As confirmed cases of coronavirus increase, telecommuting is becoming an increasingly popular option, which is why two of the five U.S. FCC commissioners are urging ISPs to suspend data caps for two months. Similarly, 17 U.S. Senators issued a letter (PDF) urging ISPs to "suspend broadband caps and associated fees or throttling for all communities affected by COVID-19. So far, only AT&T has announced plans to lift the data cap.

"Given the number of Americans who will telecommute, use telemedicine, take classes online, and otherwise use the Internet more, I urge broadband providers to waive data caps in affected areas for the next 60 days. This tailor-made approach will undoubtedly cost telecommunications companies dearly, but I recognize the urgency. The actions of wireless providers are especially important because 26% of low-income Americans have smartphones but do not have broadband at home," Jeffrey Starks, a Democrat on the FCC, told Ars Technica.

Another FCC Democrat, Jessica Rosenworcel, echoed similar sentiments, saying the FCC intends to explore various options, including "relaxing things like data caps and fees." [The] government and the private sector need to rise to the challenge and do the right thing. The time to act is now," Rosenworcel said. [An AT&T spokesperson told Vice that ISP customers "already have unlimited residential Internet access, and we are waiving overage charges for Internet data for the remaining customers."

Frankly, broadband data caps seem like an archaic concept that should be scrapped altogether, health pandemic or not. Unfortunately, some ISPs still exist, albeit with varying levels of enforcement and penalties.

According to AT&T's website, the company typically imposes 150 GB per month for customers with DSL service, 250 GB per month for customers with fixed wireless Internet service, and 1 TB per month for Internet speed tiers "from 768 Kbps to 300 Mbps" with a data caps are imposed.

"If your data usage exceeds the additional allowances in a single billing cycle, you may receive an additional 50GB of data for $10, up to a maximum monthly overage of $100 for AT&T Internet and $200 per month for DSL and fixed wireless Internet." AT&T's policy states.

One would hope that other ISPs will eventually follow suit, but that is not necessarily the case. Comcast, for example, has announced that it will increase the speed of its low-cost Essentials service from 15Mbps/2Mbps (downlink/uplink) to 25Mbps/3Mbps for new and existing customers and offer new Essentials customers 60 days of free service. However, the company has not yet said anything about data traffic limits.

Meanwhile, Cox similarly released a statement related to the coronavirus, but has not yet waived the data cap. The company told Ars Technica that it is "considering changes to its overall service policy with students and remote workers as a top priority," and that it expects a new update in the near future.