As I open up Origin, Uplay, the Xbox app, GOG, and a million other services over the next few days, I will see if I can do the same for them as well. I’ve also turned off auto-updates on the Xbox One X, which was just a simple toggle in the “System” options. Kinda makes me wish that Xfinity had something like the old “free texting after 9 p.m.” that only 2000s kids will remember.
I have limited the time that games can auto update to just one hour in the middle of the night.
As I install new games, I will likely turn this option off. Steam doesn’t have an option to turn off auto-updates across the board.
I’m also worried about streaming on the Nvidia Shield, the media PC that also has Steam and auto-updates running, and our phones. I’m also hoping that most of the data is coming from auto-updates for games I already installed. But I’m wondering if the auto-play is keeping it on long after we’re done watching. We use Prime Video for Tumbleleaf and Daniel Tiger. This is the device my daughter primarily uses to stream video when she’s with me in the basement. One of the other big offenders is the Xbox One, which averages out to 12% of daily activity. But I think I’m going to have to take a more holistic approach. Honestly, I wish it was higher because then I could just focus my efforts on this PC. X-Fi claims this device accounts for 17% of my daily usage. I downloaded several huge games earlier this month for benchmarking some hardware. Unsurprisingly, my main desktop PC that I work from uses the most data. But least one of its stats seems accurate, however, and I’m going to work from that. I saw no way to sort a list of devices by data usage, which would obviously help a lot. You also have to look at each device individually. The phone I was using to look at the X-Fi app doesn’t even appear on the connected-devices list. Its X-Fi app claims to give you usage stats for your connected devices - only nothing appears up-to-date. Xfinity pretends to make this easier for you, but that’s a load of horseshit. Since getting the notice from Comcast that I’ve gone over my limit, I’ve started investigating my data consumption. Can I beat the data cap?ĭespite knowing that I probably should pay more than most people, I don’t want to. If Comcast had some competition, I doubt I would have to pay $50 for unlimited data. The DSL service’s fastest option was more than 66% slower than what I have now. I have zero other options for equivalent or faster high-speed internet. And unlike most other products and services, I do not really have a choice of ISPs. So we have two smartphones connected to the Wi-Fi nearly all the time.īut the water analogy breaks down because the U.S. Sometimes my wife is watching Documentary Now on Netflix upstairs while my daughter is watching SpongeBob Squarepants in the basement.Įven worse than that, T-Mobile’s connection is garbage in my new home.
For gaming, I have my work desktop PD, a media PC, a laptop, an Xbox One X, an Xbox One, a Nintendo Switch, and a PlayStation 4 Pro all connected at the same time. I work from home and regularly download new games that are 50GB or larger. If I use significantly more water than my neighbors, I get charged much more for doing so.Īnd I’m sure I use significantly more internet than my neighbors. While I hate Comcast, I don’t feel like I have a foot to stand on when it comes to complaining about data caps. I probably should pay more than most people That’s more than the cost of a console - I’m looking at you, Google Stadia. The benefits of paying the $50 is that I never have to think about my surfing and download habits.īut is avoiding that anxiety worth $600 per year? That’s a cost-of-living wage increase for some people. Or I could pay a flat fee of $50 extra each month for unlimited internet. After that, however, I will have to pay $10 for every 50GB extra I use.
Comcast does give customers a grace period of two months where you can go over the limit without having to pay extra.