Comcast Introduces 1TB Xfinity Data Plans

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Comcast announced that its 1TB data plans are now available inside of the United States. Although this may sound attractive, these data plans are actually somewhat bittersweet.

Over the years, data caps on home internet services have become increasingly common. Although the cap limits your ability to use the internet service, it has been somewhat necessary as data rates increased.

With a relatively slow internet connection and no data cap, you realistically could only use a few hundred gigs of data a month due to the limited speed. If you have a fast internet connection, however, a family that uses the Internet heavily could potentially use a terabyte of data or more.

The ISP's network can only handle so much data traffic, so it has become necessary for them to apply data caps in certain areas. The new 1TB data plans will only be available in certain areas. If you currently have Comcast’s Xfinity internet without a data cap, then this plan will not impact you.

The 1TB data plans are available now in certain markets, and they will expand to more areas in November. If you prefer unlimited data, Comcast also offers it for an additional $50 monthly fee.

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Comcast Xfinity 1TB Data Plans
Starting DateNowNovember 1
MarketAlabama (Excluding Dothan Market)Alabama (Dothan)
ArizonaCalifornia
ArkansasColorado
Florida (Fort Lauderdale, the Keys, and Miami)Florida (North Florida, Southwest Florida and West Palm)
Georgia (excluding Southeastern Georgia)Southeastern Georgia
IllinoisIdaho
Northern IndianaIndiana (Indianapolis and Central Indiana; Fort Wayne and Eastern Indiana)
KentuckyKansas
LouisianaMichigan (Grand Rapids/Lansing, Detroit, and Eastern Michigan)
MaineMinnesota
Southwestern MichiganMissouri
MississippiNew Mexico
TennesseeWestern Ohio
Eastern TexasOregon
South CarolinaTexas (Houston)
Southwest VirginiaUtah
Row 17 - Cell 0 Washington
Row 18 - Cell 0 Wisconsin
Michael Justin Allen Sexton
Michael Justin Allen Sexton is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers hardware component news, specializing in CPUs and motherboards.
34 Comments Comment from the forums
  • problematiq
    Being that ISP's pay for the speed of the data and not the amount, I'm calling bull on this one. If the pipe gets clogged everyone is slowed down we see it during peak usage times, and sometimes QOS (Quality Of Service) kicks in.
    Reply
  • Adam Johnson
    So I have a family of 6 (2 adults and 4 teenagers), and use comcast for internet only, and PS Vue / Netflix / Amazon Prime for our main media consumption. I also telecomute for work (via remoting into a computer on the same network as our DB). I got an email saying I've averaged 1.8 TB/month for the last 3 months. We regular use 4 TV's to stream - not always simultaneously, but sometimes.

    Looks like I'm going to start coughing up $50 more a month, as Comcast is the only speedy internet I can get here. I suppose I can switch to a "double-play" account and axe PSVue, but by the time you add on 4 HDDVR boxes, the price isn't much different, and they all enjoy the unlimited DVR streams and custom profiles on PSVue.
    Reply
  • Realist9
    "The ISP's network can only handle so much data traffic, so it has become necessary for them to apply data caps in certain areas. "
    I think it would be more accurate to say that ISP's have done *&^% all to increase network capacity in the last 10-15 yrs, causing the US to fall behind other countries in network capability, while more services provide network hungry apps, all while the ISP's milk and bilk their customers with ever higher bills and speed/amount restrictions to cover their greed.
    Reply
  • grimfox
    Introduces? I think you mean "Enforces." A new ISP just moved in near us, they laid fiber this summer. AFAIK they don't have a cap and their a similar base tier service is faster than Comcast but costs about $10/month more. Still considering switching just because I continue to see this sort of money grabbing.
    Reply
  • targetdrone
    The "ISPs can only handle so much data" line is a bit miss leading and is just an excuse used by The ISP Cartel to bleed customers for more money.

    Yes, the pipe is only so fat and only so many bits can be crammed throw it at ANY ONE TIME but me downloading my ENTIRE steam library at 2am on Tuesday does not crash the network like everyone "Netflix and chilling" at 7pm on a Friday.

    The Cartel loves to cry about limited bandwidth capacity and because of that the need to set data caps and charge for overages , yet the next sentence out of their press releases is they are doubling everyone download speeds free of charge. If the crappy network can't handle everyone downloading at 25MBs don't upgrade everyone to 50MBs. STOP OVERSELLING!
    Reply
  • targetdrone
    18698939 said:
    "The ISP's network can only handle so much data traffic, so it has become necessary for them to apply data caps in certain areas. "
    I think it would be more accurate to say that ISP's have done *&^% all to increase network capacity in the last 10-15 yrs, causing the US to fall behind other countries in network capability, while more services provide network hungry apps, all while the ISP's milk and bilk their customers with ever higher bills and speed/amount restrictions to cover their greed.

    Don't forget all the money they need to pay off politicians and judges at all levels of government to prevent any competition from entering the market and to secure tax payer subsidies and still never upgrade the infrastructure or stop rate increases.
    Reply
  • drapacioli
    Jeez, $50 to remove a data cap? I pay $45 a month for 50/50 in FL and my plan is not capped in any way. Where the hell are these people living where internet is so expensive?
    Reply
  • Adam Johnson
    18699131 said:
    Jeez, $50 to remove a data cap? I pay $45 a month for 50/50 in FL and my plan is not capped in any way. Where the hell are these people living where internet is so expensive?

    I live in a suburb of Sacramento, CA. I can get 3.0 DSL from ATT for ~$40 (after the trial period ends) or Comcast BLAST for $83. DSL is way too slow. ATT does have Fiber in a lot of areas around here, but they never made it to my neighborhood, and stopped expanding their fiber network years ago.
    Reply
  • PaulAlcorn
    My ISP (Cox Communication) sold me a plan with 2TB cap per month, pretty good, 200 down and 25 up. Then they cut the cap in half the next month to 1TB without even telling me, other than the notice that I had exceeded my limit. ISPs are no bueno.
    Reply
  • RobWilJas
    Bullshit, even comcast has admitted its not about network capacity. They said it's about fairness.
    Reply