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The next time you're snuggled up in bed for a marathon viewing of Breaking Bad or House of Cards, an extra set of eyes may be watching you, counting the bits of data that stream to your TV—and soon they could be charging you extra for all that streaming video.
This is no mere dystopian fantasy: If you're a data-heavy user fond of Netflix, Pandora, and YouTube, chances are good that your bit-gobbling ways are coming under increasing scrutiny from your Internet service provider, and in the near future you may find yourself paying a premium for all those massive downloads and data streams.
Earlier this month, Comcast expanded market trials of its "metered" broadband plans, and analysts say it's only a matter of time before all U.S. carriers join their European counterparts in charging heavy data users a premium for their consumption. In essence, your Internet use will be treated like your electricity or water use: You'll begin paying for exactly what you use, and "all you can eat" plans will disappear.
Over the past few years, AT&T, Comcast, and Time Warner have experimented with data caps and broadband metering to some extent. Time Warner kicked off the trend with an attempt in 2009 to cap customers at 5GB per month in exchange for a $5 rate cut, and was soundly rebuked by the marketplace.
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