Subscribe
unlimited
Main Entry: un·lim·it·ed
Pronunciation: \-ˈli-mə-təd\
Function: adjective
1 : lacking any controls : unrestricted <unlimited access>
2 : boundless, infinite <unlimited possibilities>
3 : not bounded by exceptions : undefined <the unlimited and unconditional surrender of the enemy — Sir Winston Churchill>
An Alaskan Internet service provider is baffling its broadband customers with a blizzard of BS regarding just how unlimited its “unlimited” service plans really are.
A Stop the Cap! reader in The Last Frontier drops us a note to alert us of yet another provider trying to pull a fast one on its customers.
GCI markets cable-TV, telephone and broadband service in larger communities across many parts of the state. Its broadband service, dubbed “Xtreme,” offer DSL-like speeds at a significant price premium over what users in the lower 48 pay for Internet access.
Since 2007, our reader writes, GCI offered customers a deal. In return for letting the company provide all of your telecommunications needs — cable, phone, and Internet, GCI would provide you with unlimited broadband service. The triple-play package was sold for at least $80 a month, and many customers agreed to the bundled route to avoid GCI’s restrictive, data-capped plans sold to its broadband-only customers.
GCI is now reneging on its end of the deal thanks to a creative redefinition of the word “unlimited.” For the convenience of those who may be English-challenged, Stop the Cap! has provided the Merriam-Webster definition of the word “unlimited” above, which hasn’t changed much since its first use in the 15th century.
Broadband providers like GCI think they are clever enough to change all that.
Much to the chagrin of GCI’s bundled customers, the company unfairly slapped a “Fair Access Policy” on all of its unlimited customers on April 1st. Customers started receiving usage warnings this spring, which came as quite a surprise for an “unlimited” service plan. But the company insists it hasn’t limited its “unlimited” plans at all:
GCI offers some cable modem Internet service plans with “unlimited downloads”, meaning GCI does not bill customers additional fees for usage in a given month.
Actually, that isn’t the meaning of “unlimited” at all, no matter how much the company wishes it was. Again, see the definition above.
In fact, even using GCI’s own definition, nonsensical as it is, it isn’t reality-based either.
Customers who exceed the arbitrary limits GCI determines as “fair,” could be subjected to higher pricing. GCI’s website currently lists the overlimit fee starting at an impenetrable $0.005 per megabyte, which sounds pretty low until you realize it’s $5.00 per gigabyte, which is significantly higher than what most other naughty cappers charge. On slower speed plans, GCI’s overlimit fee is a whopping $0.03 per megabyte — $30 per gigabyte.
What happens when you overuse your GCI unlimited Internet? GCI will contact you to discuss your account and then ask you to agree to either reduce usage or pay additional fees for usage in a given month.
GCI loves to make its limits look mighty big by representing them in megabytes instead of the more commonly used gigabyte measurement. They also include the usual comparisons: over 10,000 web pages, 250,000 e-mails, 1,000 pictures, etc. On the lower speed plans, GCI avoids defining the far-smaller allowances for higher bandwidth services like near-DVD HD video streaming some Alaskan families may want to use during those cold and dark Alaskan winter evenings.
Here are the limits GCI assigns to its “unlimited” service plans:
| Plan Name | Usage |
| Ultimate Xtreme | 40,000 MB |
| Ultimate Xtreme Family | 60,000 MB |
| Ultimate Xtreme Entertainment | 80,000 MB |
| Ultimate Xtreme Power | 100,000 MB |
That’s usage ranging from 40-100 gigabytes. What this illustrates yet again is that Internet Overcharging schemes are ridiculously arbitrary. A provider in rural Alaska defines “fair” use of its slowest speed “unlimited” broadband tier (3 Mbps/512 Kbps for $45 a month) at 40 gigabytes. Meanwhile, Frontier Communications considers it fair to define its DSL service usage allowance at just 5 gigabytes per month. Comcast says 250 gigabytes a month is fair. AT&T’s wireless smartphone data plan now carries a 2 gigabyte limit AT&T claims is about right.
As is also commonly the case among Internet Overchargers, any unused allowances do not “roll over” to the next month.
GCI considers anyone exceeding these limits engaged in continuous high-volume data transfers, extensive use of streaming video and peer-to-peer file sharing programs, or using an unsecured wireless signal everyone in the neighborhood has hopped on to use. But just backing up your family computer through an online backup service over a month could easily put you over these limits. If a “mutually agreed on” solution cannot be reached to either limit your use or increase your price, GCI will show you the door.
Essentially, GCI hobbles its broadband service plans by imposing limits on services that could challenge some of its other products. For standalone broadband customers, GCI builds in plenty of protection against customers potentially using its Internet service to bypass its cable and phone offerings, despite some recent speed and usage allowance increases. How much online viewing will you feel safe doing on some of these Internet service plans:
| Standalone Xtreme Plans | Current Speeds & Included Usage | New Speeds & Included Usage | Usage Allowance Increase |
| Xtreme | 1 Mbps/512 Kbps - 5.12 GB usage | 3 Mbps/512 Kbps - 7.5 GB usage | 2.38 GB |
| Xtreme Family | 2 Mbps/512 Kbps - 10.24 GB usage | 6 Mbps/512 Kbps – 15 GB usage | 4.76 GB |
| Xtreme Entertainment | 3 Mbps/768 Kbps - 20.48 GB usage | 8 Mbps/768 Kbps – 25 GB usage | 4.52 GB |
| Xtreme Power | 4 Mbps/1Mbps – 30.72 GB usage | 10 Mbps/1Mbps – 40 GB usage | 9.28 GB |
Monthly service fees
| Standalone Xtreme Plans | Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Kenai, Mat-Su, & Soldotna | Ketchikan, Petersburg, Seward, Sitka, Valdez, & Wrangell |
| Xtreme | $44.99/m | $54.99/m |
| Xtreme Family | $54.99/m | $64.99/m |
| Xtreme Entertainment | $74.99/m | $104.99/m |
| Xtreme Power | $104.99/m | $154.99/m |
Our reader in Alaska thinks the usage limits are unjustified considering GCI’s capacity, and its prices:
GCI has well over 600 Gigabits of capacity across two undersea fiber optic cables.
Since 2007, the only way to get an unlimited download option for the company’s various speed tiers was through its bundled packages. With the new limit on “unlimited” downloads, GCI fraudulently misrepresents its service to Alaskans.
GCI is the poster child for the cable industry’s push for metered billing. I think you’re well aware that cable companies view metered billing as an anti-competitive solution to fend off emerging competition from online content providers like Hulu and Netflix Online. Time Warner backed down when confronted with the possibility of regulation for the entire industry. They will however try again if companies like GCI continue to have success over a long term. This is why it’s imperative that groups like Stop the Cap! fight beyond your region and get regulation passed to bar forced bundling and data transfer limits entirely. Content providers (video services) should be separate entities from network providers (ISPs). It’s the only way to keep rates low and businesses competitive. Thank you for keeping up the good fight.
Other stories of interest:
- Australia Achieves Unlimited Broadband – Say ‘Goodbye’ to Internet Overcharging Schemes
- Telecom New Zealand Fined For Misleading Customers With “Unlimited” Broadband Offer That Heavily Throttled Speeds
- Free the Web: South Africa Breaks Free of Internet Overcharging – Unlimited Broadband Arrives
- Comcast Selling “Unlimited Internet” Over A Fiber Network That Isn’t (And No Speed Guarantees Either!)
- Europeans Reject “Usage Cap + Overlimit Fee” Mobile Broadband Pricing: Unlimited Use Should Always Be An Affordable Option
“unlimited”= you only need to read your email
If it wasn’t noted in the story, GCI is also a duopoly for wired internet in the state of Alaska, competing only with the telephone companies 3Mbit DSL offering which offers sub par performance at premium monthly pricing around $89/mo for internet and basic phone. The telco hasn’t made any capital improvements or service changes for residential users in the last 5 years if not more, nor do they seem inclined to do so in the future.
Given the premium they charge, the abuse of the captive and remote marketplace to lock-in customers with their “package” cable/phone/internet offering, customers are effectively unable to utilize any competing but high bandwidth services such as YouTube, streaming NetFlix, etc without incurring extra costs due to overages. This is one of the most blatent attempts in the cable industry to prevent customers from accessing competing content and services by bundling TV with capped Internet.
There are simply no affordable options for Alaskan residents to get reasonable broadband plus TV service (free broadcast TV in Alaska is minimal limited to several channels depending on the city and reception is often poor)
You can also read the filings from GCI to see that they’re profit per subscriber has been steadily increasing as they’ve reduced infrastructure spending. They’ve also been subsidized with grants to expand their network to remote villages or areas using undersea fiber and wireless deployments.
I am an Alaskan resident who recently discovered that my “unlimited” plan was a complete load of hog wash. I can say without a second thought, if there was other options available to me, I would jump ship. GCI has Alaskan residence by the short hairs and it knows it. They can and will do anything they want.
Take for instance the fact that I can only have 1 phone in my house now unless I am willing to pay extra for another modem. I did not ask to have this modem thing, my home phones worked perfectly fine using the existing wiring and I had 3 phones ringing on the same number. I was not given the choice, I was told how i was going to have my phone service.
What’s worse, is that Alaskan law makers allow them to get away with it. Might it have something to do with the GCI sponsored trips that the Alaskan politicians and their families take. It would be nice to know how much money GCI donates to Alaskan political parties who support their way of thinking. If you doubt what I say, just read the newspaper and connect the dots. Anyone who has lived in Alaska for a few years can tell you that Alaska is a greedy place. We all remember VECO. It is funny how fast things can get swept under the carpet in Alaska.
I was sold the current maximum internet only package with a 40gig/mo usage cap; what they don’t tell you is that they stagger your usage with your bill, meaning that you pay for your plan say from the 1st of one month to the 1st of the following month, but you pay for usage from the 15th of one month to the 15th of the following month. This adds confusion and our second bill after subscribing to their service ended up being three times the advertised amount – THREE TIMES! They did not sign us up or offer overage email warnings and we subscribed to our 40 gig plan because customer service had told me over the phone that 40 gigs per month would easily cover average usage for streaming video and games – this is not true. We have a PS3 that we watch Netflix on that needs internet updates, a home pc that needs internet updates, 2 smart phones that need updates – how can we keep track of and police all of this usage? By not using our devices as intended, by severely limiting how we use this technology that we already paid a lot for.
I feel like GCI sold us a Ferrari with a 1/4 tank of gas and charges us $10 per gallon if we go over – why have a 10mb download speed if you have a 40gig per month cap? If they had a cap that was reasonable for today’s broadband user I wouldn’t like it, but I could accept it.
I don’t want to pay $150+/mo in a bundled package to be able to use our devices – we don’t need a home phone or cable TV, and we shouldn’t have to pay that much just to use the internet, overages or not!
I heard that there was a class action lawsuit being filed against GCI and I started looking on the internet, which is how I found this site; consumers need to fight back!
This may sound very bad coming out but i am very glad that me and my roommate where not the only one caught in this trap, we had internet through gci for 7 months and then one day go in to pay our monthly 100 or so dollar bill to find out that we now owe 1100 dollars due to overage charges over 2 months. i do not understand this because first we were never notified about the change from unlimited usage to limited usage to begin with and next because we were never notified that we were going over our limit.When we went to pay the bill after we got disconnected we discovered were were very far in the hole, $300 dollars in overage charges the first month and the second month we had $600 dollars in charges on top of the monthly fees agreed upon at time of service connection. You would think that the employees or manager if present would at least talk to you about this kind of thing but i tried several times and the manager would not see us and there was no explanation, just a huge damn bill along with them saying that the notice was at the bottom of our paper bill sent in the mail which we still have never received . If there is a class action in progress if possible please let me know when this is happening and constant updates so i can keep up with this, we are very concerned about companies being able to monopolize the industry of anything like this and want to see justice done
The article is actually too kind to GCI. They started the extra charges with no notice. For months they tacked on overuse fees that just appeared at the bottom of the bill. Then last November or so they started sending warning e-mails as you approached the cap. They did not contact customers to “discuss” the problem, but if you contacted them (as we did), they were happy to suggest more expensive plans to “save” you money.