Comcast launching 2Gbps Internet service in Atlanta next month

[Jos]

Comcast's tone on gigabit Internet has certainly changed in the last couple of years. After dismissing Google Fiber as excessive for most people’s needs, now the company is not only launching its own competing service for residential users, but actually one-upping Google with double the speed.

Arriving next month In Atlanta, the Gigabit Pro plan will include uncapped, fiber-based, symmetrical 2 Gbps service. As Comcast notes, the initial rollout will cover more than 1.5 million metro Atlanta homes and not “just certain neighborhoods,” with plans to expand to more markets throughout the year. The company aims to cover about 18 million homes by the end of the year.

There’s no word on pricing yet; all Comcast is saying is that the service will be available to any home within close proximity of its fiber network and will require the installation of professional-grade equipment.

For reference, Google Fiber, which will be expanding to Atlanta sometime this year, charges $130 per month for 1Gbps Internet and TV service or $70 for just the gigabit Internet. Looking at some of Comcast’s most expensive Xfinity Internet plans ($90/month for 150Mbps and $400/month for 505Mbps) we’d be surprised if they even come close to Google in pricing.

The company has been building out its fiber-based platform for years and currently offers up to 10 Gbps to business customers.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/60245-comcast-launching-2gbps-internet-service-atlanta-next-month.html

 

[Guest]

Now we're talking, especially with the uncapped limit. Only thing that's left to wait for is for them to ruin it retarded pricing

 

[63Jax]

Late to the party, my american friends. I have 1gb/s from 1 year and a half already and I pay only a pathetic 12 Euro.

 

[cmbjive]

But, I thought the telcos weren't innovating???!!!

 

[UncleNine]

Total marketing scam. No home user needs 2Gbs speed. Not even 1Gbs. You could stream 150 to 250 HD movies -simultaneously- with 1Gbs. Only a business user with 10's or 100's of employees, cash registers, terminals etc., or -maybe- someone who runs a website needs that kind of speed.

 

[Guest]

I am totally satisfied with 15Mbps and stream movies with no problem.

 

[Guest]

I honestly don't care if they offer 10Gbps, I will never ever use their company again! They had their chance and all did was become greedy with their local monopolies, sucking as much money as they wanted with no end in sight, and perpetuating some seriously shady business practices. Now that they have caught off guard with new competition, I wish them a swift and utter demise as their customer base flees to other companies that actually treat them right. Good riddance!

 

[JohnCB]

Total marketing scam. No home user needs 2Gbs speed. Not even 1Gbs. You could stream 150 to 250 HD movies -simultaneously- with 1Gbs. Only a business user with 10's or 100's of employees, cash registers, terminals etc., or -maybe- someone who runs a website needs that kind of speed.

15 Years ago when 20MBps was announced the same arguments erupted. No one needs that! It's soo much! Then once it became the norm that everyone had highspeed, websites got larger, images increased in resolution, digital games became the norm, streaming videos became a possibility.

Just because 1/2/3/etc GBps is way more than you need today, it opens the door to innovation with new and exciting ideas that just are not possible with our current bandwidth caps.

 

[davislane1]

Total marketing scam. No home user needs 2Gbs speed. Not even 1Gbs. You could stream 150 to 250 HD movies -simultaneously- with 1Gbs. Only a business user with 10's or 100's of employees, cash registers, terminals etc., or -maybe- someone who runs a website needs that kind of speed.

15 Years ago when 10MBps was announced the same arguments erupted. No one needs that! It's soo much! Then once it became the norm that everyone had highspeed, websites got larger, images increased in resolution, digital games became the norm, streaming videos became a possibility.

Just because 1/2/3/etc GBps is way more than you need today, it doesn't mean it's useless. Instead it starts to open the door to innovation with new and exciting ideas that just are not possible with our current bandwidth caps.

Currently it is useless for the average user. He didn't state that it wouldn't have a use in the future. He stated that, as of now, nobody other than a business is likely to need that kind of pipeline.

 

[Seventh Reign]

Only $70/month ??? I'd pay that in a heartbeat if it was available here. Hell I'm already paying almost $60/month for 6Mbit.

 

[psycros]

Total marketing scam. No home user needs 2Gbs speed. Not even 1Gbs. You could stream 150 to 250 HD movies -simultaneously- with 1Gbs. Only a business user with 10's or 100's of employees, cash registers, terminals etc., or -maybe- someone who runs a website needs that kind of speed.

Its amazing how people comment on things they have absolutely no understanding of. Its gigaBITS, not gigaBYTES. Incidentally, you could NOT stream 150 to 250 (LOL!!) HD movies even on a one gigaBYTE connection. Try actually understanding a topic before you try to sound clever.

 

[psycros]

And let's all bear in mind that uncapped may not mean un-*throttled*. This is Comcast we're talking about - its a given that past a certain amount of data used in a month your speeds will drop tremendously.

 

[gamoniac]

Late to the party, my american friends. I have 1gb/s from 1 year and a half already and I pay only a pathetic 12 Euro.

The geographical size of the US often puts us in cost and logistic disadvantage when it comes to infrastructure upgrade. The same goes for mobile services despite being the pioneers of the technologies, e.g. Internet was born from DOD's Arpanet, and the first wireless technologies started in Hawaii. In addition, the telecommunication backbones are laid down by businesses where the markets are, rather than by governments. Disclaimer: I am not saying either approach is good or bad; or that is the case in your country. Just generally speaking.

 

[Guest]

Video game streamers would benefit from those speeds. Uploading videos, streaming at 1080p, and downloading take quite a lot of data and most streamers tend to do all three simultaneously.

 

[Smalls62]

The threat of no innovation was the last leg to stall the loss of the TV bundler market moat. Now they have to become best of market broadband ISPs with reasonable prices to hold onto market share. TV bundle will be low margin tack on product. The recent move by FCC for ISP under Title II means the incumbents have to move swiftly to defend ISP market which means opening the door to OTTs (competing TV bundlers).

 

[Smalls62]

Total marketing scam. No home user needs 2Gbs speed. Not even 1Gbs. You could stream 150 to 250 HD movies -simultaneously- with 1Gbs. Only a business user with 10's or 100's of employees, cash registers, terminals etc., or -maybe- someone who runs a website needs that kind of speed.

Ever paid attention to 4K TV data demands? Streaming without buffer, you're talking in the neighborhood of 65 Mbps. Three TVs in a home running simultaneous plus a minor web surfer on their tablet = needs of near 200 Mbps. HDTV is going to quickly become yesterday's TV tech as this big of a leap in broadband finally supplies adequate pipes for 4K. Cable has DOCSIS 3.1 hitting the market, fixed line telcos have G.fast hitting, mobile has LTE-A and soon 4.5G technology. The perfect storm for broadband expansion (and a wide open competitive field BECAUSE of Title II for ISPs) is announced with this first big wave of the hurricane by Comcast announcement.

 

[Lionvibez]

Total marketing scam. No home user needs 2Gbs speed. Not even 1Gbs. You could stream 150 to 250 HD movies -simultaneously- with 1Gbs. Only a business user with 10's or 100's of employees, cash registers, terminals etc., or -maybe- someone who runs a website needs that kind of speed.

Ever paid attention to 4K TV data demands? Streaming without buffer, you're talking in the neighborhood of 65 Mbps. Three TVs in a home running simultaneous plus a minor web surfer on their tablet = needs of near 200 Mbps. HDTV is going to quickly become yesterday's TV tech as this big of a leap in broadband finally supplies adequate pipes for 4K. Cable has DOCSIS 3.1 hitting the market, fixed line telcos have G.fast hitting, mobile has LTE-A and soon 4.5G technology. The perfect storm for broadband expansion (and a wide open competitive field BECAUSE of Title II for ISPs) is announced with this first big wave of the hurricane by Comcast announcement.

While I agree with your post and think that other guys thinking is very short sited.

They barely broadcast in 1080p now. Everything is 1080i and 720p when they actually started hitting 1080p and 4k for almost all broadcast then it will be something to worry about.

And I also love seeing the post from europeans about how their small little country has 100mbps internet for 12 bucks a month. When they don't considering the land mass of US the population density and all other reasons why its a apple vs oranges comparison with Insert Random european country!

Hope they will be giving people upgraded network cards and SSD's.

Because the first support call will be I just got this installed but my downloads don't exceed 100mb/sec what the hell is going on.

 

[Geforcepat]

Well this is just...Comcastic!

 

[wiyosaya]

Total marketing scam. No home user needs 2Gbs speed. Not even 1Gbs. You could stream 150 to 250 HD movies -simultaneously- with 1Gbs. Only a business user with 10's or 100's of employees, cash registers, terminals etc., or -maybe- someone who runs a website needs that kind of speed.

15 Years ago when 10MBps was announced the same arguments erupted. No one needs that! It's soo much! Then once it became the norm that everyone had highspeed, websites got larger, images increased in resolution, digital games became the norm, streaming videos became a possibility.

Just because 1/2/3/etc GBps is way more than you need today, it doesn't mean it's useless. Instead it starts to open the door to innovation with new and exciting ideas that just are not possible with our current bandwidth caps.

Agreed with both...Marketing scam for sure
Take Lee Iacocca back in the day - Air Bags were too expensive, then, when the Gov't required them in the US, Chrysler was proud to have them in their vehicles. Scum bag.

 

[Deltree]

Sure beats paying 40$ a month to Fairpoint (Unfairpoint if you asked me) for 180k down and 50k up like me. I don't even have another option. Walk to the end of my street and the house there gets 50mbps down and 5 mbps up from TWC.

 

[thorpj]

Oh, but Title 2 would prevent economic and infrastructure growth, and create huge losses for ISPs...

Yeah, right...

 

[yRaz]

But, I thought the telcos weren't innovating???!!!

>conveniently placed net neutrality

 

[davislane1]

Oh, but Title 2 would prevent economic and infrastructure growth, and create huge losses for ISPs...

Yeah, right...

You do understand that...

1. Comcast had this in the works well before the OIO.
2. The OIO isn't even in effect for another month or so.

Troll better.

 

[cmbjive]

>conveniently placed net neutrality

If they're rolling out 2 Gbps now, you do realize this was in development BEFORE net neutrality was adopted, right?

 

[cmbjive]

Oh, but Title 2 would prevent economic and infrastructure growth, and create huge losses for ISPs...

Yeah, right...

LOL. Yep, net neutrality is so powerful that it impacted a business decision that was years in the making before it even went into effect.

You're funny.