CMCSA Comcast Corporation

By Shalini Ramachandran 

Comcast Corp. more than tripled data limits for its broadband customers after facing customer backlash over its efforts to enforce caps and surcharges in several markets.

The cable giant, which has 23 million Internet customers, said Wednesday it would increase its monthly limits to 1,000 gigabytes in markets where it has been enforcing a 300-gigabyte monthly cap. It plans to make the change by June 1.

"We have learned that our customers want the peace of mind to stream, surf, game, download, or do whatever they want online," Marcien Jenckes, Comcast's executive vice president of consumer services, wrote in a blog post.

Comcast's move follows a page one article in The Wall Street Journal last week outlining the limitations that home broadband data caps are placing on families and "cord-cutters" that have dropped pay-TV subscriptions as they spend more time streaming video and other media. Both AT&T Inc. and Suddenlink Communications recently changed their home data limits after being contacted by the Journal.

Federal regulators recently have taken an interest in home broadband data caps. As part of its pending approval of Charter Communications Inc.'s $55 billion deal to buy Time Warner Cable Inc., the Federal Communications Commission said it wouldn't allow the combined cable company to impose caps or bill based on usage for seven years.

Comcast technically has a 250 gigabyte limit on all its customers but stopped enforcing that in 2012. Since then, it has been testing out Internet plans in certain markets that charge households based on data usage. Those trial markets reach 14% of its homes, or about 2.8 million customers, largely in Southern states.

The company has said that 10%, or more than 2 million of its customers, use 300 gigabytes or more a month.

Under the 1,000 gigabyte or 1 terabyte plan, Mr. Jenckes said less than 1% of customers will go over. Those who do will have the option to buy an unlimited plan for an additional $50 a month or pay overage fees of $10 for every 50 gigabytes over.

He said the new limit would allow a household to download 60,000 high-resolution photos, stream 700 hours of high-definition video, and play 12,000 hours of online games in one month.

"We've always said that we'd look carefully at the feedback from our trials, continue to evolve our offers, and listen to our customers," Mr. Jenckes wrote.

Comcast isn't yet extending its 1,000 gigabyte limit across its entire footprint. Mr. Jenckes said the company is "currently evaluating our plans to roll this out in other markets."

The demand for bandwidth is surging, particularly as people watch more movies and live television streamed over the Internet. Time Warner Cable says the company's average household usage in December was 141 gigabytes a month and has grown about 40% a year.

Write to Shalini Ramachandran at shalini.ramachandran@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 27, 2016 17:38 ET (21:38 GMT)

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