What real competition looks like

Comcast is more than tripling the amount of data many of its subscribers are allowed to use in a month before they hit a cap, the company said Wednesday. Regulators are instructing Charter to enter new cable or telecom markets as a condition of the deal, and it could lead to direct, head-to-head competition between Charter and Comcast in some regions.

Charter will not be allowed to impose broadband data caps under the conditions regulators are seeking to impose, so if it really happens and consumers are given a choice between Charter and Comcast, a sky-high data cap might help Comcast defend its territory.

The new data cap raises the monthly usage limit from 300 GB of data to 1 terabyte (equivalent to roughly 1,000 GB). The change takes effect on June 1, affects all of the markets where Comcast has been testing data caps — such as Atlanta and parts of Florida — and covers all speed tiers in those markets.