are some helpful benchmarks. 1GB = 1024MB Watching a video on YouTube for ten minutes runs about 10 to 50 megabytes One could download about 50 full-length, HD movies for 150GB The following limits suggest how data will be used under the caps. From Home Media Magazine: 100 hours per month of TV for DSL users 200 hours per month of TV for U-verse users 20 movie downloads in standard definition 10 movie downloads in high definition Send/Receive 10,000 emails; 3,000 photos; 2,000 songs; 5,000 one-minute YouTube videos AT&T reports the average user only uses 18GB a month, far from the precedent now set by the service provider. So yes, the average user is safe from overextending their usage and racking up overage charges. Those who may worry and could possibly be affected are professionals constantly backing up and securing data to cloud networks from home – often without realizing the fact. Perhaps even serious gamers will have to face the fee of $10 charged for every 50GB over the limit. AT&T assures that only 2% of users will even notice the cap and plans to provide regular updates to customers on usage, noting when they reach 65%, 90% and 100% of their allotted data usage. Critics of the data cap insist this is a ploy to take down streaming services like Netflix and Amazon which currently present formidable competition to cable service providers. Broadband services only cost providers millions, and yet return billions in revenue from customers – we’re not entirely sure of the point of data caps if not to take a stab at sites like Netflix and Amazon. AT&T suggests this will be a way for the company to prevent performance blockage by eliminating uneven usage among customers. How do you feel about data caps on your DSL and cable services?