So what happens if you go over 1TB per month? For the first two months in a 12 month period that it happens, nothing. Also, Comcast customers can adjust their settings for notifications via email, browser or text when they reach thresholds like 50, 70, 85 or 125 percent of the cap. The third time it's exceeded within a 12 month period, however, the "courtesy months" go away and users will be charged $10 for an additional 50GB of data, which will continue happening to a limit of $200 per month. If you want unlimited data access, you can buy it up front, for an additional $50 per month over your current internet bill. 
 
 So what if you're like me, and you use a lot of data? Between downloading games on Xbox One and PS4, streaming in 4K and everything else, I used 1.2TB of data last month. Even for me, that's a bit extreme, but with games pushing out multi-gigabit updates and high-res video streaming available from more sources, eventually more of us will be nudging up against the limits. I have cable and do most of my TV viewing there, but for cord-cutters leaning on streaming from services like Sling TV or PlayStation Vue, the 1TB red line could be approaching even faster. 
 
 It's probably not a coincidence that this move is taking place at the same time Comcast is allowing Netflix streaming via its X1 cable boxes. In the first section of its FAQ, Comcast says this decision is about "fairness," but unless someone's internet usage is so extreme that it negatively impacts neighboring connections, that falls flat. Sure, it is also offering a "Flexible Data Option" for people at the other end of the spectrum, but they can only save $5 by using less than 5GB per month. If people try to switch their news and entertainment consumption away from cable TV to internet sources, Comcast is going to charge them more. Just how fair that really is, depends on your perspective. 
 
 Netflix has called on the FCC to fix "unreasonable" caps, but it referenced limits of just 300GB per month. The commission is looking into caps and zero rating, but at least for now, this is the reality for the majority of Comcast's home internet customers. ||||| Comcast is bringing data caps to a bunch of new cities beginning November 1, roughly doubling the number of markets where it imposes data limits and overage fees. As before, customers will be allowed to use 1TB of data per month before being hit with overage charges of $10 for each additional 50GB. For an extra $50 per month, customers can purchase unlimited data. 
 
 Prior to the expansion, Comcast said it was enforcing data caps in 14 percent of the markets in its 39-state territory. Instead of immediately imposing caps nationwide, Comcast has been steadily rolling them out to new markets since 2012, usually adding a few at a time and gauging customer feedback before expanding to more. The caps were originally 300GB a month, but as more customers started exceeding them, they were boosted to 1TB (downloads and uploads combined) this year. Comcast says more than 99 percent of its customers use less than a terabyte of data. 
 
 Markets in 18 states will face data caps and overage fees for the first time, though other markets in some of these states were already capped. 
 
 Here are the newly capped areas, according to a Comcast FAQ: Alabama (Dothan); California; Colorado; Florida (North Florida, Southwest Florida and West Palm); Southeastern Georgia; Idaho; Indiana (Indianapolis and Central Indiana, Fort Wayne and Eastern Indiana); Kansas; Michigan (Grand Rapids/Lansing, Detroit, and Eastern Michigan); Minnesota; Missouri; New Mexico; Western Ohio; Oregon; Texas (Houston); Utah; Washington; and Wisconsin. 
 
 Comcast's data caps already existed in these markets: Alabama (excluding Dothan); Arizona; Arkansas; Florida (Fort Lauderdale, the Keys, and Miami); Georgia (excluding Southeastern Georgia); Illinois; Northern Indiana; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maine; Southwestern Michigan; Mississippi; Tennessee; Eastern Texas; South Carolina; and Southwest Virginia. 
 
 Customers can exceed the cap in two "courtesy months" each year before overage charges kick in. "This means that you will only be subject to overage charges if you use more than a terabyte for a third time in a 12-month period," Comcast said. 
 
 Comcast once again justified its data caps, saying in a blog post yesterday that the "data plans are based on a principle of fairness. Those who use more Internet data, pay more. And those who use less Internet data, pay less." 
 
 In reality, paying "less" actually means paying the same amount as before unless you choose a "Flexible Data Option" that provides a $5 discount if you use less than 6GB of data in a month. That discount comes with the risk of racking up overage fees much faster than the standard terabyte plan and thus isn't advisable unless you really use very little data each month. 
 
 The caps themselves are a "business policy" rather than a technical necessity, a Comcast engineering vice president acknowledged last year. Unfortunately, Comcast's data meter hasn't always been accurate, and Comcast has been reluctant to acknowledge any problems except when customers contact the media.
– Comcast is about to makes its residential internet service a lot more like smartphone data plans for millions of customers, the Washington Post reports. Starting Nov. 1, Comcast will be capping the internet usage of customers in 18 markets—including 12 whole states—at 1 terabyte. According to Ars Technica, Comcast has had a data cap in place in some markets since 2012. For Comcast customers who exceed the 1TB monthly limit, Comcast will charge a $10 fee per additional 50 gigabytes up to $200. To avoid the data cap, customers can either pay an extra $50 per month for unlimited data or $300 per month for Comcast's Gigabit Pro fiber-optic service. A list of markets that will be impacted by the data cap is here. Comcast claims the data cap is "based on a principle of fairness"—the people who use the most internet will pay the most for it. But Engadget argues that doesn't make complete sense, as in only the most extreme cases does someone using more internet impact anyone else's internet usage. A Comcast executive has also acknowledged that the data cap is a "business policy," not a technical necessity. Comcast says 99% of customers don't use more than 1TB of data—enough to stream up to 700 hours of video or play 12,000 hours of online games—per month. But that may not be true for long, with the increasing prevalence of HD and 4K games and videos that use more data.