UPDATE: Comcast Xfinity Data Cap Enforcement

Last month, I blogged about Comcast imposing fees if you use more than the 1.2TB data threshold within a given month.

Back on February 3rd, Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced that his office was successful in working with the telecommunications provider in delaying the data threshold enforcement until July 2021 in the 15 states that were supposed to be receiving the increase in bill in March. Here is a few of the items that Comcast has agreed to:

Forgo the data threshold on low-income users who are enrolled in the Internet Essentials program or IEPP programs for the duration of 2021;
Disclose data threshold information more prominently in the contract execution process;
Delay implementation of the overage charges until July, to be seen in the August bill; and
Waive any early termination fee normally charged only for cancelling all Xfinity services early, through December 31, 2021, for any customer who entered into a term contract prior to November 2020.

Here is the statement from Comcast:

“We appreciate the productive, open dialogue with Attorney General Shapiro’s office regarding the 1.2 TB data plan, and we understand that customers in Pennsylvania may need additional time to become familiar with the data plan. We are committed to evaluating and adapting our approach to best serve the needs of our customers, particularly in these challenging times. To that end, we are providing customers in our Northeast markets, including Pennsylvania, a total of over six months of notice before our data plan goes into effect so that they have ample time to understand their data usage and their service options, and plan accordingly. The earliest that the very small percentage of customers who exceed 1.2 TB of data could have any charges due under the plan is August 2021.

To the extent any of our customers – including our term contract customers – have questions about the data plan, we are committed to working with them to address and answer those questions. We can help customers understand their household historical and current data usage – and, as noted, the overwhelming majority of our customers will be unaffected by the plan; we can walk through tools available to track usage; and we can explain the options we offer customers to address their specific circumstances and usage needs. This includes working to repackage — or, if relevant, excuse ETFs – for our term contract customers.”

I’ll post again if there are further updates from Comcast and the Attorney General’s office.

Below you’ll find the list of other posts in the series:

Other Posts Related to COVID-19