Comcast plans to charge home internet customers in northeastern US states for going over 1.2TB of data in a month — a cap that’s already in effect for customers on non-unlimited plans in other parts of the country. In January and February, Comcast will give its Xfinity customers not on an unlimited plan a “credit” for any data usage charges over 1.2TB during those months to ease them into the new limits. Then, starting in March, non-unlimited customers who exceed 1.2TB in a month will be charged $10 per 50GB of data, for a maximum of $100. Customers who go over the limit will get one “courtesy” credit per 12 months, so if you go over 1.2TB in March, you get a grace period for April. If you go over again in May, you’ll pay $10 for each block of 50GB up to the $100 max. Customers will be notified as they approach the 1.2TB threshold.

Here are a few things a community can do to show an ISP that it wants it:

• Think long and hard before you suppress utilities. Many ISPs severely limit projects where utilities are suppressed or avoid building in the area altogether.
• Consider an open-access conduit system. If a community really wants to bury utilities in certain zones, it should consider burying conduit while it has the streets and sidewalks open, then make that conduit available to potential ISP partners for lease on an open-access basis. 
• Revisit codes for new housing developments. 
• Consider land-use rules that encourage dense housing. The closer homes are together, the better the return on investment.
• Make sure any study includes building a prospect list. Because a community has to measure demand anyway, it makes sense to capture a list of interested residents as part of a study’s deliverables and get permission to share it. 

[Trevor Jones is vice president of marketing, sales and customer service for OTELCO, which owns independent telephone companies in seven states and partners with several community networks in Massachusetts.]

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai today urging him to assist companies as they prepare and plan to replace suspect network equipment, including companies eligible for reimbursement under the Secure and Trusted Reimbursement Program. The program was established by Pallone and Walden’s H.R. 4998, the Secure and Trusted Communications Network Act, which was signed into law earlier this year. While it has not yet been funded, the bipartisan Committee leaders say there is every expectation it will be, and the FCC should begin immediately to initiate certain implementation steps. The two Committee leaders encourage the FCC to develop and release a list of eligible equipment and software, for example, as well as reassure companies that they will not jeopardize their eligibility for reimbursement under the Program just because their replacement purchases were made before it was funded.