Comcast on Wednesday said it will give its customers a six month reprieve on implementing its 1.2 TB data cap after state legislators in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania’s attorney general complained about the prospect of families paying more for internet access during a pandemic.

“As Pennsylvanians continue to navigate this pandemic, we know millions are relying on the internet for school and work more than ever. This is not the time to change the rules when it comes to internet data usage and increase costs,” said Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. “My office negotiated with Comcast to delay the implementation of these overage charges and waive any early termination fees for customers who opt out through December 2021. We also limited the impact of these changes on low-income households.”

The postponement applies to Comcast broadband customers in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

In addition to a delayed introduction of data caps, Comcast has also agreed to:

• not implement any data caps for low-income customers enrolled in Comcast’s Internet Essentials discount internet program for the rest of 2021;
• waive any early termination fees for customers planning to switch providers and signed a contract before November 2020;
• delay any overlimit fees until July, which will first be seen on customers’ August bills;
• more prominently disclose the fact Comcast has a data cap in its marketing materials.

Pennsylvania consumers concerned about how Comcast’s data threshold may affect them should file a complaint with the Office of Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Comcast also reminded customers the data cap postponement announced today only applies to customers in the northeastern U.S. states noted above.

Existing Verizon DSL customers in some states are discovering the company is defining “usage” allowances on its two DSL packages. (Image courtesy: Smith6612)

Is Verizon slapping the caps on its DSL customers in the northeast?

A handful of New York and New Jersey Verizon customers were surprised to find Verizon suddenly defining usage limits on their DSL service on its website dashboard for existing customers:

• High Speed Internet: Up to .5 – 1 Mbps — 150 GB Usage
• High Speed Internet Enhanced: Up to 3.1 – 7 Mbps — 250 GB Usage

The sudden appearance of data allowances confused some customers, because the only references to them appear on pages for existing customers seeking to change or upgrade their current DSL package, and only in certain sections of upstate New York and New Jersey.

Careful scrutiny of Verizon’s terms and conditions make no reference to the new data caps, although the company declares customers are responsible for all usage charges. There is also no mention of the caps on Verizon’s sales pages for prospective customers, and phone reps didn’t know anything about them either.

Verizon has not indicated what might happen if a customer exceeds that cap or where the caps are being enforced, if anywhere.

We reached out to different Verizon press contacts twice this week to get confirmation and have heard nothing back.

If you are a Verizon DSL customer, do us a favor and let us know in the comment section what you see when you review options to change your DSL service.

Update 7:18pm EDT: Verizon did get back in touch with us after we went to press in response to several questions.

Here is our Q & A with Verizon’s Ray McConville, corporate media relations representative for New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and FiOS:

Q. Is Verizon setting data allowances on their DSL service plans?

No. We have been conducting a usage billing trial to a very small set of customers in Virginia where we would measure their data use and display it in their billing. While these customers were given the 250 GB and 150 GB allowances you showed in those screen shots, we’ve never billed customers who exceed those allowances and have no plans to do so. The purpose of the trial was more the idea of accurately collecting and displaying usage in billing.

Q. If a customer exceeds that allowance, what happens?

Nothing. Again, we don’t do data caps. We have the small Virginia trial of displaying usage in billing, but it’s still not a cap, and customers aren’t billed for exceeding the 150 or 250 GB numbers.

Q. Is this a new policy?

No. It’s not a policy – we don’t have data caps or overage charges.

Q. In what states or service areas, if any, is this data allowance policy in effect?

Just the small Virginia trial, and customers are not charged for going over the “allowance.”

Q. If that is the case, why are customers in New York and New Jersey seeing the usage allowances?

It’s a likely system error; they should not have seen that. Only customers in the very limited part of Virginia where we have the trial should see such a thing.

Q. What is the status of the trial in Virginia?

Trial is ongoing – not aware of any end point.

With Charter Communications’ launch of gigabit internet speeds in dozens of cities and Comcast pushing its own gigabit offering in the northeastern U.S., Verizon has intensified its promotions to capture new customers with the lure of a free Samsung Chromebook 3 or $200 credit towards Samsung technology products when buying a gigabit internet connection bundled with Custom TV + Phone for $79.99/month.

To qualify for the free Chromebook, you have to sign a two-year contract, but unlike some other promotions, the $79.99 price remains the same during both years. Exact details:

Fios Triple Play – 2-year agreement
Samsung: Offer avail. 4/19 – 7/25 via redemption codes for a Samsung Chromebook 3 11.6” (2GB RAM) or a one-time $200 credit toward a 2018 Samsung sound bar over $300, UHD TV 40” class or above, Gear 360 camera, IconX ear buds, Gear Fit 2 Pro, Galaxy Tab E (32 GB), or Galaxy Tab S3. Must maintain qualifying FiOS services in good standing for 65 days after install. Redeem codes within 90 days from date of issuance and by no later than 1/31/19. Credit and/or credit balance not transferable or redeemable or refundable for cash. Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Verizon: Availability varies. Gigabit network connection to your home. Actual speeds vary due to device limits, network and other factors. Avg. speeds betw. 750-940 Mbps download / 750-880 upload. Limited time online offer for new TV and Internet residential customers subscribing to a Fios Triple Play bundle. Promo rates via bill credits and increase after promo period. Price guarantee applies to base monthly rate only. 2-yr. agr. req’d. Beg. mo. 2, up to $350 ETF applies. $12/mo. STB, $10/mo. router charge, $4.49/mo. Broadcast, up to $7.89/mo. Regional Sports Network and $0.99/mo. FDV Admin. fees apply. Other fees, taxes, & terms may apply. Auto Pay (ACH or bank debit card only) & paper-free billing req’d. Subj. to credit approval & may require a deposit.

We have verified this promotion is targeted to customers in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Richmond, Va., Hampton Roads, Va., Boston, Mass., Providence County, R.I., and the Washington, D.C. area. Not all locations will qualify.

Verizon Communications will decommission its existing copper wire facilities in multiple markets in Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia starting in 2018.

In a series of requests filed with the Federal Communications Commission, Verizon is asking to compel customers to switch service to Verizon’s FiOS optical fiber network or find another provider. While Verizon’s fiber network has a better reliability record than Verizon’s deteriorating copper facilities, some residential customers may be compelled to pay more for FiOS service than they used to pay for landline and DSL service over Verizon’s copper network. Their phone service may also no longer work in the event of a power failure.

“We will offer the service at a special rate for customers who migrate from copper to fiber as a result of the retirement of our copper facilities,” Verizon said, but the company did not guarantee that rate would not reset to regular priced FiOS service down the road.

Businesses may also have to invest in technology upgrades to switch to fiber optic service when Verizon pulls the plug on copper-delivered services.

The wire centers (central offices) where copper decommissioning is planned are disclosed in these company documents (click on links below to see if you are affected):

DELAWARE

• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-01-A-DE
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-A-DE
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-B-DE

MARYLAND

• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-01-A-MD
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-A-MD

MASSACHUSETTS

• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-01-A-MA
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-01-B-MA
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-A-MA
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-B-MA
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-03-A-MA

NEW JERSEY

• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-01-A-NJ
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-01-B-NJ
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-A-NJ
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-B-NJ
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-03-A-NJ

NEW YORK

• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-01-A-NY
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-01-B-NY
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-A-NY
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-B-NY
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-C-NY
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-03-A-NY

PENNSYLVANIA

• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-01-A-PA
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-01-B-PA
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-A-PA
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-B-PA
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-03-A-PA

RHODE ISLAND

• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-01-A-RI
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-A-RI
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-03-A-RI

VIRGINIA

• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-01-A-VA
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-01-B-VA
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-A-VA
• Copper Retirement ID No. 2017-02-B-VA

Antenna tower operator Crown Castle International has announced it will buy privately held Lightower Fiber Networks for about $7.1 billion in cash to acquire the company’s extensive fiber assets across the northeastern United States that will be used to connect small cell 5G networks.

The acquisition will allow Crown Castle to market an extensive fiber backhaul network in large cities like New York, Boston, Washington, Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia, as well as smaller cities particularly in upstate New York, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and northern New England. Crown Castle, which already owns many of the cell towers where AT&T and Verizon place their equipment, will now be able to market fiber backhaul connectivity for AT&T and Verizon’s forthcoming 5G networks.

LIghtower’s fiber footprint.

Lightower’s fiber network was originally focused on major markets like Boston, New York City, the District of Columbia, and Chicago. Its partner, Fibertech — acquired by Lightower in 2015, focused on 30 mid-sized cities from Indiana to the west to Maine in the east. The network’s customers are large companies and independent ISPs. In Rochester, where Lightower maintains a Network Operations Center, Greenlight Networks relies on a fiber backhaul network originally built by Fibertech to connect its fiber-to-the-home broadband service. That fiber is likely to soon be shared with AT&T, Verizon, and potentially T-Mobile and Sprint to power any 5G buildouts in the region.

“Lightower’s dense fiber footprint is well-located in top metro markets in the northeast and is well-positioned to facilitate small cell deployments by our customers,” said Crown Castle CEO Jay Brown in a statement. “Following the transaction, we will have approximately 60,000 route miles of fiber with a presence in all of the top 10 and 23 of the top 25 metro markets.”

This acquisition marks Crown Castle’s first major diversion outside of its core market — leasing out the cell towers it owns or acquires.