Comcast's speedy Gigabit Pro Internet service priced at $300/month with $1,000 in startup fees

[Shawn Knight]

Comcast made headlines back in April when it announced Gigabit Pro, a symmetrical 2Gbps fiber-based service for residential customers. The ISP didn’t disclose how much the service would cost but did say it would require the installation of professional-grade equipment (a clue that it wouldn’t come cheap).

Comcast has since revealed pricing for its speedy service and as anticipated, it’s quite expensive.

Standard pricing for the symmetrical 2Gbps connection is set at $299.95 per month. Installation fees can cost upwards of $500 and there’s also an activation fee of up to $500. In total, prospective users could be out as much as $1,000 just to get up and running.

An eligible residence is described as being within a third of a mile of Comcast’s fiber network. Furthermore, customers must agree to a two-year contract that’s subject to an early termination fee. Those who agree to the contract may have to wait up to eight weeks or longer for installation to be completed.

According to Multichannel News, the service will carry a promotional price of around $159 per month. It’s also worth pointing out that Gigabit Pro connections aren’t bound by usage consumption caps and the service is only being offered as a standalone product (no bundle discounts).

Gigabit Pro is available in several major markets with Comcast planning to bring it to 18 million customers by the end of the year.

Image courtesy Shutterstock

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https://www.techspot.com/news/61344-comcast-speedy-gigabit-pro-internet-service-priced-300month.html

 

[davislane1]

Standard pricing for the symmetrical 2Gbps connection is set at $299.95 per month. Installation fees can cost upwards of $500 and there’s also an activation fee of up to $500. In total, prospective users could be out as much as $1,000 just to get up and running.

...or a new car!

I'll take the car, Bob.

 

[Greg S]

If I truly have no bandwidth caps, I'd consider running a VPN service, some web hosting, and renting storage space. It could easily be turned into a profitable business with a 2gbps connection.

 

[umbala]

If I truly have no bandwidth caps, I'd consider running a VPN service, some web hosting, and renting storage space. It could easily be turned into a profitable business with a 2gbps connection.

This is a residential service. You can be sure Comcast wouldn't look kindly on you trying to use it to run a business and profit off the connection. They would certainly notice the non-stop heavy traffic and you would be offered to upgrade to a much more expensive business connection.

Nice idea though, but this is Comcast we're talking about here. They profit off you, not the other way around.

 

[Evernessince]

If I truly have no bandwidth caps, I'd consider running a VPN service, some web hosting, and renting storage space. It could easily be turned into a profitable business with a 2gbps connection.

Yeah, the problem with this is you won't have a static IP. How can people use a server or VPN when the IP is going to be changing all the time?

 

[Camikazi]

If I truly have no bandwidth caps, I'd consider running a VPN service, some web hosting, and renting storage space. It could easily be turned into a profitable business with a 2gbps connection.

Yeah, the problem with this is you won't have a static IP. How can people use a server or VPN when the IP is going to be changing all the time?

VPNs can have readable addresses and those readable addresses can be updated quickly (I do it myself for my self-hosted sites) so no one even needs to know the correct IP. Also, I use residential Comcast and have had the same IP for the last 6 months at least, they don't change it as much as most think. I setup my DNS-O-Matic (let's me update multiple sites IPs at once through my router) account in Nov of last year and it has not changed at all in all that time.

 

[wiyosaya]

To me, this sounds more like a marketing ploy so that they can say "we got the fastest speeds", or something Commiecast dreamed up to combat the impression that they are less than net neutral. Personally, I imagine that the only people who would be willing to give a car payment+ to Commiecast are those in highest income brackets.

 

[Evernessince]

VPNs can have readable addresses and those readable addresses can be updated quickly (I do it myself for my self-hosted sites) so no one even needs to know the correct IP. Also, I use residential Comcast and have had the same IP for the last 6 months at least, they don't change it as much as most think. I setup my DNS-O-Matic (let's me update multiple sites IPs at once through my router) account in Nov of last year and it has not changed at all in all that time.

I'm on Time Warner and usually get a new IP every other day. I know that you can change IP address and have a service update and track it for you (had to to hook up security systems that can be accessed via the internet anywhere), but it will still cause downtime each time your IP is updated. On top of that, comcast doesn't guarantee the advertised speed. A customer line isn't going to get the same treatment during periods of high use, comcast is a business after all.