Capped vs Uncapped

[Kevin Lancaster]

The MyBroadband Poll on 28 January asked readers whether they use a capped on uncapped ISP account.

The poll received 1,567 votes:

Capped - 53%
Uncapped - 47%

I use a 100GB capped account with unlimited data between midnight and 06:00. Downloads are scheduled for after hours, and I rarely use 100GB during the evenings/weekend when I am at home.

Is capped account usage set to grow, or is there still a market for uncapped products?

 

[Chevron]

The MyBroadband Poll on 28 January asked readers whether they use a capped on uncapped ISP account.

The poll received 1,567 votes:

Capped - 53%
Uncapped - 47%

I use a 100GB capped account with unlimited data between midnight and 06:00. Downloads are scheduled for after hours, and I rarely use 100GB during the evenings/weekend when I am at home.

Is capped account usage set to grow, or is there still a market for uncapped products?

Depends where you are.

VOD services like Netflix and Showmax will push day time usage up, so more people will want uncapped, but then with Fibre uncapped can get expensive, unless you have Vumatel Fibre and can get Cool Ideas uncapped which is super affordable.

 

[Bighit]

When uncapped first came out, line speeds were 384 so it made sense to get uncapped (for our downloads). With most of us on a minimum of 2mb, there is no need to have uncapped anymore. You can argue that uncapped is needed for streaming, but when uncapped is just about 50% more expensive than a 100gb capped line, it pushes me to buy a higher capped account for the same price than the uncapped equivalent (just because capped accounts perform better IMHO).

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

Pretty much that^^^ On 2meg and below you really can't pull that much data even running your line full tilt all day so the pricing can be competitive to capped and is much more convenient not worrying about caps. From 4meg and up the uncapped prices get ridiculous as the ISP's are terrified of an Mweb scenario and are convinced everyone will run their lines full tilt all the time and price accordingly.

High speed uncapped is a complete rip-off, for my 20meg line:

AH: R597-R1897
Mweb: R999-R1999
WebAfrica: R925-R1325
Vox: doesn't even seem to have 20meg
CrystalWeb: R995-R2499

Just for data! And let's not forget the FUP's, ToC's that make most of these offerings POS.

Taking the cheapest AH one of R597 and using Plus+ you can get 400gig of unshaped joy for R100 cheaper vs the 200gig you get from the uncapped FUP. Wanna dodge the FUP then you need premium for R979(which is still shaped sometimes) and this gets you 800GB using Plus+ again.

Uncapped makes no sense as ISP's have effectively killed it with their limits and insane pricing.

PS: I'm using AH as an example as I'm familiar with their website but the story is similar for other ISP's

 

[Drifter]

I have 300GB capped plus my roll over data. On my 10Mbps line, I cant use all of it. Will see the impact of Netflix to my data, but the fact is I am downloading less now also. Best of both.