Understanding Data Caps

My first computer was a Tandy 1000.  I loved that machine with its 128KB of RAM and DOS operating system.  My brother and I would play video games together and those shared moments exist high among my treasured memories.  My love of video games has not dulled and now I get to share it with my daughters.  The three of us have battled our way through Diablo III numerous times on the XBox One.

Recently, XBox introduced something called Game Pass.  For a grizzled old gamer like me, with so little time to spare, this is a fantastic service.  If I see a game I want to test out, I can download it and give it a quick try.  I abandon most of these games within 10 minutes but sometimes I find a real gem that I can share with my girls.  The only issue is data caps.

In November, the first month I had the game pass, I downloaded 500+ GB of game files. Trust me when I say this is excessive by any standard – it would take me several months to play these games all the way through.  This 500+ GB is half of the data allowed by my internet provider and I nearly exceeded my 1TB limit.  Prior to the Game Pass, I had never even come close to exceeding my data cap and between the four of us we watch a fair amount of Netflix, Prime and Sling, especially during college football season.

Keep in mind that downloading a game is far different than playing a game when you think about data caps.  The kids can play Fortnite all they want and you probably don’t need to worry.  However, if they have a Game Pass or something similar, just make sure they don’t make the mistake I made and download 20+ full scale games in a month.  Here is a great video to see how to check data usage on your XBox One.

Xfinity/Comcast is the only Internet provider in Colorado that has data caps.  They are usually quite high, but it is important to remember that streaming video will use a higher amount of data than email or internet.

Estimate your data usage here

Xfinity data usage meter (see what you are using)

Should Cord Cutters be concerned about data caps?

How to deal with Data Caps

How to reduce Netflix data usage

Over 98% of our customer’s have no issues keeping their data usage under the Comcast cap, but here are some suggestions to keep your data usage in check in case you are pushing the data cap:

• We recommend you always hit the Stop or Home button after you are done watching your streaming show.
• Since Comcast obviously doesn’t care about you, switch to Centurylink or a new 5G Internet provider (currently only downtown area for now but expanding in 2019).
• One of the many benefits of using a HD Antenna is that it uses no data at all!  When possible use antenna TV instead of streaming.
• Don’t have streaming TV going all day as background noise, use the radio or Antenna TV instead-or better yet go outside and enjoy CO!  😉
• Turn off “autoplay” next episode in each App’s settings (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.)
• Go into the settings for whatever streaming services you are using (VUE, Sling, Netflix, Prime) & lower the streaming quality-4K or higher streaming will eat up data much faster.  All of these streaming services have added this option when some internet providers started adding data caps.