Q - I currently have Comcast and I have been told that they have a 250 gig per month cap. I have been streaming Netflix, most of it in HD. How much streaming can I do of movies without going over their limit? I don't intend on streaming too much, but read that if you go over they terminate your internet if you go over.
A - Hi Jonathan,
Great question! We've mentioned Comcast's Internet control and bandwidth cap restrictions before, and we will tell you that they are quite serious about the 250GB cap. If you violate it more than once in a year, they will terminate your account without notice.
That said, here's the breakdown of the bandwidth you speak of:
Netflix Movies (HD): These guys are around 3.8Mbit, which means it's about 3600MB for a 2 hour HD movie.
Netflix Movies (SD): Each of these movies are around 500-700MB each, depending on the length of the movie.
Netflix TV Shows (HD): A 30-minute TV show will be about 1500MB.
Netflix TV Shows (SD): A 30-minute TV show will be about 400MB.
If you do the math, that means you can stream about 3 seasons of Entourage and 40 movies in HD. However, that's not to account for standard Internet usage, so with YouTube, Facebook, and all of the other things you and your household may use, that's looking to drop the number down to about 20 HD movies, which is still a substantial amount for most people.
On the other hand, if you're sharing the Internet within a small apartment complex, you'll be hitting these bandwidth limits much faster and easier. It's probably better to invest in a more expensive Comcast package if that is the case, as the limits raised for small business operation.
100 DIY Ideas for the 3-Day Weekend
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
White Enamel Flatwa...
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
250 G is pretty big. If they don't, they should have a site where you can monitor your usage. Have you checked? Otherwise it is almost like not having a gage to show how much gas is left in your tank.
They do have an page called 'My Current Data Usage' on their Comcast Customer Central site. I've checked my usage (I have Netflix streaming), and I've barely gone above 30GB per month.
I was going to suggest the save as @Foulard above. Log in to your Comcast account and look at the usage meter. IIRC, it shows usage for the past few months so you can get a reasonable idea of how you're doing.
If it's tight, pair up with someone to do a co-op. If you running low get on theirs and vice-versa.
Hey guys, indeed Comcast is serious about their 250G policy. I received two notices from them about usage. But I explained that we don't "share" our connection with anyone. We have an architect and a filmmaker in the house. That's enough to go over every month.
They haven't cut us off yet, but they did analyze our uploads (checking for copyrighted material I'm sure). Honestly, without a warrant, there's nothing they could really see from their end.
So, we've been paying our bills and enjoying our connection. We ARE NOT monitoring ourselves in any way!
If you don't have another choice for your ISP I get it. Although, we've got our eyes on Verizon FioS coming to our neighborhood in one month, so that will be the end of Comcast in our home.
Imagine going to the movie theater and they tell you can only watch one movie, even though you're WILLING TO PAY for two? Oh please! Someone out there will let me do what I want and take my money for it!!!
That's the American way!
Every time I checked "My Current Data Usage" the site would not work properly. I went over the cap by 1-2 Gb and they started calling me to sign up for Commercial. I happen to think the Commercial rates are ridiculously high.
I was warned once then talked to Customer Service and told that if it happened again I would be terminated with no warning and no chance to restore my service for at least 6 months.
I switched to Fios and haven't looked back. Unfortunately, Fios isn't available everywhere for everyone [and they're still a pain, but that's another story.]
I started working from home about 2 years ago and ran into the bandwidth usage right away. I watch all of lost in HD on Netflix and then started getting calls from Comcast stating I had used 1.5 tb of data in a month. So what a way to discover the 250 rule !!!
I used to have Comcast and we streamed a lot of Netflix stuff daily/weekly and never ran into a limit issue. However, I kind of find it ridiculous that they would just cancel your account outright, without giving you any notice or info to switch over. Now we have DirecTV and they've told us that if we ever go over our service, they will call first, advise on how to secure the next step up, then go from there. In my 7+ years with AT&T, they've done that for us too (one month I went over my text limit by 50 texts would have been AWFUL without their help!). Seems strange Comcast wouldn't want to upgrade and get more cash.
Oh THANK YOU!!!! I just bought one of the Netflix boxes for my tv and I was worried about this very subject. Thanks to everyone for their informed comments. I feel a lot better.
Thanks for these tips, they were good. I found more detailed info over here that describes what Netflix says as of this month. I have stinky comcast too... I can't even get "My current data usage" feature of Comcast to work! But between thisnice apartmenttherapy post and the other one I linked to, I am able to accurately gauge my bandwidth usage. Thx!!
Hello..can u tell me the exact bandwith of cable tv data ?