Usage Caps Will Now Apply To 56% Of Broadband Users

With AT&T set to implement usage caps and overage charges for all high-speed Internet customers on May 2, more than 42 million broadband subscribers in the U.S. will be subject to explicit pre-set limits on how much bandwidth they can use on a monthly basis. All told, approximately 56% of the country's 75 million broadband subscribers will have some form of caps, according to a Multichannel News analysis based on Leichtman Research Group's subscriber estimates for the fourth quarter of 2010.

Other major U.S. broadband providers that already have usage ceilings in place include Comcast, Cox Communications and Charter Communications. AT&T will be the largest U.S. broadband provider that will not just impose specific usage limits on subscribers but also tack on fees if those caps are exceeded. The telco will limit U-verse Internet subscribers to 250 Gigabytes of total usage (downloads and uploads) and 150 GB on traditional DSL subscribers. For every 50 GB beyond those, customers will be charged $10 (equivalent to 20 cents per GB). According to AT&T, less than 2% of its entire base of digital subscriber line customers will hit the caps, but the change has been criticized by public-interest groups as anti-consumer measure that will inhibit online video services.