Comcast waived data caps for pandemic and its network is just fine

With Comcast's network performing so well during the pandemic, why did Comcast's data cap exist in the first place? The answer has always been "money," of course—a Comcast executive once acknowledged in a Twitter reply that imposing data caps is a business decision, not one driven by technical necessity. But it might be useful to re-examine Comcast's previous justifications for the data cap now that the arbitrary limit is temporarily gone and Comcast could face public pressure to make it go away forever. Comcast's official line is that it imposes a data cap to ensure "fairness" among its customers, which is not the same thing as saying data caps are necessary to prevent network congestion. But Comcast has occasionally spoken of Internet data as if it's a depletable resource, like water or gas.

Now that Comcast has done the previously unthinkable—waive its data caps throughout the nation, for two full months, the company is naturally facing calls to make the change permanent. Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) said, "If there was any doubt that data caps weren't necessary to manage network loads, that argument is settled—families are using far more data in their homes as a result of the pandemic, without issue. Data caps have always been about socking consumers with extra fees to pad Big Cable's profit margins. Even after the COVID-19 emergency passes, ISPs should do away with unnecessary data caps." Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said, "Over the long term, we will have to assess the lessons learned from the use of so much connectivity during this pandemic, including the role of data caps going forward."