Comcast Prepping A 305 Mbps Tier?

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It looks like another ISP might be jumping on the 300Mbps bandwagon. I wonder if Comcast is going to have bandwidth caps in place on its new service?

There's no hard timeline on the offering yet, but clearly Comcast wants to keep pace on the PR front, Smit making sure employees knew they'll offer 305 Mbps just to make sure they one-up Verizon. One problem is that Comcast isn't really utilizing upstream channel bonding to its full capability yet, so it will be interesting to see just how close to 65 Mbps Comcast can get on the upstream side of the bar. Comcast upstream bonding tests last year were able to achieve 75-100 Mbps.
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By my calculations, 250GB/300Mb = 189 Minutes. And probably cost over $150 a month. I'll take fiber, when I move to Tampa in a few months.
 
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devil22 said:
By my calculations, 250GB/300Mb = 189 Minutes. And probably cost over $150 a month. I'll take fiber, when I move to Tampa in a few months.
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I came in to joke about how you could hit the limit in 4 hours, but was going to be too lazy to do the math. Is it wrong when reality is less than the hyperbole joke I was going to make?
 
vengence said:
I came in to joke about how you could hit the limit in 4 hours, but was going to be too lazy to do the math. Is it wrong when reality is less than the hyperbole joke I was going to make?
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I know it's coming so I'll have to say it. You must be at your desk... ;)
 
How about you stop having outages in my area instead of trying to offer tiers almost no consumer could fully utilize.
 
awsiemieniec said:
whoops... comcast is May 17th, not August 12.
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Comcast could have made a time machine to send the message back in time. "Keep 250 gig data caps on 305 mpbs tier = making buttloads of money"

It would be written in the blood of one of their new interns.
 
Here's a Lamborghini. You may drive it ten miles, then get off the road or pay $10/mile.

I told the Comcast lady when I terminated that I would be happy to pay Verizon MORE money, because I found Comcast's caps to be abhorrent. She claimed 8 people could use HD, streaming, etc. and not hit the cap. I just said "Uh huh" and kept insisting on cancelling.
 
awsiemieniec said:
Yup: August 12, 2012: 250GB
http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/common-questions-excessive-use/
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we've decided to change our Data Usage Plan and replace our 250 GB monthly data usage allowance with a more flexible one.
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No. Read that again. In May they suspended the bandwidth caps. There is a trial market where they are testing a 300GB cap. They will also be testing tiered options in another market. As of right now if you are not in the trial market there is NO cap.

As for pricing it will be really interesting to see. They are going to be moving Extreme 50 to Blast prices, Extreme 105 to Extreme 50 prices. That leaves open the Extreme 105 price of around $150 a month. I would guess Extreme 305 (or whatever they want to call it) will probably end up a bit more than that, but I would wager it will be less than verizon's $205 a month for 300 / 65. What I don't see though is them going anywhere near 65mbps on the upload. Until they can change the split for upstream they will likely be 40mbps or below. There are things they can do to resolve that issue, but as of right now there isn't enough room to accommodate that much upload.
 
bman212121 said:
No. Read that again. In May they suspended the bandwidth caps. There is a trial market where they are testing a 300GB cap. They will also be testing tiered options in another market. As of right now if you are not in the trial market there is NO cap.

As for pricing it will be really interesting to see. They are going to be moving Extreme 50 to Blast prices, Extreme 105 to Extreme 50 prices. That leaves open the Extreme 105 price of around $150 a month. I would guess Extreme 305 (or whatever they want to call it) will probably end up a bit more than that, but I would wager it will be less than verizon's $205 a month for 300 / 65. What I don't see though is them going anywhere near 65mbps on the upload. Until they can change the split for upstream they will likely be 40mbps or below. There are things they can do to resolve that issue, but as of right now there isn't enough room to accommodate that much upload.
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THIS! in my area the caps are suspended they are testing certain markets with options from what i have heard when it is all done there will be new caps in tiers based on the service you pay for if you want no cap just get business class and stop bitching!
 
Comcast can get boned. The caps disgust me.

- Signed

A happy ex-comcast customer using Fios.
 
sorry for the bad info.

I had to get "business" and I am still complaining. twice the cost for the same speed, same connection issues as "residential".
 
Since you can't edit here...

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Note: enforcement of the 250GB data consumption threshold is currently suspended.

Pardon my excessive bandwidth usage, those steam sales have almost doubled my average monthly usage... :p
 
Chihlidog said:
Comcast can get boned. The caps disgust me.

- Signed

A happy ex-comcast customer using Fios.
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Not everyone has that option glad for you! Just wait till they cap it just like they did with their phone data (that USED TO have no cap either)!
 
bman212121 said:
Since you can't edit here...

30c7uq9.jpg


Note: enforcement of the 250GB data consumption threshold is currently suspended.

Pardon my excessive bandwidth usage, those steam sales have almost doubled my average monthly usage... :p
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This is mine and that is just gaming and streaming. the high month was when playstation plus had all the free games!

comcastusage.jpg
 
awsiemieniec said:
sorry for the bad info.

I had to get "business" and I am still complaining. twice the cost for the same speed, same connection issues as "residential".
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Yea that is unfortunate you had to switch. Maybe with the new price models you could switch back and save some money, or maybe just get more speed for the same price. The connection issues are going to be local to your area. It could be your drop needs to be replaced, or maybe there is a bad splitter somewhere. We generally have a pretty solid connection in our area, so I can't complain about that.
 
I switched from Comcast to Verizon FIOS, and I've noticed a few problems here and there that I didn't have with Comcast. However, I went from paying $180 a month to $136, and that includes an additional STB that I didn't have when I was using Comcast. Saving nearly $50 a month is reason enough to change over, honestly.
 
But hasn't Comcast been complaining for years now that the tubes are getting clogged with traffic? Why on Earth would they add a faster tier?
 
HisSvt76 said:
This is mine and that is just gaming and streaming. the high month was when playstation plus had all the free games!

comcastusage.jpg
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Do you have any idea of what the breakdown might look like? I see graphs like that and always wonder how long you must have netflix running every day to rack up that kind of usage. In a 4 person household without netflix, we were averaging around 5GB a month. With 2 persons in the house and netflix, we are around 15GB a month now. We both spend a decent amount of time on the computer every day, run Windows updates for several pcs and I have some downloads for things and game updates mixed in there. I've never even broken 40GB in a month even with a 16GB download for BF3.
 
bman212121 said:
Do you have any idea of what the breakdown might look like? I see graphs like that and always wonder how long you must have netflix running every day to rack up that kind of usage. In a 4 person household without netflix, we were averaging around 5GB a month. With 2 persons in the house and netflix, we are around 15GB a month now. We both spend a decent amount of time on the computer every day, run Windows updates for several pcs and I have some downloads for things and game updates mixed in there. I've never even broken 40GB in a month even with a 16GB download for BF3.
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Also Xbox live on 2 units a PlayStation and 2 streaming Blu-ray players you name it, I also do not dumb down Netflix they say that their HD stream can use 2.4 GB per hr. on highest setting. Have 2 teenagers on summer break too so right now lots of game time especially since it's been 95-100+ like every day for a month now! During school year usage is about 40% less.
 
You should get them to read a book! Then you'll be able to keep your usage under 250GB a month! :p I should also sound like the U verse commerical, those kids are so spoiled these days... Back in my day there was only 1 VCR player so your family actually had to spend time with each other watching the SAME movie! :D
 
bman212121 said:
You should get them to read a book! Then you'll be able to keep your usage under 250GB a month! :p I should also sound like the U verse commerical, those kids are so spoiled these days... Back in my day there was only 1 VCR player so your family actually had to spend time with each other watching the SAME movie! :D
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When two kids that are honors students and athletes want to chill out and play or watch something I am not going to tell them no. They both spend the first half of their day at workouts and the oldest has homework over the summer (Honors classes). We watch movies together 90% of the time together. These are not fat lazy or stupid kids so why should I tell them no just to keep usage down. Fuck Comcast I pay the bill and for all the other services that run on it!
 
I fucking hate you Verizon fiber users! Atlanta is such shit. Supposed to be one of the most wired cities.....yeah...you got two choices....Comcast, or shit DSL. Honestly I haven't had a problem with comcast much where I live, and I have exceeded my datacap by 100 gigs on average a month for the last few years without an issue or callback to me. But since they officially got rid of their cap, I decided to get rid of my comcast cable TV and just stream netflix/etc through my Roku box into the living room for my family and my mother who is staying with us now who watches movies all of the time and here is my average now:

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So if I am averaging 150 gigs over 300 per month, I am looking at another $30 a month. Hell, guess I will go to a business class. But I bet they institute some kind of cap on business class if they see a lot of people change to it.
 
Buxaroo said:
I fucking hate you Verizon fiber users! Atlanta is such shit. Supposed to be one of the most wired cities.....yeah...you got two choices....Comcast, or shit DSL. Honestly I haven't had a problem with comcast much where I live, and I have exceeded my datacap by 100 gigs on average a month for the last few years without an issue or callback to me. But since they officially got rid of their cap, I decided to get rid of my comcast cable TV and just stream netflix/etc through my Roku box into the living room for my family and my mother who is staying with us now who watches movies all of the time and here is my average now:

ZSui3.jpg


So if I am averaging 150 gigs over 300 per month, I am looking at another $30 a month. Hell, guess I will go to a business class. But I bet they institute some kind of cap on business class if they see a lot of people change to it.
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DAMN! now that is some usage! Mine includes working from home i remote alot and you kick my usages ass :)
 
bman212121 said:
Do you have any idea of what the breakdown might look like? I see graphs like that and always wonder how long you must have netflix running every day to rack up that kind of usage. In a 4 person household without netflix, we were averaging around 5GB a month. With 2 persons in the house and netflix, we are around 15GB a month now. We both spend a decent amount of time on the computer every day, run Windows updates for several pcs and I have some downloads for things and game updates mixed in there. I've never even broken 40GB in a month even with a 16GB download for BF3.
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You never know, that's the issue; I've had 40GB days (everyone home due to Hurricane Irene, so HD netflix / Hulu+ / gaming / etc). God forbid I need to reinstall my steam directory/games due to the NAS copy getting corrupted.
 
Machupo said:
You never know, that's the issue; I've had 40GB days (everyone home due to Hurricane Irene, so HD netflix / Hulu+ / gaming / etc). God forbid I need to reinstall my steam directory/games due to the NAS copy getting corrupted.
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This is why caps suck if you had to re-download your steam library that would crush your cap. I know my steam directory is 137GB which really isn't that big. My sons is 300GB
 
bman212121 said:
... Back in my day there was only 1 VCR player so your family actually had to spend time with each other watching the SAME movie! :D
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Back in my day, we had to gather around the TV (black & white!) at the time the show was broadcast :)
 
Xee said:
Or move to Chattanooga, Tennessee. They offer a 1 gigabit connection to their residents if you want to pay $350 a month.
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Seriously. Their slowest speed is 30mbps symmetrical! For 50mbps, it's what I'm paying Comcrap Business for 12/2. When I was on the job hunt last, I seriously tried to find a job out there. Not a whole lot of IT jobs out there, so I ended up staying in Atlanta. If you live in Chattanooga, live near there, or are moving there, check them out: https://epbfi.com/

I went with their Business service since I couldn't run the risk of a cap. Supposedly one does get better customer service and priority traffic. Last round of problems, the CSR didn't bother troubleshooting anything and rolled a truck. The tech that came over found that there was nothing wrong with the modem or wiring, but the whole block had some weird signal issues. He said that the CSR could have looked up the same info. The tech said that he'd call me back and let me know what they're doing about it; he hasn't called back, but the service has been working just fine since he left. I do think I get priority traffic. I generally sustain get at least 20/5 with bursts as high as 70/35.
 
Granted it's just my wife and I but our average usage is 150GB/mo; she watches low-resolution TV over the net and I download games from Steam. Comcast has currently suspended our cap and is eventually moving up to a 300GB/mo cap in our area.

...Comcast is planning to offer a 305 Mbps downstream tier sometime before the end of the year in FiOS markets.
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This is what annoys me: 1) It'll probably only be available in those markets and 2) it'll be priced competitively in those markets. Where I am, Comcast charges $200/mo for 100Mbps service and there is no competition except for slow DSL and 25Mbps U-verse, which is fine for average users. To be competitive, they'll charge $200/mo for 300Mbps in another market and the people here will be stuck paying $200/mo for 100Mbps.

As for having to recover your entire Steam collection, BULLSHIT. You don't HAVE to download your entire Steam library just to run Steam. Do you really play the entire library simultaneously? Download the few games you're going to actually play and put off downloading the unnecessary stuff for a later date.
 
HisSvt76 said:
When two kids that are honors students and athletes want to chill out and play or watch something I am not going to tell them no. They both spend the first half of their day at workouts and the oldest has homework over the summer (Honors classes). We watch movies together 90% of the time together. These are not fat lazy or stupid kids so why should I tell them no just to keep usage down. Fuck Comcast I pay the bill and for all the other services that run on it!
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Good for your kids!

@Machupo: Yea I can understand rare occurrences like that, but at the same time I've never really bought into the whole argument of needing to re download your entire steam collection in the same month. If you can't wait a couple of hours to play a game you haven't installed yet, you should probably just invest another $50 into a spare hdd that you can put backup copies onto so you don't run into that issue. With steam you could also easily download the game once, patch it, then copy it over to the other pcs on your network that require it. Not only will it be faster, it will save some tubez for everyone else.
 
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