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Comcast Won't Give New Speed Boost To Internet Users Who Don't Buy TV Service (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Last week, Comcast announced speed increases for customers in Houston and the Oregon/SW Washington areas. The announcement headlines were "Comcast increases Internet speeds for some video customers." Customers with 60Mbps Internet download speeds are being upped to 150Mbps; 150Mbps subscribers are going to 250Mbps; and 250Mbps subscribers are getting a raise to 400Mbps or 1Gbps. Comcast says speed increases will kick in automatically without raising the customers' monthly bills -- but only if they subscribe to certain bundles that include both Internet and TV service.
"Cord cutters are not invited to the [speed increase] party," the Houston Chronicle wrote. "Only those who bundle Internet with cable television and other services... will see their speeds go up at no extra charge." Presumably, Internet-only customers can get the new speeds by paying more or by bundling their Internet subscriptions with video.
"Cord cutters are not invited to the [speed increase] party," the Houston Chronicle wrote. "Only those who bundle Internet with cable television and other services... will see their speeds go up at no extra charge." Presumably, Internet-only customers can get the new speeds by paying more or by bundling their Internet subscriptions with video.
Comcast A-Hole #1: "What should we do?" Comcast A-Hole#2: "Piss them off, that'll teach em!" :-D
Shouldn't be hard being that it's Comcast and all....
Does it surprise anyone that if you pay more money you get better services and are part of the first wave rollouts for upgrades?
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
You have to buy broadband, but not the tv service. Seems like comcast needs to be split up so their tv offerings become competitivly priced and the local regions own the backbone of the internet.
They'd be better off just offering 1gbps to everyone with the same shit 1TB datacap and run to the bank with the overage fees.
Oligopolies = forced bundling; same as it ever was.
Table-ized A.I.
Ajit must be loving his 10 pieces of silver. Hope it was worth it for the price of your soul.
46137
You can pay $10 for a one step speed bump from comcast or you can get it for only $100 and get useless cable TV you won't watch.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
First Prize: One hour of Comcast Customer Support
Second Prize: Two hours of Comcast Customer Support
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Next thing you know, auto makers are going to refuse to give a navigation system to people who don't buy the premium package. Bastards.
People, who watch regular TV, will not be using the increased bandwidth for as long every day to stream movies.
I fail to see, what's so outrageous here...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Screwing over folks in any way they can.
"Comcast Won't Give New Speed Boost To Internet Users Who Don't Buy TV Service "
I bet if Google or AT&T or $competition showed up with Fiber, Comcast couldn't bump those speeds up fast enough.
TV bundles wouldn't even be a consideration.
It would be all about emergency customer retaining in the face of competition.
This is the competitive internet that the FCC has 'fixed' for us. I've only got a single choice, Spectrum, and though they advertise service 'starting' at 60 mbps in our area they can only deliver 23-25 mbps and have no intention of upgrading the infrastructure to make good on their hollow promises.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
I hope the feds or states go after them for antitrust violations. They are leveraging their monopoly in high speed internet access to support their cable subscription business.
Google fiber is so shitty that they only give me 1gbps and if I want to cancel I can do it with out talking to anyone what kind of shit is that, and to top it off when my self installation didn't go like planed they gave me 50.00 off of my bill what the fuck. worst service ever. I think I should switch to comcast. LOL
Comcast Won't Give New Speed Boost To Internet Users Who Don't Buy TV Service
No high speed internet without a cable TV bundle? Phew!!! ... Is that the stink of desperation I smell?
I live out of the USoA.
All telecom providers which offer triple play, offer special perks, benefits and plans for users which use two or more services, as opposed to people which use just one.
All banks give you special perks if you receive your monthly pay in their account via direct transfer. Also, they give you special perks and benefits if you pay your bills via automatic drect transfer from their account. (Domicialiacion, is called).
Airlines give you special perks if you are a corporate subscriber.
Is only normal that if you have more than one service with comcast (that being cableTV + Data) you get some perks ("free" speed increase) that other people have to pay for. As some other poster said, if you have NO use for the TV service, pay just $10 for the speed increase, instead of paying $100 for the "useless" TV service (and then get the "free" data speed bump). If, OTOH, you already have the TV+Data service, enjoy your free "$10 data gift card"
If you still can not wrap your brain about it, just imagine if you were a grandpa/grandma, who only uses the TV service, and the data is there for when the grandchildren come visit. Try then to bitch about that instead of giving you a $10 discount on the "useful" TV service, they are raising the speed of your "useless" data package...
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
Verizon rolled out GB fiber in my area and their offer to me was that they would buy me out of my Comcast contract. Bottom line is that I will save about 30 bucks a month and be getting 1GB/880 service. I called Comcast while the guy from Verizon was in my house to see what they would do to keep me as a customer. They offered me 3 months free of HBO and told me if I left I would no longer be able to use the free Xfinity wifi. For those that don't know what that is, it is where Comcast uses a portion of all their customers wifi routers to carve out a free public guest network (yes you read that right, most Xfinity customers are broadcasting free public Wifi). When I asked her what my speed was she told me it was 200mb, so I pressed her on the up speed a couple times until she said it was 10.
Cya Comcast....
I am lucky that I have a choice of providers.
People here are already apoplectic that some people are getting free shit and not everyone is getting free shit.
"Free"? In what universe is paying several hundred dollars more for a service you don't need free?
Not to mention that this is potentially a violation of anti trust bundling laws.
When I upgraded to 300Mbit service here, it was only available if I also got cable TV along with it. It gets better. They wouldn't give it to me until I plugged in the set top box and went through its entire setup. Then, and only then, did I get 300Mbit service. I tried. I mean, the set top box sat in its box for a few days and I finally called and asked why my service wasn't upgraded. They made it clear that I'd have to plug that thing in.
The good part is that at least their set top box now includes Netflix and Youtube. If they'd get Prime Video I'd be 100% happy with it. We literally don't watch broadcast TV. I haven't seen a commercial in my house in probably 10 years.
Anyway, yeah, I don't like it. But I get 300Mbit service for $90/month, which I'm okay with. I used to be an internet-only customer for many years, but they put a ceiling on that at (I think) 100Mbit.
There's no competition where I'm at. AT&T is offering DSL out here, and calling it "fiber".
Do you have ESP?
I stopped using cable TV about 10 years ago now and there's no way I'm going back. I've got more on my DVR from free broadcast HDTV than I have time to watch. I don't even use the Internet enough to give a damn about any 'speed boost', even if I was watching 'streaming' anything (which I am not currently and are not likely to start). Screw you Comcast/Xfinity, time for you to change your business model, not use use the stick to try to drive people to your not-so-tasty carrot.
You would also probably have to fight them tooth and nail NOT to include one of their shitty router / modem combos so they can charge you an extra $10 / month for that POS.
So I got Comcast Gigabit service, using my own router at first - the tech complained a little when he showed up, but it was on the approved list so he installed it.
Fast forward about three months later, service goes out for days. Nothing I try (or Comcast tries) works, I determine router must be toast. I give up and go to Comcast store to get Comcast router cause I just want service back. I install it and speeds seem capped to 100Mb/s, vs 700+ I had been getting... why? Because the idiots at the store didn't have any gigabit equipment, so they gave me a normal cable modem that maxed out at a low speed.
Well then I just run to Best Buy and bought a damn gigabit cable modem of my own, one call and it was working. So it was actually EASIER for me to use my own gear than Comcast's stuff because they couldn't even get me the right equipment.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
In other news, Tesla Motors has announced that they won't sell their best cars to anyone who doesn't also own a horse and buggy.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
I have more than enough speed to be able to do what I need to do and then some. I don't need 100mbit or even gbit services.
Holy compression artifacts batman!
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Pay more, get more.
Buy 3 tires and get one for free
Buy 1 large pizza and a get a 2nd for half price
I am a "cord cutter" and my speed is 100-120Mbs depends on the time of the day. I remember 18 years ago when I got my first Cable modem, I used to get 1.5Mbs. The problem I have had, in those 18 years, I have had 3 Cable ISP companies, Comcrap is the worst of the three. Just wait until more people have 4K TVs, we will have a problem with one 4K stream, by anyone other than Comcast. Also, I just love waiting on the Phone with Comcrap, if I have a problem. Last time two times I had a problem I was on HOLD for almost an hour and this was at 2 am, before that it was sometime around like 6 pm, I didn't time that time, but it was a LOT LONNNNNNNGER. That's why I decided to try 2 AM. Lucky I only have problems a couple years with Comcrap, that I need to call for help, most of the time I can fix the problem myself.
I'm a "cord cutter", in a sense, but I have video service through comcast as well. Why? Because it's cheaper; it's cheaper for me to sign up for the video/internet package than for straight internet ( by a couple bucks ).
I've never plugged in the cable box; it still sits in the unopened box they shipped it to me in.
Given their pricing schedules, I doubt I'm the only one with this arrangement.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
No matter the tier, even the Business product, max upload in my area is 15mbps. I'm constantly moving big DBs around and stuff, and these upload speeds kill me.
Comcast is, in areas where they have a monopoly, a government-granted monopoly. You don't have to split them up, which can take over a decade of court proceedings and rulings. All the local governments have to do is allow other cable companies to offer service in their areas. That can be done in a matter of days.
cellular that slows you down at 20G-30G is not good for home use.
I recently had a chat session to add unlimited data to our 250d/10u Mbps Comcast plan, and *three* times, the CSR said something akin to "So your total, with new 1Gbps/35Mbps service and unlimited data will be..."
I had to repeatedly say "No. Stop. Just add unlimited to my plan. I'm not signing up for another commitment..."
I finished up with that support session and immediately signed up for AT&T gigapower (970Mbps u/d) fiber to the home. I'll be dropping off my Comcast hardware today. Honestly, that's the most satisfied I've ever been with Comcast support. They got me to stop using Comcast, which I consider a *huge* favor.
So let's thank Comcast for their most recent move. A big "not recommended" sign hung around Comcast's neck (even by Comcast), is a really nice thing to do.
xfinity also has crap HD lineup and have been dropping channels like Big Ten (out of market only from sports pack) Dropping MGM HD as well.
I was looking for this comment. Indeed.
It's even worse down here on the third world. ABS and airbags weren't mandatory. You had to pay your way up to safety.
Those with cable TV services are being screwed blind for the value of what they are getting. So perhaps getting more speed (which they won't use in general) is a good promo. If you are a cord cutter, you can still pay to get the speed increase. Either way, Comcast makes money.
Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
if my current 100MB/s could support 2 5MB/s streams at a time without buffering.
Speeds in excess of a few dozen megabits are worthless to most users so provisioning more is essentially free.
When customers call to cancel television service retention agent will say something like "Cost of Internet only at your current speed tier without TV is basically the same as what you have been paying for TV + Internet"
This does two things:
1. Makes customer re-consider ditching TV thinking they are already getting a "deal".
2. Makes customer more likely to retain higher megabit service they don't need.
My opinion speed hikes are exclusively a strategy to protect Comcast from revenue loss as rate of TV subscriber losses increases.
Giving Internet only users more bandwidth is the last thing on earth Comcast will ever do.
Next: not only you have to subscribe, you have to watch it as well.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Sustained data transfer at 250 Mbps will deplete your monthly 1-TB data allotment is about 9 hours. All you need is about 3 Mbps to be able to use up the monthly data allotment. Anything over 3 Mbps on Comcast is just burst speed. Some burst speed is useful to satisfy bandwidth demands for video streaming or simultaneous users, but anything over 100 Mbps with a 1-TB cap is at best a gimmick and at worst a scheme for Comcast to increase accidental data overage fees.
I think you missed the part where my network had been out for days and I was desperate to get it back. Yes they could have come out to get me working again - about three days later... sure it was technically easier but not really because I would have been tethering for internet the whole time on reduced speed. You are not thinking of a global "easier", just a local specialized case.
Not to mention waiting for a tech means you have to be around for a whole day window, and it often takes them an hour to examine everything.
There was no way I was going to be able to wait for a tech, vastly simpler and quicker (and I would even say easier) to just buy a cable modem from Best Buy and plug it in.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Comcast says speed increases will kick in automatically without raising the customers' monthly bills -- but only if they subscribe to certain bundles that include both Internet and TV service.
Subscribing to certain bundles to get a speed increase does in fact increase your monthly bill.
Not if they separately offer the faster Internet service for sale. As your link explains, the only way you can have illegal tying is if the bundle is the only way you can buy the product you want
No that is NOT the only way you can have illegal tying. Even the short blurb I linked to says so quite clearly. The real question is whether the tying restricts competition without providing benefits to consumers. That is an open question in this case which I do not have the answer. It is clear that in many markets Comcast is clearly a monopolist with and interest in keeping out additional competition.
I got upgraded from 25 to 60 in March I think. Doesn't really matter - I think that 25 is probably more than we need. I have internet-only. This policy is new I guess.
Cable TV is a dying business. It makes sense to use a stranglehold on internet access to shore it up.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Hey, it's still better quality with less compression than cable TV.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Hey Comcast, you should sell what people want and throw in for free what they might enjoy. What you do is trying to sell something people don't want and claim what they're after is a free bonus. That's not working, that gets people upset. It really is marketing 101, in other words, the true wording you should use is:
If you pay more for extra bandwidth, we throw in free cable TV as a bonus!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Gee, were they running low on reasons for people to loathe them?
J
These bandwidth offers by Comcast are for asymmetrical service. It is not the same speed down as it is up.
I'm curious how many current /.ers have actually hit backspace and received ^H from a terminal. I have not seen this since SunOS -> Solaris (or since bash/busybox became the "most common default shell")
Welcome to the "slow lane", where any other competing video service is sure to suck worse than ours. Brought to you by the "Because we can" administration..
The appalling lack of real competition in broadband in the US (ie way too many people have NO CHOICE AT ALL in broadband providers) is what causes this.
I'm lucky enough to live in an area where AT&T recently rolled out Fiber To The Home 1Gbps service.
-> Symmetrical 1Gbps
-> Unlimited Data
-> 600Mbps Service Guarantee
-> $10/month more than my Comcast 250Mbps
You cannot imagine how quickly I ordered their service and cancelled Comcast (and It was up and running a week later).
Visit CryptoGnome in his home.
Trying sales in the United States have been illegal for decades. The only question is will somebody bother to try to enforce the law?
Spot on ! Learned this the hard way.
Worse yet, Comcast provides no meaningful way to monitor your usage. The web page that they serve up is so coarse-grained that it's useless.
Caveat Emptor !
This is just not right!
Would you use a gas station that insists on charging extra for a gallon of gas unless you also by oil!
I don't need oil right now! And, I am not budgeted for this slimy biz practice!
"Internet access" needs to be reclassified to distinguish it from "cable TV", and regulated separately.
Even though, Comcast is sending TV digitally down the same pipe.
And, Net Neutrality needs to be in place.
The real solution: break all the behemoth ISP monopolies up!
Promote REAL competition in this industry.
Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.