--- title: AT&T Puts Caps on Internet Data Use at Home description: Now, customers will have to make sure they don't go over their allowances and face additional charges. authors: - name: Ethan Wolff-Mann url: https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 160 covers: - Technology - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://x.com/ewolffmann former_staff: true published: '2016-06-01T15:16:37.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T02:07:31.000Z' section: Technology tags: - Internet - pubdesk word_count: 335 canonical: https://money.com/att-home-internet-data-caps/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![AT&T Reports 81 Percent Rise In Q2 Profit](https://img.money.com/2016/06/gettyimages-71515165.jpg) Even if you watch the data usage on your cell phone like a hawk, chances are you don't pay much attention to it at home because you pay a flat monthly rate with no penalties for high use. But that might change soon. On May 23, [AT&T](http://blogs.att.net/consumerblog/story/a7801212) began implementing data restrictions for certain customers on their home Internet service. Depending on the plan, U-Verse customers will face caps of 300 GB, 600 GB, or 1 TB. The previously unlimited service now costs an additional $30 a month. According to [Wired](http://blogs.att.net/consumerblog/story/a7801212), some users previously had a cap—of 250 GB—but it wasn't really enforced by AT&T, so customers didn't have to pay attention to usage. This move proved ingenious, because having set the precedent—albeit unenforced—AT&T could announce this news as an *increase* in data allowance, instead of the restrictions they really are. Adding restrictions seems like a step back, similar to carriers' curbing of unlimited phone data plans when they were phased out a few years ago. But that was easier to justify as smartphone adoption skyrocketed and files became huge. Cable Internet seems different though. It's not wireless from a scattering of mostly unseen towers—it runs through fat cables you can see on telephone poles, and plugs in through a modem. If you're affected, you'll have to figure out how much data your allowance you should sign up for. AT&T offers some [tools](http://att.com/InternetUsage) and recommendations—1 TB equals 400 hours of HD video—and you can buy an extra 50 GB for $10 if you go over. For context, AT&T says that currently 4% of customers are over their future allowances. As for other companies, Comcast has caps [similar to AT&T's](http://corporate.comcast.com/comcast-voices/a-terabyte-internet-experience). Time Warner [has said](http://stopthecap.com/2015/07/30/time-warner-cable-continues-commitment-to-keep-unlimited-data-expand-maxx-upgrades/) it wants to have unlimited Internet, always. Verizon has said in the past that FIOS doesn't cap Internet, even though [some people beg to differ](http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/04/verizon-warns-fios-user-over-excessive-use-of-unlimited-data/), complaining of warnings for excessive data use. But given how quickly Verizon and AT&T [match each other's moves](https://money.com/new-att-20-upgrade-fee-verizon/), it's possible FIOS customers will start counting gigs as well. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/att-home-internet-data-caps/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Technology", "item": "https://money.com/technology/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Data", "item": "https://money.com/data/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "AT&T Puts Caps on Internet Data Use at Home" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/att-home-internet-data-caps/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/att-home-internet-data-caps/", "name": "AT&T Puts Caps on Internet Data Use at Home", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-06-01T15:16:37.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/att-home-internet-data-caps/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/att-home-internet-data-caps/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T02:07:31.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "AT&T Puts Caps on Internet Data Use at Home", "articleSection": "Technology", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/06/gettyimages-71515165.jpg", "width": 3000, "height": 1166, "caption": "AT&T Reports 81 Percent Rise In Q2 Profit" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ethan Wolff-Mann", "url": "https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/ewolffmann" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-06-01T15:16:37.000Z", "description": "Now, customers will have to make sure they don't go over their allowances and face additional charges.", "abstract": "Now, customers will have to make sure they don't go over their allowances and face additional charges.", "@id": "https://money.com/att-home-internet-data-caps/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T02:07:31.000Z", "wordCount": 335, "keywords": [ "Internet", "pubdesk" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Technology", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Data", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data" ] } ] } ] } ```