These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| A Comcast executive said he expects the company will roll out "usage-based billing"—what most people call "data caps"—to all of its customers within five years. 
 
 Speaking with investors today (transcript), Comcast Executive VP David Cohen said, "I would predict that in five years Comcast at least would have a usage-based billing model rolled out across its footprint." 
 
 Comcast, which has about 20 million broadband customers, has rolled out caps to some of the areas that it serves, including Huntsville and Mobile, Alabama; Atlanta, Augusta, and Savannah, Georgia; Central Kentucky; Maine; Jackson, Mississippi; Knoxville and Memphis, Tenessee; and Charleston, South Carolina. Customers generally get 300GB of data per month, with $10 charges for each extra 50GB. (During the trial period, customers can exceed the cap for three months out of any 12-month period without incurring extra fees.) 
 
 Comcast told Ars last November that "98 percent of our customers nationally don’t use 300GB/month." Cohen today said that Comcast will raise the limit over time so that the large majority of users won't go over it, suggesting that 500GB is a possible monthly limit five years from now. 
 
 "I would also predict that the vast majority of our customers would never be caught in the buying the additional buckets of usage, that we will always want to say the basic level of usage at a sufficiently high level that the vast majority of our customers are not implicated by the usage-based billing plan," Cohen said. "And that number may be 350—that may be 350 gig a month today, it might be 500 gig a month in five years." 
 
 When asked if customers will get a "reasonably large number of usage plans" to choose from, Cohen said he doesn't want a situation where "80 percent of our customers are implicated by usage-based billing and are all buying different packets of usage. I don't think that's the model that we are heading toward, but five years ago I don't know that I would have heard of something called an iPad. So very difficult to make predictions." 
 
 Comcast has offered a few different data package options during its trial period. Some trials varied the caps from 300GB to 600GB depending on which speed tier customers paid for. "We don't want to chase our customers away, so we are rolling out different models, different approaches," Cohen said. "We are surveying our customers. 
 
 Comcast is attempting to purchase Time Warner Cable, which has rolled out 30GB plans in exchange for $5 off the monthly bill. Those plans are optional, though, and most TWC customers have stuck with their unlimited data packages. 
 
 The government could conceivably require Comcast to maintain unlimited plans in Time Warner Cable territory, but Cohen doesn't think it will. "I doubt it [will be a factor] in the merger review because it really has nothing to do with our transaction. It's a generic industry-related issue," he said. 
 
 However, Cohen said he "wouldn't be stunned" if the FCC considers data caps in its deliberations on net neutrality rules "because people have tried to make this an open Internet issue." ||||| Comcast is considering imposing monthly usage limits for all of its Internet customers. 
 
 David Cohen, executive vice president of America's largest cable company, predicted at a conference Wednesday that in five years' time, the company will have "a usage-based billing model rolled out across its footprint." 
 
 That means Comcast (CMCSA) customers could only consume a certain amount of data before facing extra charges for going over their limits. 
 
 Cohen said the company would aim to set the limit at a level where "the vast majority of our customers" wouldn't be affected. He speculated that the limit might be set at 350 gigabytes or 500 gigabytes per month. A cap of that size would allow you to download or stream between 70 and 125 HD movies, which typically run about four or five gigabytes in size. 
 
 Related: 4 ways a fast lane could change your Internet service 
 
 Cohen said he doesn't think Comcast will ever have a system in which "80% of customers" are impacted by data limits and are forced to pay for additional usage, though he added that it's "very difficult to make predictions." 
 
 "I don't think that's the model that we are heading toward, but five years ago, I don't know that I would have heard of something called an iPad," he said. 
 
 Comcast is currently experimenting with 300 GB data limits in some markets, charging those customers $10 for each additional block of 50 GB. There's also a 5 GB "flexible data" option for light users. Those plans were introduced after the company scrapped its hard 250 GB monthly cap back in 2012. 
 
 The move could also affect current Time Warner Cable (TWC) customers should the companies' pending merger be approved by regulators. If the deal is approved, the combined group will be the country's dominant provider of television channels and Internet connections, reaching roughly one in three American homes.
– Comcast is reviving the idea of Internet data caps, and intends to roll them out to all of its customers in the coming years. At a conference yesterday, Executive VP David Cohen said he envisioned implementing "a usage-based billing model" for everyone within five years. Customers would have to pay a fee if they used too much bandwidth in a month—though Cohen said the cap might be as high as 350 gigabytes or even 500 gigabytes, CNN reports. Cohen added that Comcast would likely keep increasing that cap over time. "We will always want to say the basic level of usage at a sufficiently high level that the vast majority of our customers are not implicated," he said. Comcast is already experimenting with 300-gigabyte caps in some markets, which it once told Ars Technica affect only 2% of users. Basically the move is a shot across the bow at cord cutters, observes Amadou Diallo at Forbes. Comcast "could essentially say, 'Want to drop our TV service? Go ahead. But it’s going to cost you.'"