Opinion: Why Home Internet Data Caps Are Bad in 2019

Over the last few weeks, my family’s internet usage has had to take a step back since we got a notice from our internet provider that we had used 275GB/300GB. If we were to go over it again, we would get an increase in our bill, which is something that we do not want. 

So what are some reasons for why these data caps are bad to have in our internet-obsessed society in 2019? 

• It truly limits you: I know that it can be pretty hard to go over 300GB in a month, but my family has done it before multiple times. With the way how live TV streaming services are changing the game and making live TV cheaper, it makes it so that you can only stream an event for a certain amount of time before you have to shut it off, regardless if the event you are watching has finished. 

 

• Live TV streaming is the future: You could say to get a higher plan, but then that will defeat the purpose of getting the live TV streaming service since you will likely have to pay more for your internet. However, if there were no data caps on home internet, people could simply stream freely with no consequences and I see no issues with that on the consumer end. 

 

• There is no point in having one in 2019: I get that for a business, you want different tiers and prices. However, this could still happen and that internet providers could just charge you for your internet speed and not how much of it that you use. 

 

• Streaming is the future: We stream just about everything now, whether that is our TV shows, movies, music, online gaming and videos online. There is no way to go a day without streaming something in 2019 and a data cap gets in the way of this. 

Home internet data caps are something that is truly limiting and makes it so that we have to savor our internet the same way we save and spend our money. This is not the way that it should be. I understand that business is business and that businesses are designed to make money and profits. But when you’re having people pay for a service and product like home internet is, they should not be limited in how much they get.

I get that smartphones and tablets can have data limits from cell phone providers because those are smaller devices and that you can pay for an unlimited data plan at somewhat fair prices. However, paying about $70 a month for home internet, there is no reason to no make that internet data cap-free. 

Feature image courtesy of Cord Cutters News