Small ISP Cancels Data Caps Permanently After Reviewing Pandemic Usage 25
An anonymous reader writes: Antietam Broadband, which serves Washington County in Maryland, announced Friday that it "has permanently removed broadband data usage caps for all customers," retroactive to mid-March when the company first temporarily suspended data-cap overage fees. The decision to permanently drop the cap was made partly because of "learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic as more people worked and learned remotely," Antietam explained. "During this period customers moved into broadband packages that more accurately reflected their broadband needs." Like most other ISPs, Antietam charges different prices based on speed tiers as measured in bits per second, with Antietam's advertised download speeds ranging up to 1Gbps.
"These are uncertain times. We felt a need to give customers as much certainty over their bill as possible," Antietam President Brian Lynch said in the press release. "Eliminating data usage caps means that customers will know the exact amount of their broadband bill every month." U.S. residents have been using more Internet data at home since mid-March, when the pandemic caused the closure of offices and schools. "Since the pandemic began, we have seen as much increase in broadband usage as we generally would see over the course of a year," Lynch said. Antietam said it has responded to the growing usage "by adding backhaul, server capacity and local nodes." "Antietam imposed its data cap in 2015, charging a $10 overage fee for each additional block of 50GB," the report adds. "The monthly data caps ranged from 500GB to 1.5TB per month, except for a gigabit fiber plan that already included unlimited data."
"These are uncertain times. We felt a need to give customers as much certainty over their bill as possible," Antietam President Brian Lynch said in the press release. "Eliminating data usage caps means that customers will know the exact amount of their broadband bill every month." U.S. residents have been using more Internet data at home since mid-March, when the pandemic caused the closure of offices and schools. "Since the pandemic began, we have seen as much increase in broadband usage as we generally would see over the course of a year," Lynch said. Antietam said it has responded to the growing usage "by adding backhaul, server capacity and local nodes." "Antietam imposed its data cap in 2015, charging a $10 overage fee for each additional block of 50GB," the report adds. "The monthly data caps ranged from 500GB to 1.5TB per month, except for a gigabit fiber plan that already included unlimited data."
Re:"learnings" (Score:4, Funny)
Shhh! It sounds like "earnings" to keep the marketers happy.
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"Marketers"... that word makes me cringe.
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Its a goofy word.
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There is something incorrect about it: "learning" is an uncountable noun. It's like saying "datas".
Re: "learnings" (Score:1)
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10 dollars per 50GB block?! Lucky you! (Score:2)
You guys complained for that?
Oh no, poor little you. Check out how the average Canadian wallets are getting assaulted:
Check out the prices and fees for the lowest internet speed offered by Bell Canada [www.bell.ca].
Here is the TL;DR
- $59.95 one-time activation fee.
- $49.95 per month.
- Download Speed: minimum 5 Mbps, average 9 Mbps, maximum 10 Mbps
- Upload Speed: minimum 0.68 Mbps, average 0.68 Mbps, maxi
Re:10 dollars per 50GB block?! Lucky you! (Score:4, Interesting)
I always felt these should be symmetric. If you charge $4 per GB over 100 GB, then you must give a credit of $4 per GB under 100 GB. So if you use 90 GB in the month, then $50 - $4*10 = $10 for the month. Helps keep the accountants honest when setting these prices.
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- Included monthly usage: 100 GB, $4.00 per additional GB (maximum $100 per month)
I always felt these should be symmetric.
I subscribed to AT&T DSL/copper like 2 decades ago. They charged me, I forget, $35/500GB over a 250KB line or whatever, with an overrun usage fee that ended up being cheaper per GB. So although they were "penalizing" me for data overruns, it turned out better for me to monthly overrun if I needed the bandwidth.
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Heh. Just charge by the gigabyte.
If I'm really tired I can buy the idea that the number of bytes I download has a proportional increase in their earnings, you might talk me into accepting a simple usage rate like that since we share the realities of this service.
The reason I won't accept anything but unlimited is I've had too many services that deliberately cripple their rate plans in order to wear you down. For example: Former AT&T Wireless customer, here. My wife didn't use cellular data so we got
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If you want me to pay by the byte, then I want the meter that measures it to be completely objective, calibrated and sealed and checkable without consuming quota.
There are many people who can manufacture one, using agreed to measurement standards. After all, a byte should be a byte, but not always. Some providers add 10% by adding in headers of various layers. Others add in management packets you never see.
So as long as they provide a sealed box that lets you monitor usage, like a meter you have for electri
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Same with speed too. If your ISP advertises "up to 70mbps" but due to the line being old and congestion on their network you only average 35mbps you should only pay 50%.
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I think some of this is driven by a new fiber provider moving into the area. Spectrum wants to piss us off less so we don't jump ship.
I know where I'm hosting my servers now (Score:2)
Normally you have to choose between two things:
1. a home ISP connection, which is designed and priced for someone who is actually receiving a packet less than 1% of the time. Since other customers use the capacity 99% of the time, when you aren't using it, you only pay for 1% of the cost. This costs maybe $1/Mbps.
2. A server connection where you're receiving packets 24/7. Nobody else can use the like capacity because you're using it 24/7. This costs about $60/Mbps.
If they're selling 100 Mbps 24/7 full-spe
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all home broadband plans have a "no server" policy.
and soon, if not now, home broadband will be all NAT anyways.
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Antietam Alternatives (Score:1)
Depending on where you live (yes, in Hagerstown), you might have access options from Comcast (shudder), Telegia (wireless, LOS required), Hagerstown Fiber (chunk of the north end and out Salem Ave.) and even painful Verizon (1998 called and wants their DSL back).
What would be nice to have a hybrid solution...fiber where available, some wireless mesh to build out and figure expansion routes.
Believe Wireless (https://www.believebroadband.com/) has a nice solution for parts of Baltimore...
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You can generally get a business fiber account at 1Gbps for around $1k nowadays, at least in competitive markets.
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Which ISP? (Score:2)
This ISP sounds almost magical. Like something from a futuristic science fiction. Which company is it?
Finally (Score:1)
Speaking as an Antietam (https://www.antietambroadband.com/) customer...
This is probably as much to try and fend off the growing fiber competition...as a gesture of good will.
Wish/Fishing I still lived in a neighborhood with Hagerstown Fiber (https://hagerstownfiber.com/) as an option. Guess the $10/month I'll save now... will cover VPN service.