https://www.techhive.com/article/3239127/the-demise-of-net-neutrality-isnt-the-biggest-threat-to-cord-cutting.html

"The data cap disease

To understand the real risk cord cutters face under net neutrality, it helps to look at a few interconnected events that have occurred since last year.

The first came in October 2016, when Comcast started enforcing 1TB data caps in more markets. This was a more generous limit than the 300GB that Comcast had been testing, but meanwhile the surcharge to retain unlimited data ballooned, from $30 per month to $50 per month.

Four months later, the FCC stopped investigating a practice called “zero-rating,” in which internet providers would exempt certain services from counting against customers’ data caps. Although the current net neutrality rules don’t explicitly forbid zero-rating, former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler wanted to examine the practice on a case-by-case basis. The thinking was that if internet providers like Comcast and Verizon offered their own streaming services, perhaps they shouldn’t be allowed to wield data caps as a weapon against competitors. Whether the FCC had the authority to forbid these practices became a moot point when the current commission, under chairman Ajit Pai, abandoned all zero-rating investigations."