General Communication Inc. is one of a number of telecom providers in the United States moving to end their unlimited plans as Americans' Internet usage explodes. More and more households are gobbling more and more bandwidth -- people watching movies and TV episodes on their computers or smart phones and swapping large files online, for example.
"Most of the under-30 crowd that I know use Netflix and Hulu streaming services so we can watch what we want, when we want. Cable TV does not give us the flexibility we want," said Sean Hogan, an Anchorage accountant.
GCI estimates that 5 percent of its Internet customers are consuming 70 percent of the company's available bandwidth. These users share a portion of their Internet cable with other GCI customers, and they have been slowing down the other households' Internet speed, according to GCI spokesman David Morris.
Roughly 60,000 customers had an unlimited plan with GCI this year. Some fraction of them are confused, disgusted or angry about the company's new policy to phase out unlimited data downloads and uploads. Most of the GCI customers interviewed this week -- at least 15 contacted the paper to complain about it -- said they did not recall getting any notice about the new policy. GCI said it sent out notices about the new policy with bills in April and May.
In the past, the only way to obtain an unlimited Internet plan from GCI was to also purchase land-line telephone service and cable TV service from the company.
"I'm getting charged $180 per month and I don't even want the phone or cable," said Mike White, an Anchorage customer who upgraded his data-usage plan recently because he was worried about violating GCI's limits.
GCI said it hasn't yet charged anyone fees for exceeding the data limits (some customers dispute this), but the company began contacting its heaviest data users this summer to move them to new, limited plans. The company is also upgrading Internet speed for its customers this year at no extra cost.
GCI said it hasn't decided when to enforce the data limits on everyone else. The crackdown might not happen until next year, according to Morris.
DATA CRUNCH
Morris said that most of GCI's customers will discover that their Internet usage is far below the new limits. Depending on the plan, the limits range between 50 and 125 gigabytes per month.
Chris Bruns, an Anchorage father and college student, isn't so sure. "I'm in the high-30 (gigabyte) range every month," he said.
GCI's cheapest substitute for an unlimited plan is 40 gigabytes -- the equivalent of downloading and watching 60 movies per month on your computer.
Bruns found out recently -- after calling GCI to ask some questions about his family's Internet speed and usage -- that his previously unlimited plan, called Ultimate Xtreme, now had a 40 gigabyte ceiling.
"I was pretty miffed. It came as a surprise," he said.
"When we signed up, we specifically got the unlimited plan because we knew we used it a lot," he said.
He said he has since curbed the family's Internet usage to be on the safe side. He said he and his wife regularly download movies for themselves and cartoons for their two children on Netflix to watch on their computer. Using Netflix is a way to keep the kids from seeing "garbage" on TV, Bruns said.
NO OVERSIGHT
Alaska and federal regulators do not regulate telecom companies' Internet offerings.
State consumer-protection lawyers have the power to investigate GCI, however, if it made a promise to its customers that it didn't keep, or if it didn't provide adequate notification of its new policy.
"There's elements of bait-and-switch that you'd be worried about," said Shane Greenstein, a business professor at Northwestern University. Greenstein studies broadband economics and has published research on Internet pricing.
GCI provided a copy of its previous terms and conditions for "unlimited" Internet plans. The conditions stipulated that the company could increase its charges on customers who use too much bandwidth or terminate service if a customer declines to change to a "more appropriate" plan.
Ed Sniffen, a consumer-protection attorney in the Alaska Department of Law, said he couldn't discuss whether anyone has filed a complaint with his office about GCI.
Sniffen said he has had an unlimited-data plan with GCI and didn't know on Tuesday afternoon whether he received a notice about the new policy. He said anyone who has a concern should contact the Law Department's consumer-protection office.
The question, he said, is if the notification was done "in a fair, conspicuous way."
Greenstein said the global demand for bandwidth capacity is only going to get bigger, and telecom companies will likely continue to change how they charge their customers to deal with the problem.
"That is a world where a lot of people are going to be mad," he said.
Anchorage's other major Internet service provider, ACS, said Tuesday it still offers unlimited data use plans, but it's unavailable in some parts of town.
Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.