What Will an Internet Cap Cost You?

For many of us Internet use may soon get a bit more costly.

Starting October 1, Comcast  (CMCSA), the second largest Internet provider, will place limits, or a cap, on the amount of data sent and received each month. U.S. Internet customers who send or receive more than 250 gigabytes of data can expect to be taxed additional fees.

So How Much Internet Activity Will Exceed this Limit?

Sending 50 million emails at 0.05 KB an email.

Downloading 62,500 songs at 4MB a song.

Downloading 125 standard-definition movies at 2 gigabytes a movie.

Uploading 25,000 high-resolution digital photos at 10 MB a photo.

That might sound like a lot, but look at your email inbox and view the size of the last few messages received. You may see few 5 KB ones. If you have a family of four, and they are uploading and downloading on a daily basis, you may begin to nudge up against this limit, says Cara Borsoi, the Vice President of Research and Analytics at Ask.com.

As the Internet becomes more popular than television, consumers may begin to fear potential Internets surcharges. “When people don’t understand all of the pieces, that’s where it gets tricky, and [caps] can dampen interest in going online,” says Borsoi.

CAPS WILL NOT ONLY COST YOU MONEY
And, sure enough, it’s not just your wallet that is affected. Comcast customers that exceed the limits and are among the heaviest users of its Internet service twice within six months will have their service suspended for a year, according to published reports.