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Comcast launches 305Mbps broadband, doubles 25/50Mbps tiers
Following last week's rumors of Comcast gearing up to offer 305Mbps cable broadband, the company has officially confirmed speculation. Labeled as Xfinity Platinum, Comcast has announced it is actually in the process of rolling out the speedy Internet service to "many major markets". The company will also be doubling the speeds of their 25Mbps and 50Mbps plans for existing subscribers at no additional cost.
The new Xfinity Platinum service promises 305Mbps down and 65Mbps up but no pricing details have emerged. Verizon offers its 300Mbps FiOS service for about $210 though, so there is some expectation that Comcast will hit a similar price point. "Blast" and "Extreme" subscribers who have enjoyed 25Mbps and 50Mbps tiers will see their top speeds doubled to 50Mbps and 105Mbps, respectively -- at no additional cost.
We’re doubling the speed of the Blast tier from 25 to 50 Mbps and the price does not change. It is $58.95/month multi-product or $72.95/month standalone. We’re also (more than) doubling Extreme 50 from 50 Mbps to 105 Mbps and the price also does not change. It is $99.95/mo multi-product or $114.95/month standalone (prices may vary by market).
Source: gigaom.com
It is interesting to note that Comcast offers 305Mbps instead of 300Mbps, one-upping its competitor for bragging rights as the fastest national ISP in the U.S.
Although "many major markets" is nothing short of unsatisifactorily vague, the press release does specifically list Boston, Hartford, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Wilmington, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Richmond, and New Jersey. The wording implies that other areas may be receiving the upgrades too, but there's no way to know for certain.
Comcast has long been criticized for imposing an artificial data impasse of 250GB per month on all of its residential plans. However, the hard cap was lifted in May -- although perhaps only temporarily -- while Comcast continues to mull over plans of introducing a beefier 300GB per month soft cap. Unlike the 250GB cap, subscribers would be able to exceed that amount albeit at a nominal fee.
User Comments: 49
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swing, and a miss (garbage)
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I'm sorry, what is your point here?
All I said is that if you use this connection at max speed you will use up your cap in 17 minutes.
First you said its impossible. Now you're asking me what I'm going to download. I dunno. 350 GBs of Justin Bieber songs. What the hell do you care what I would download?
I just made a comment. That's all. Sorry if you feel so defensive about being wrong, but in the future think before you insult someone. That's called common sense.
You are quite funny where in my original post did I say it was impossible??? I see reading is strong with you.
I said where are you going to find a server that will upload to you that fast! And now you are telling me you are going to download 350GB of justin bieber songs?
You still didn't answer my question.
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There are servers all over the world that will push out 300mbps. Trust me it's not all that rare at all. I guess people really are stupid in this world. Please know what you're talking about before you make comments that you know nothing about. And the gentleman that is getting under 3mbs, you're not thinking correctly about the conversion. All companies in the U.S. advertise MBPS, Not MBS. So make sure you're checking your speed right.And I'm sitting here unemployed, WTF is wrong with this country.
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There are servers all over the world that will push out 300mbps. Trust me it's not all that rare at all. I guess people really are stupid in this world. Please know what you're talking about before you make comments that you know nothing about. And the gentleman that is getting under 3mbs, you're not thinking correctly about the conversion. All companies in the U.S. advertise MBPS, Not MBS. So make sure you're checking your speed right.And I'm sitting here unemployed, WTF is wrong with this country.
thanks captain obvious but the point was most people don't have use for a connection that fast at home. And your generic there are servers all over the world that can push that doesn't mean anything either. Not only is the price going to be over $200 a month for this type of connection you would need to be downloading torrents pretty much all day. The only time a connection like this would make sense is in a house with a 4-5 person family with multiple computers. There aren't many websites that will push 300mbps uploads to your house.
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I said nothing about Torrents. I don't use them. I download from servers. Not websites,not torrents I said servers. Look in to it. And yes,they will push 300mbps no problem. Have you ever heard of news groups?
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And yes,it would make sense for me. I download files that are 10 gigs or more. If I can go from 50mbps to 300 it would save a lot of time. And yes, the servers will push that much to me.
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Zilpha said:
thanks captain obvious but the point was most people don't have use for a connection that fast at home. And your generic there are servers all over the world that can push that doesn't mean anything either. Not only is the price going to be over $200 a month for this type of connection you would need to be downloading torrents pretty much all day. The only time a connection like this would make sense is in a house with a 4-5 person family with multiple computers. There aren't many websites that will push 300mbps uploads to your house.You just aren't listening - it doesn't *have* to be from a single server, and *what* is being downloaded is completely irrelevent. Whether or not the *average* house (what the heck is the average now anyway?) will reach the cap is irrelevent as well. The *point* is that the caps aren't increasing in an intelligent way with the download speeds as we move further into the digital age. 300 GB is nothing. I'm nearly using up my current cap of 250 just in watching a couple movies a week, using the webcam as often as I can with friends and family, and online gaming (plus the odd download of new games, linux distros to play with, web browsing, etc.)
Would I like a faster speed? Sure. Is it worth it to pay more when the cap hasn't increased substantially? Not in a million years.
You also should drop the attitude.
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Oh and if you do happen to have Comcast and they want to charge you more for going over your so called CAP. Just tell them if they don't lift it, you're going to go with another company. That works also. The choices we have these days is working for the customer. They don't want to lose a customer that is paying $100.00 or more a month from each customer going to another provider. And if more would take a stand and tell them that, we all would be better off and there would be no so called CAP. That is what I love about Time Warner. Always promised speed and I've downloaded 3,500 gigs in 3 months. Never a complaint from them. I know this is about Comcast and I don't use them. But I do know a lot that do use them. And if you tell them you're going to go with another provider, they change their stance on the so called CAP real quick.
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You just aren't listening - it doesn't *have* to be from a single server, and *what* is being downloaded is completely irrelevent. Whether or not the *average* house (what the heck is the average now anyway?) will reach the cap is irrelevent as well. The *point* is that the caps aren't increasing in an intelligent way with the download speeds as we move further into the digital age. 300 GB is nothing. I'm nearly using up my current cap of 250 just in watching a couple movies a week, using the webcam as often as I can with friends and family, and online gaming (plus the odd download of new games, linux distros to play with, web browsing, etc.)
Would I like a faster speed? Sure. Is it worth it to pay more when the cap hasn't increased substantially? Not in a million years.
You also should drop the attitude.
Now I totally agree with the caps 250-300GB's isn't enough for a connection with that kinda of speed and think it should be doubled.
And I don't think I was giving attitude I asked a simple question. If someone asking what you would do with the connection is too troubling to answer then nevermind. And the point I made about a family addresses your first point in your response. Multiple computers being used would be able to saturate that connection at the same time. I however was focusing more at the connection speed than bandwidth caps which are a separate issue.
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I said nothing about Torrents. I don't use them. I download from servers. Not websites,not torrents I said servers. Look in to it. And yes,they will push 300mbps no problem. Have you ever heard of news groups?
yes I'm well aware of newsgroups but I wasn't planning on pushing the conversation in that direction.
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You are quite funny where in my original post did I say it was impossible??? I see reading is strong with you.
I said where are you going to find a server that will upload to you that fast! And now you are telling me you are going to download 350GB of justin bieber songs?
You still didn't answer my question.
You win this one Mr. Tamland. Well played.
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The paper I have from Comcast Billing, says "20Mbps" ( Megabytes per secound )Download and "5Mbps" upload, I have Never seen it go above 3Mbps ( 3 Megabytes per secound )
and my best friend lives 2 blocks from Comcast Head End, and his speed is slower than mine, and he has the same internet package..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Included Features....
?Speeds even faster than Performance service with downloads up to 20 Mbps with PowerBoostŪ.
?Lightning-fast Internet so you can stream TV shows, download HD movies and game in real time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well only seeing no speeds above 3Mbps tells me one thing....They don't care..
evil: Like bchen88c said and I was implying, you are getting what you paid for (actually higher then what you pay for if you get 3MBps). Mbps (Megabits Per Second) and MBps (Megabytes Per Second) are not the same thing, it takes 8 Mbps to equal 1 MBps so your 3MBps download equals out to 24Mbps or higher then the 20 Mbps you are being charged for. One thing to remember is that ISPs almost never advertise MBps speeds since they are 8 time smaller then the same amount in Mbps but on the internet your download speed is almost always measured in MBps so unless you look out it will seem like you are not getting the speed you paid for..
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eduardopozo said:
" am a PLC Programmer and I know about Networking and all the Tricks",
Not knowing the difference between Mbps (The number in your plan) and MBps (Your download rate as shown in your OS) doesnt seem like "knowing about networking"
For the rest: As bchen88c said:
The plan is 300mbps (megaBITS), not bytes, your OS download rate is shown in BYTES..
305 mbps plan = 38.12 MBps download rate
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I pay 14$ per month for 75Mbps in Bulgaria. I guess that is the only good thing about my country [image link]
One has to realize two things which it seems like North America is behind. The first is the size of the infrastructure in North America is significantly larger than the area you're in. Also take in consideration the price of the copper, or the fiber optics to change everything out for the size of the infrastructure.
It's a reason why it appears that European or Asian countries are ahead in terms of internet speeds, but the reality is, they are smaller are so it is easier and faster to switch over.
@ Last guest: I don't know what you have been smoking, but if you look at western europe, you have a population density about 8 times that of the US for the same number of people.
If we take in account the whole of Europe, it has double the density for double the people on the same area (3,9 M square miles).
Tell me again how infrastructure would be less sizable?
Its not really infrastructure. The reason why people in Central and Eastern Europe have such high speeds for such a low price is due to the former Soviet occupation they had a shitty infrastructure, which only got built in the late 90s or in the past decade. So naturally when they install fiber or cable they're going to put in higher quality equipment, not rely on old infrastructure from the 1970s or 1980s.
As far as cost, everything in these countries is cheap. I was paying 20 bucks for a 30 Mbit connection in Poland, now I'm paying 15 bucks for a 15 Mbit connection cause the building I moved into has a different company servicing it.
That's really all there is to these magic speeds. In America if they wanted to upgrade the infrastructure, like they're doing in FIOS they'd have to dig up a bunch of stuff, and it would cost a lot of money, so they're unlikely to do it. And if they do it, they're going to charge you an arm and a leg.
I am not talking about population density. I'm talking about the network infrastructure in that aspect, not to mention bout the cost that gwailo247 had mentioned.
I think you must of mistaken what the guest has said. Its the distance which the country's network infrastructure needs to cover (being referred as the size as well), which makes sense because US is one of the largest countries in the world in comparison of a European country. Probably throw in Canada since they are a bit larger than US even thou they don't have as much population.
Replacing the old wiring with new technologies is expensive (cost per meter or km).
I hate that company.
I have Time Warner's Fiber Wideband and am paying $100/mo for 50/5 (no TV) and actually connected @ 51/6 - so I cant complain too much.
Euhm, more people: more houses, more houses: more cabling, more cabling: more infrastructure...
[Edit]
Just realized I'm flamebaiting . Sorry 'bout that
It's is easier to cover more density people in smaller area (country) such that it wouldn't be as complex because of the distance the cable and the amount of repeaters needed to go to reach customers. This is where the smaller countries have a advantage of being able change technologies quicker because they don't need with as much size.
The larger countries, need to deal with is a lot more cable and repeaters to reach customers which would make it morning complex.
Both users make good points.
DAOWAce said:
Huh.. I wonder what my ISP (Cablevision/Optimum Online) will do to counteract this.
Hopefully not sit on their ass and do nothing. I want higher speeds for my $65 a month.
pgianni8 said:
Comcast should burn, thank you GOOG for launching 1GB service its soo sad the US is so far behind other countries thanks to greedy corporations. Comcast and Verizon will have no choice but to lower their prices to Goog price point it might take a couple years but their days are numbered, Data cap/SOft Caps whatever they can take their lousy customer service and mediocre speed limits and shove it
Chandima said:
Ok they say I get 20Mbps Down Load.... Well I have Never Ever Ever seen it go above 3.0Mbps....... EVER....I have been doing this for over 25 yrs, and yes I am a PLC Programmer and I know about Networking and all the Tricks
You say you are a programmer for 25 years but still don't know the difference between mbps and MBps?
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