Massachusetts Lawmakers Urge Comcast To Drop Home Internet Data Cap Plan

BOSTON (CBS) -- Comcast Xfinity home internet customers in Massachusetts may have to pay more in 2021, depending on how much data they use. But several state lawmakers are now calling on Comcast to drop their plan for a data cap, arguing that higher internet prices are the last thing residents need during a pandemic.

Starting Jan. 1, Comcast will extend its 1.2 TB monthly plan to its northeast service area, which includes Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington D.C. and parts of North Carolina and Ohio. Customers that go over the cap, after a three-month grace period, will be charged $10 for every extra 50 GB block of data used, up to $100 a month.

A letter to a Comcast executive signed by 12 Bay State representatives asks the company to reconsider.

"We strongly urge Comcast to discontinue this plan, and to reconsider any future attempts at imposing a data cap or any perversion of the principles of net neutrality in Massachusetts," the letter states.

Customers will be notified when they hit 75%, 90% and 100% of their data allotment. Unlimited data can be purchased for an extra $30.

Comcast calls 1.2 TB a "massive amount of data," and says about 95% of customers stay under that threshold, even during the pandemic.

But the lawmakers argue internet usage grows every year, and that will continue as families are forced to work and learn remotely.

"Massachusetts has experienced the largest relative increase of food-insecure individuals in the nation due to COVID-19, and has suffered some of the highest unemployment rates in the nation," the letter states. "The last thing our constituents need is to worry about paying more for the same quality of internet service."