Comcast subscribers are in for a change starting next month, when the nation’s second largest Internet service provider will impose a 250GB limit on monthly traffic. Despite being highly criticized for its practices, Comcast appears to insist on the idea that they know what’s best for solving Internet traffic problems.

The company recently confirmed what has been rumored for some time now regarding bandwidth limitations on Internet monthly usage. According to them, starting October 1, the monthly data usage threshold will be of 250GB per account for all residential customers.

Comcast explained in a statement that their decision to establish monthly limitations is based on customer feedback. According to them, the customers “asked that we provide a specific threshold for data usage and this would help them understand the amount of usage that would qualify as excessive.”

The Internet service provider explained that the 250GB would be enough for sending 50 million emails (at 0.05 KB/email), downloading 62,500 songs (at 4MB/song), downloading 125 standard-definition movies (at 2GB/movie) or uploading 25,000 hi-resolution digital photos (at 10 MB/photo).

It does seem quite enough for the average users, but Comcast’s decision might affect the Internet experience on long-term, according to experts in the field. Furthermore, Comcast has absolutely no guarantee that the average customer we see today will stay average tomorrow.

As Internet and technology evolves, the possibilities become endless for Internet users, and Comcast should be prepared to make changes accordingly. For now, the less than 1 percent of its users that exceed the mentioned cap will be notified of excessive use.

“At that time, we’ll tell them exactly how much data per month they had used,” Comcast said. “We know from experience the vast majority of customers we ask to curb usage do so voluntarily.” However, for those who will break the cap for the second-time in a six-month frame, Comcast will terminate the service for one year.

According to the company, the vast majority of Internet users have a median monthly data usage of approximately 2-3 GB. After evaluating monthly data usage threshold, Comcast established the new cap hoping to “provide more clarification to its customers about what would qualify as excessive.”

In June this year, Comcast and Time Warner began testing two methods to limit the bandwidth usage of heavy-users. One of Comcast’s ideas at the time involved slowing file transfer speeds for individual heavy users during congestion periods; however, a new consumption plan, including a 250GB monthly usage limit, got the final approval.

Other ISPs are also exploring new alternatives for subscriber plans, and by making a simple comparison, Comcast is offering almost three or four times the monthly cap planned by Cox Communications or Time Warner. However, Comcast’s plan still encounters criticism: the 250GB cap may seem enough for now, but users’ needs increase every day, and what now may look like a generous limit could turn into a reason of aggravation among users.

All in all, whether some consider the plan to be fair and others unreasonable, Comcast did make some progress compared to its previous practices (which became the subject of a Federal Communications Commission investigation) by making the limitations public.