Comcast launches 305Mbps broadband, doubles 25/50Mbps tiers

[Rick]

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.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/49522-comcast-launches-305mbps-broadband-doubles-25-50mbps-tiers.html

 

[Scshadow]

"However, the hard cap was lifted in May -- although perhaps only temporarily -- while Comcast continues to mull over plans of introducing a beefier 300MB per month soft cap."

I don't know how you consider a 300MB per month cap as "beefier." O.o

 

[Guest]

I pay 14$ per month for 75Mbps in Bulgaria. I guess that is the only good thing about my country

 

[3DCGMODELER]

Ok they say I get 20Mbps Down Load.... Well I have Never Ever Ever seen it go above 3.0Mbps....... EVER....
And Yes I have Checked and double Checked connections, and every thing under the sun..
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, But Comcast say's that speeds could be UP TO 20+Mbps download, they do not promise they Download speed, they just say, Not Guarantee'd, FIGURES Comast always LIES about everything.. You have Fiber Optic, Ya right, The nearest fiber optic cable is at the Head-End, at there Office building 3 miles away,... When the Fiber optic is at my house physically connected to my Modem then I will beleieve them...
There Allways knocking on my door trying to sell me Cable TV, well I shut off the cable TV, because of there is nothing but Commercials..... DA YA THINK I want to watch commercials all the time... NOT....
Comcast Are nothing more than LIERS....
So If I want 25Mbps download speed,do I get the 305Mbps Package deal... I DO NOT Think so...

 

[gwailo247]

So unless my math is off, you'd hit that cap (300 GB) in 17 minutes if you're going full speed.

 

[oldikes]

300MB per month? are you joking? please say you meant 300GB...I do 300MB in two hours sometimes.

 

[Guest]

Click on the link, its 300GB not 300MB

 

[soldier1969]

Yet another reason I stick with Comcast this is great news. I have the extreme 50mbs plan and pay $86 a month well worth it to me and now getting double that for the same money even better. Ty Comcast. The cap doesnt bother me much I only use about 150-200gb a month downloading anyway...

 

[Camikazi]

Ok they say I get 20Mbps Down Load.... Well I have Never Ever Ever seen it go above 3.0Mbps....... EVER....
And Yes I have Checked and double Checked connections, and every thing under the sun.

Are you totally sure you are not confusing Mbps with MBps, cause 3MBps would be around 24Mbps which would be about right for your connection. BTW it's not exactly lying if they say up to, since your distance from the main office will affect your speed in pretty much every case, but someone who knows about networking would know that.

 

[Lionvibez]

I pay 14$ per month for 75Mbps in Bulgaria. I guess that is the only good thing about my country

How are your pings to the North american battlefield 3 and CS source servers from bulgaria?

You may have cheap internet but I don't want your lantency!!

 

[Lionvibez]

So unless my math is off, you'd hit that cap (300 GB) in 17 minutes if you're going full speed.

What servers are you going to be downloading from that will upload to you at that rate?

So your math isn't off however your common sense is!

 

[Guest]

You do realize you can only download as fast as the other side uploads right? So, although someone can download 20 Mbps, if the other side is only uploading at 1.5 Mbps, guess what? You're only going to be able to download at 1.5 Mbps. Sometimes the obvious isn't so obvious.

 

[wastedkill]

If you want 305mbs down and 60mbs up in the UK it would cost you atleast $3k a month.

 

[Guest]

yeah fastest in uk is virginmedia which is cable @120mb download 12mb upload

 

[3DCGMODELER]

Ok they say I get 20Mbps Down Load.... Well I have Never Ever Ever seen it go above 3.0Mbps....... EVER....
And Yes I have Checked and double Checked connections, and every thing under the sun.

Are you totally sure you are not confusing Mbps with MBps, cause 3MBps would be around 24Mbps which would be about right for your connection. BTW it's not exactly lying if they say up to, since your distance from the main office will affect your speed in pretty much every case, but someone who knows about networking would know that.

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 PowerBoost®.
?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:

 

[Guest]

have you tried to login to your router to see what kind of levels you are at

 

[Guest]

downloading via torrents you can get your full speed out of your line as long as the seeders are there I consistently use my full 100Mbps download speed

 

[Guest]

and there are many more connected devices in the home now gaming consoles, phones, laptops, tablets, tvs, media boxes, nas drives etc.... all taking a piece of the bandwidth pie

 

[bchen88c]

Ok they say I get 20Mbps Down Load.... Well I have Never Ever Ever seen it go above 3.0Mbps....... EVER....
And Yes I have Checked and double Checked connections, and every thing under the sun.

Are you totally sure you are not confusing Mbps with MBps, cause 3MBps would be around 24Mbps which would be about right for your connection. BTW it's not exactly lying if they say up to, since your distance from the main office will affect your speed in pretty much every case, but someone who knows about networking would know that.

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 PowerBoost®.
?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:

Do some math first.
Mbps=megaBITs per sec
MBps=megaBYTEs per sec
8 bits=1 byte

Therefore, 3 MBps x 8=24 Mbps or about what they advertise.
I have the same "Performance" package too and I get around 2.75 MBps (22 Mbps) off of a top traffic website or nearby CDN. Of course, YMMV and distance from the server as well as their speed limits to you factor in as well.

 

[bchen88c]

I'll add to my previous comment too; 20 megabytes per second (MBps) would equivocate to 160 megabits per second (Mbps). That tier never existed (extreme 105 was the fastest till now).

 

[gwailo247]

What servers are you going to be downloading from that will upload to you at that rate?

So your math isn't off however your common sense is!

So what you're telling me is that its impossible to ever reach that download speed? That there is no way in the world that I could simultaneously connect to enough servers to hit a 300 Mbps download rate?

So why have a 300 Mbps connection if its impossible to reach full speed?

Well, thanks for helping my common sense out...

 

[Tanstar]

My fairly basic Comcast internet service gets me 22.39Mbps and 4.24Mbps connections (just tested, but this around my normal). It's a great deal compared to people paying the same amount for DSL

 

[SalaSSin]

I pay 14$ per month for 75Mbps in Bulgaria. I guess that is the only good thing about my country

How are your pings to the North american battlefield 3 and CS source servers from bulgaria?

You may have cheap internet but I don't want your lantency!!

I don't know about Guest #1, but I live in Belgium and have a latency of about 25-50 ms on TF2 & CS servers. Valve has enough servers close by in Europe, we never need to seek out NA servers.

 

[Lionvibez]

What servers are you going to be downloading from that will upload to you at that rate?

So your math isn't off however your common sense is!

So what you're telling me is that its impossible to ever reach that download speed? That there is no way in the world that I could simultaneously connect to enough servers to hit a 300 Mbps download rate?

So why have a 300 Mbps connection if its impossible to reach full speed?

Well, thanks for helping my common sense out...

It is possible but why don't you explain to me how you plan to use a 300mbps download rate?

 

[Guest]

That makes sense! If I download at 300mbits per second according to some brainless users I only get 10mbits for the other side can only upload at 10mbits per secon. How about if I download from 30 uploading at 10mbits pers second. Would that number change. So I get different pieses from different sources. So what. I guess your brainless logic fails. Also there could be 400 servers do I only get uploaded from one? Or could I get pieces from multiple servers. Plus servers have t1 2 3 lines. So this kind of brainless logic is the norm in North America from colledge students that take open book tests and get r a ped by their foot ball coach.