NBC has announced plans to stream its National Football League games live online this fall, with exclusive access to extra camera angles and multiple video streams, in near high definition broadband bitrates.   Viewers will also have access to live blogging from NBC sports announcers and game highlights and live statistics. Plus, fans can stay updated on their NFL Game Line picks, making the online experience even more engaging and interactive.

NBC & The National Football League plan to stream pro football this fall, but those with usage capped broadband will probably have to stick with old fashioned TV to watch.

Unfortunately, broadband customers on usage capped services need not apply – the video quality will consume too much bandwidth and will drive many customers well over their monthly caps before the season comes to an end.   So while Verizon FiOS customers will be able to sit back, popcorn in hand, Frontier DSL customers will need to stick to the live blogging, text based web pages,  and hope their favorite game is on local television.

NBC has also warned metered broadband customers to avoid the 2,200 live hours of Olympics coverage starting in the next few days.   It will simply be untenable for a usage capped customer to spend time viewing live coverage without quickly exceeding their usage cap.

It’s just another example of the impact usage caps bring to Americans trying to take advantage of the latest benefits the broadband platform can provide.   Virtually every day, customers will find another application they simply cannot afford to access, all because of unjustified bandwidth limitations.

The NBC logo is a registered trademark of NBC/Universal.   NFL and the NFL shield design are registered trademarks of the National Football League.   Their use does not constitute approval of the content herein.

Your Money = Their Money

With the imposition of a 5GB monthly cap across their nationwide service area, consumers might find it useful to break down the cost of what different broadband services charge for service per gigabyte, and what kinds of profits companies can expect to receive from those charges.   The average cost of traffic for most national broadband providers amounts to pennies per gigabyte transferred.   But what will you pay?

Frontier offers different pricing across several promotions, ranging from $19.99-$49.99.   The lower priced tiers correspond with service contracts that require multi-year commitments, with a substantial penalty for early cancellation.   They also charge a monthly modem rental fee (MRF) of $3.99.   In some areas this fee is levied even if you wish to use your own DSL modem.   Since this fee is universally imposed in many areas, its cost has been included in the price breakdown.   Excluded from the review are additional taxes, surcharges, and fees which are imposed by various taxing authorities but are outside of Frontier’s control.

Frontier High Speed Internet Cost Review
(per  GB downloaded,  5GB per month)

Your Monthly Price      Per GB     Frontier Pays Per GB
$49.99 + $3.99 MRF      $10.80            less than 10c
$39.99 + $3.99 MRF      $ 8.80            less than 10c
$29.99 + $3.99 MRF      $ 6.00            less than 10c
$19.99 + $3.99 MRF      $ 4.00            less than 10c

The cost for watching an average 4GB high definition DVD quality movie over Frontier DSL is $43.20.   One DVD will be all you get, because any more than that puts you over the limit.  With a growing number of Americans using the Internet to access multimedia content online, exceeding 5GB of usage per month is easier than ever.

Stop the Cap! challenges Frontier to make public their own study which sources have told us show up to 40% of their existing customers already exceed 20GB of usage per month using Frontier DSL.   How does the company justify calling nearly half of their loyal customers bandwidth piggies and abusers?

Since low usage customers represent enormous profits for broadband providers, as the above chart illustrates, kneecapping the average user and beheading the high bandwidth customer with a draconian limit on monthly usage allows Frontier to vastly expand profits.   As their own financial reports to shareholders illustrate, Frontier’s investment in their network does not come close to corresponding with the massive profit taking a 5GB usage cap allows.

Cherry pick the weekend e-mailer and occasional web browser, throw everyone else under the nearest bus, and  high five one another all the way to the bank.   That’s the Frontier way.

Robb from Hillsboro, Oregon graciously gave permission to share his own research on what a 5GB cap means in the real world.   Some upset about the usage cap announced by Frontier have suggested that’s almost as bad as going back to dial-up.   But as Robb discovered, you would be better off with 56k dialup! That’s because an unlimited Frontier dial-up account can deliver more to you in a month than a crippled DSL account with a 5GB usage cap on it.

See the numbers for yourself:

Courtesy: Robb (a/k/a 'funchords'), Hillsboro, Oregon

Frontier Communications customer service representatives are now telling Frontier customers calling to inquire about the usage cap and/or to cancel service that:

• “I don’t know anything about that.   Where did you hear this?”
• “We aren’t actually doing that.”
• “Oh, that is just a guideline. We are not enforcing any cap at this time.”
• “I think you are talking about Road Runner, not our service.”

These are actual responses from customer service representatives at Frontier when queried about the 5GB usage cap being implemented across all of Frontier’s service areas.

It comes as no surprise that many Frontier representatives know nothing about the usage cap.   A lot of people working at Frontier had no idea.    An insider  tells me many of the technical support people learned about it only when customers asked, and they discovered the web page with the change.

In a new development today, I have learned that Frontier may also have a bandwidth problem created by lack of capacity.   Some service areas have experienced slow connections not due to line quality, but because there is a growing bottleneck in Frontier’s backbone.   As I reported earlier, Frontier’s investment in its infrastructure has not exactly been breathtaking in real dollars.   When a company is unwilling to make suitable investments to grow its business, the only other alternative is to reduce demand for the resources that exist today.   A 5GB cap does that.

In urban areas where competition exists, Frontier will lose a considerable number of customers once they discover the cap.   But in many rural areas where cable television is not available, it’s DSL from Frontier or a satellite company’s broadband service, which  can be expensive and  have not seen positive reviews.

Regardless of whether Frontier is currently enforcing their 5GB cap, as long as that change in language exists in their terms and conditions, it is your responsibility as a customer to take the steps mentioned in an earlier article to opt-out or cancel service within the 30 day window of opportunity provided under their contract.   If you simply trust their word they are not enforcing the cap, and that 30 days expires, if you are under one of those multi-year contracts, you will have no recourse to terminate service without incurring a cancellation fee because you will  have accepted the cap by default by not protecting your rights and opting out.

In another matter, I have invited Frontier to respond to several questions posed to them about the 5GB usage cap and its reasoning.   As of now, they have chosen not to respond.   I will be happy to provide their side of the story, in their own words, if it is forthcoming.