Comcast: No Plans For Usage-Based Broadband Pricing

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At least one of the major players in the broadband industry says it has no plans for usage-based broadband pricing. Hopefully everyone else follows in Comcast's footsteps.

Many cable operators are considering new pricing for broadband services that would link the amount of data their subscribers consume with the amount they pay. But Comcast isn’t one of them, according to execs. Comcast Cable president Neil Smit and CFO Michael Angelakis implied that such plans probably wouldn’t be good for the company’s growing broadband business.
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I'd honestly, truly, go back to ass-slow Internet before I'd pay usage based.
 
It is already usage based, what are they talking about? You use 250GB/month or else. The or else is that they kick off their network. Just a little different than the conventional usage based model... :cool:
 
PensFault said:
It is already usage based, what are they talking about? You use 250GB/month or else. The or else is that they kick off their network. Just a little different than the conventional usage based model... :cool:
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I pull anywhere from 250 - 800GB a month and have never heard from Comcast. I'd say it's an empty threat in areas where the bandwidth is not needed. They're too hard up for customers at the moment... with people leaving them in droves.
 
No plans... however Comcast did then state "but it doesn't sound like a bad idea"
 
At $60 month for internet. Its expensive enough as is without spending more for it.
 
While I admit to paying too much, I've been pretty happy with Comcast internet. It's certainly pretty fast (I get 35 down / 6 up) and I appreciate this move.
My take has always been that I'm willing to pay for something good, and Comcast internet has been pretty good for me.
 
Seraphical said:
I pull anywhere from 250 - 800GB a month and have never heard from Comcast. I'd say it's an empty threat in areas where the bandwidth is not needed. They're too hard up for customers at the moment... with people leaving them in droves.
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On my first month of service with Comcast a couple of years ago, I used about 1.5TB (maybe a bit more, can't recall exactly) of bandwidth. They promptly called me after the first month and gave me a warning and said I would be disconnected and banned for a year if my usage went over the 250GB limit again. So they certainly do enforce the limit - but it seems like they may only enforce it on people with extreme usage?
 
PensFault said:
It is already usage based, what are they talking about? You use 250GB/month or else. The or else is that they kick off their network. Just a little different than the conventional usage based model... :cool:
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Their limit is most likely to allow them to disconnect problem users. I do almost all of my tv and music listening over the internet. It's not uncommon for me to hit 300GB a month and I've never got so much as an email from them.
 
I got business class, and the I'm willing to wager they wouldn't ever consider it for us.

It's one of the better decisions I've made for sure.
 
Jackyl said:
On my first month of service with Comcast a couple of years ago, I used about 1.5TB (maybe a bit more, can't recall exactly) of bandwidth. They promptly called me after the first month and gave me a warning and said I would be disconnected and banned for a year if my usage went over the 250GB limit again. So they certainly do enforce the limit - but it seems like they may only enforce it on people with extreme usage?
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Well gosh golly, 1.5TB. I wonder why you got the phone call. How many Linux distributions did you download?
 
1.5 TB? Honestly if you're using that much, get a business class service, I don't blame them for reprimanding you.
 
I would never trust Comcast to honor that statement. They hiked my rates without warning one year, and the phone service person was nothing but rude with me when I called about it.

I've had Comcast in the past and their service in my area was always unreliable. It would be lightning fast one day and I would get disconnected non-stop the next. I couldn't count on it to work so I ditched them. Part of the issue was their tech support, I would call and complain, and they would tell me that problem was in the house. I got fed up and ran a coax out the window to the pedistal and the problem was still there but they still insisted the problem was in my house. All they can help with is resetting the modem, beyond that you are on your own.
 
hpglow said:
I would never trust Comcast to honor that statement. They hiked my rates without warning one year, and the phone service person was nothing but rude with me when I called about it.

I've had Comcast in the past and their service in my area was always unreliable. It would be lightning fast one day and I would get disconnected non-stop the next. I couldn't count on it to work so I ditched them. Part of the issue was their tech support, I would call and complain, and they would tell me that problem was in the house. I got fed up and ran a coax out the window to the pedistal and the problem was still there but they still insisted the problem was in my house. All they can help with is resetting the modem, beyond that you are on your own.
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Their desk jockey are usually clueless. When you finally manage to get a technician to come over, ask for his/her calling card and from now on only call the technicians. That's what I do.

I'm a 50/15 Comcast user and I'm very happy with my service and direct support.
 
I only hope that my small(ish) cable internet provider doesnt go this direction... They have been talking lately about bandwith caps @ 250gig, though as of yet i havent seen them implemented and i know just from netflix and such i get 3-500gig a month. at 36meg that 250gig cap burns pretty quick
 
Down here in Australia, with Optus at least, it's a little different. If we go over our cap we get throttled to MODEM speeds. Therefore the cap I buy needs to be set at the maximum amount I tend to use in a month period, even if I only hit that limit once every 3 or 4 months. Paying for usage instead of a cap, as long as the usage turned out to be the same cost as the cap plans (hah, yeah right), would be beneficial in this situation.

If I was in a situation where I was used to being able to go over the cap whenever I felt like it without paying more or being throttled, yeah I could see myself being annoyed by having to pay for the amount I use. :p

However, none of this takes into account the actual cost of providing bandwidth and how much we should theoretically be paying for it (like a lot less than we are now).
 
boss99 said:
I got business class, and the I'm willing to wager they wouldn't ever consider it for us.

It's one of the better decisions I've made for sure.
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Business class is just a way to lock you into longer contracts with more expensive rates for the same network. Complete waste unless you plan on doing some hosting with static IP's, sure the lack of bandwidth cap is nice, but it's just plain silly that people are getting business class just for the lack of a cap.
 
It should be tiered more like cell phone service.....

$20 = 2Mbps speed, 100GB limit
$35 = 10Mbps, 250GB
$50 = 25Mbps, 500GB
$75 = 50Mbps, 1TB
$100 = 100Mbps, Unlimited

If you exceed the plans data limit then it would automatically throttle you down to the next level until you exceeded that levels limit, and continue to do so until you exceeded even the 100GB limit of the 2Mbps plan. After that the speed would remain at 2Mbps and you would be charged a very small fee per GB, perhaps $0.03, or $3 per 100GB.

I would much rather have a plan like this and have the option to use more than 250GB if I wanted, than to be limited as I am now by fear of being denied service by Comcast for excessive use.
 
Azhar said:
Well gosh golly, 1.5TB. I wonder why you got the phone call. How many Linux distributions did you download?
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Every single one out there, 50 times each!

I honestly didn't know there was a bandwidth cap at the time. I was using DSL right before the Comcast service, and it had no bandwidth cap at all. Of course the DSL service was a lot slower, but I never had to worry about downloading too much. AT&T changed their policy some time ago though, and now also enforce a bandwidth cap, sadly.
 
Comcast shut me off with no warning over a year ago, I dropped my Cable too and phone which was at $220 a month, went to AT&T Fiber, faster speeds and cost less so it was a blessing for me, that and my internet is never down like comcasts was.
 
Uh, they already do charge for usage base.

Who believes this garbage?
 
arentol said:
It should be tiered more like cell phone service.....

$20 = 2Mbps speed, 100GB limit
$35 = 10Mbps, 250GB
$50 = 25Mbps, 500GB
$75 = 50Mbps, 1TB
$100 = 100Mbps, Unlimited

If you exceed the plans data limit then it would automatically throttle you down to the next level until you exceeded that levels limit, and continue to do so until you exceeded even the 100GB limit of the 2Mbps plan. After that the speed would remain at 2Mbps and you would be charged a very small fee per GB, perhaps $0.03, or $3 per 100GB.

I would much rather have a plan like this and have the option to use more than 250GB if I wanted, than to be limited as I am now by fear of being denied service by Comcast for excessive use.
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This seems reasonable for cable internet.

Cell phone plans however, are extremely unreasonable, i will only take one example: AT&T

$15 = 3G/4G, 200MB
$25 = 3G/4G, 2GB
$45 = 3G/4G, 4GB
Unlimited? LOLOLOLOLOL
 
Morazl said:
Business class is just a way to lock you into longer contracts with more expensive rates for the same network. Complete waste unless you plan on doing some hosting with static IP's, sure the lack of bandwidth cap is nice, but it's just plain silly that people are getting business class just for the lack of a cap.
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Lack of cap, they don't dick with you, better customer service, room to grow. If all you need is internet, it's not a bad choice, it costs more sure, but you don't have to worry. Peace of mind is a good thing.
 
Of course the Comcast PR statement said they won't do this.

What they actually do...
 
Morazl said:
Business class is just a way to lock you into longer contracts with more expensive rates for the same network. Complete waste unless you plan on doing some hosting with static IP's, sure the lack of bandwidth cap is nice, but it's just plain silly that people are getting business class just for the lack of a cap.
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Business class doesn't require a lock into a contract. They charge you higher upfront costs ($250 to 'install', and since I used to have residential internet the whole installation thing was 'here's your business modem, put it where your residential modem was') if you don't agree to a contract. The contract is just for them to lower installation charges.

I got it, and honestly the whole reason I was hitting the cap before was because of traffic related to work so I probably should have had business service from the start.
 
boss99 said:
I got business class, and the I'm willing to wager they wouldn't ever consider it for us.

It's one of the better decisions I've made for sure.
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If I ever change from DSL I will get the comcast business class. I would have already done it if the channel lineups were the same as regular HD service but...they are not. Oh well :rolleyes:
 
Love how everyone thinks this is fair ..

You have 2 options if you use over 250 gigs a month for say a few months , you get a warning from Comcast at which point you are given the choice to switch to Comcast Business for about a 60 percent increase in price and unlimited bandwidth or you get disconnected for a year if you do it again.

I'm sorry but At&t at least will give you 3 written or verbal warnings and then charge you $10 per 50 Gigabytes but they won't just disconnect you and bar you from service for a year and they won't force you to use there business tier for 60 plus percent per month extra onto the cost.

Tell me how Comcast not offering high bandwidth consumers options other than over priced business class or no service at all is "good news"??

Oh and before you chime in with "stop downloading torrents" there are plenty of perfectly legit reasons you would consume much more than 250 gigs a month so please save that argument for another thread.
 
Comcast is just telling everyone what they want to hear. They'll go and do it later on.
 
arentol said:
It should be tiered more like cell phone service.....

$20 = 2Mbps speed, 100GB limit
$35 = 10Mbps, 250GB
$50 = 25Mbps, 500GB
$75 = 50Mbps, 1TB
$100 = 100Mbps, Unlimited

If you exceed the plans data limit then it would automatically throttle you down to the next level until you exceeded that levels limit, and continue to do so until you exceeded even the 100GB limit of the 2Mbps plan. After that the speed would remain at 2Mbps and you would be charged a very small fee per GB, perhaps $0.03, or $3 per 100GB.

I would much rather have a plan like this and have the option to use more than 250GB if I wanted, than to be limited as I am now by fear of being denied service by Comcast for excessive use.
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The flaw with that, unlimited you wont exceed = 100mbit/s 24/7/365.. :p

However, I wish they would let you customize your plan to your desires.. sustain up/down and burst up/down and cap... id rather have a 200GB cap with a burst 75d/10u and a sustain 35d/2u for the same price as a 250 cap 25 down/ 2 up. :p
 
Seraphical said:
I pull anywhere from 250 - 800GB a month and have never heard from Comcast. I'd say it's an empty threat in areas where the bandwidth is not needed. They're too hard up for customers at the moment... with people leaving them in droves.
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Actually, in my experience they have crap capabilities to detect what devices are tied to each account under particular situations. Unless you are going into your user settings and seeing where you can verify that they know they probably don't. It took six months before they finally figured it out for my account.
 
If anyone has trouble with the 250gb cap, look into their business plan. I don't pay for their cable TV service so my internet with them was 60 bucks, the lowest business plan is also 60 bucks. The business plan doesn't have a bandwidth limit.
 
The downside to the business class is that they force you to have their shitty router/modem combo installed. I did successfully install my own Motorola modem after the installer left.
 
There's some folks in here spouting off about business class that don't' know shit about it. There's no contract and if you don't have cable TV with them it's the same price. The only bullshit part of it is the ridiculous install.
 
Cabezone said:
The downside to the business class is that they force you to have their shitty router/modem combo installed. I did successfully install my own Motorola modem after the installer left.
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So what you are saying is they don't force you to have their shitty router/modem combo installed?


Also I know this to be false (your comment) we have many comcast business clients who have their own modems/routers.
 
The only reason they are not doing usage based pricing is instead of the average consumer paying $60 bucks a month for internet and maybe using $5 a month worth of bandwidth is they would be losing $55 a month of profit per customer on the light end.
 
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