Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is my provider, so I have to stay below their monthly 250Gbyte ceiling before worrying about getting a nastygram urging me to upgrade to a higher-end service or face possible disconnection if I don't fall in line. The comforting news, so far, is that it appears that Comcast is among the MSOs considered least likely to start billing for overages in the near-term. (See Comcast Draws the Line at 250GB.)
But it also turns out that I, like the majority of broadband users, don't have much to worry about even if they did decide to ding customers who exceed the cap. I cannot recall checking this in more than a year, but here's the consumption trend in my household over the last three months:
By this account, it appears that we've hit a consumption plateau that falls well below the 250GB ceiling, but well above the 16GB per month AT&T's DSL users are averaging.
But I don't find my consumption all that surprising. We still watch most of our TV the regular way, though we do stream stuff now and then from sources like Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) and Comcast's Xfinity TV Online service and download movies and TV shows from iTunes at least two to three times a month. The kids love the iPad and use it a lot, with much of it relegated to streaming low-res Star Wars Legos videos on YouTube Inc. . So, in this sense, we're definitely using the Web to complement rather than replace our video-viewing habits.
But the usage in my household is just one example. Anyone else out there check their consumption trends after learning of AT&T's decision? Where did you end up? What are your Web TV viewing habits like these days?
— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable
March to Date - 59 GBytes
Feb - 116 Gbytes
Jan - 154 Gbytes
Dec - 91 Gbytes
We do stream a number of Netflix films and TV shows. We also are a heavy gaming household and March had 2 installs of DragonAge II.
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