Items tagged with (NASDAQ:CMCSA)
Comcast's insistence on strapping data caps on customers seems to be at odds with advances in technology as a whole, but tough luck if you're an Xfinity customer, you might getting one anyway (depending on where you live). Remember those 1-terabyte trials Comcast's been trialing in select markets? It's now ready to deploy 1TB (1,024 gigabytes) data caps to a bunch more Xfinity customers across the nation. According to Comcast, more than 99 percent of its customers don't use a terabyte of data on a monthly basis Those who do go over the data limit will be charge $10 for additional 50GB chunks of data (the first two times it happens are free), not to exceed $200 in added data charges per month...
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It turns out the rumors you might have heard about Comcast getting into the wireless phone space were true. Comcast boss Brian Roberts confirmed as much today by announcing plans to partner up with Verizon to launch its own brand wireless service by the middle of next year, effectively making it an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator). There are several hundred MVNOs operating in the United States. The most popular ones tend to be owned by major wireless carriers, such as Boost Mobile (Sprint), Cricket Wireless (AT&T), and MetroPCS (T-Mobile), but that won't be of much concern to Comcast—both it and Verizon enjoy tremendous brand recognition and could make a big splash in the MVNO sector.Image...
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It looks as though Google is having a hard time overcoming the obstacles standing in the way of deploying Google Fiber in Nashville, Tennessee. When we last touched on the story, Google Fiber was lobbying to push “One Touch Make Ready”, which would allow Google to move Comcast and AT&T equipment installed on utility poles as needed — using approved personnel — to speed up fiber deployments throughout the city. Needless to say, Comcast and AT&T weren’t happy about the thought of a third-party manhandling its equipment, let alone the thought of another competitor entering the market. One operative close to the entrenched players told Nashville Scene earlier this month, “Just because you...
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Congratulations people of Chicago, Comcast just expanded the availability of its 1-gigabit broadband Internet service to your area. That sounds like reason for celebration, right? It should be except that compared to same service in Atlanta and Nashville, it costs twice as much for the speedy Internet connection. In Atlanta and Georgia, Comcast offered new customers willing to commit to three years of service a rate of $70 per month. Those who wanted no part of a long-term contract could pay $140 per month, which is what Comcast is charging for its 1Gbps service in Chicago. Unfortunately, Comcast isn't making the same discounted offer to Chicago residents, though they're effectively paying double....
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If you’re a tech nerd like all of us here at HotHardware, you crave speed. Faster graphics cards, faster processors, faster SSDs, faster smartphones — you get the idea. And of course, who wouldn’t want faster internet at relatively reasonable prices? In markets around the United States where there is little to no competition in the ISP arena, customers are usually stuck with just one broadband provider (meaning that you have no choice but to accept their data speeds and prices). It is because of this dark cloud surrounding the U.S. broadband internet industry that many enthusiasts become positively giddy about the prospects of Google Fiber coming to town (for reference, I pay $70 a month for...
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If you’re a Nashville resident that’s looking to hop on the gigabit internet bandwagon and don’t won’t to wait around for the Google Fiber network build-out, you have a new option. Comcast today announced that its DOCSIS 3.1-based gigabit internet service trial is now available to residents and businesses in the Nashville, Tennessee area. Nashville is only the second market in the country to boast DOCSIS 3.1 service, following Comcast’s rollout in Atlanta just over a year ago. The good thing about going the DOCSIS 3.1 route is that Comcast can take advantage of gigabit internet speeds using existing cabling infrastructure that is already running to homes and businesses. It should be noted, however,...
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It was with good intentions that Comcast took to Twitter to promote Comcast Cares Day, an annual event in which thousands of its employees go out and volunteer in their communities. What Comcast didn't take into account is the snarky nature of Twitter and backlash it would receive on the social network. Comcast created its own hashtag to draw attention to its philanthropic outreach effort—#ComcastCaresDay—but instead of good vibes and high fives, it attracted a mountain of mockery. Some if it came from ticked off Comcast subscribers who were taken aback by what they viewed as obvious irony, while others simply jumped at the chance to knock the company down a peg or two. In that way, Comcast was...
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Comcast has sparked the ire of customers across the country with its restrictive broadband data caps. Earlier this week, we reported that during the first half of 2015, Comcast received 863 complaints about its data caps. However, for the second half of the year, those complaints skyrocketed to nearly 8,000 as it expanded its data cap “trials” to additional markets. And it’s not just customers that are fed up with data caps; the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has also let it be known that it won’t tolerate such nonsense. In fact, the FCC stipulated that in order for Charter to win approval for its Time Warner Cable acquisition, it cannot impose data caps on customers for the next seven...
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Cable ISP customers aren't real keen on Comcast's broadband data caps and they're letting the Federal Communications Commission know about it in rising numbers. In the second half of 2015, there were 7,904 complaints about data caps, up from 863 complaints in the first half of the year. As of April in this year, the total was 1,463. Comcast, one of just two outfits to earn Consumerist's "Worst Company in America" title on more than one occasion (2010 and 2014), knows it needs to do a better job satisfying customers. That's why the ISP went on a hiring spree in March of last year, at the time noting it was undergoing a transformation that was all about "shifting our mindset to be completely focused...
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Comcast is now offering its gigabit Internet service in the Atlanta area to compete with Google Fiber, but in reality, it’s unfortunately not really much competition at all. For starters, Comcast is offering the service at $70 per month, which matches the Internet-only Google Fiber package, but you must signup for a restrictive three-year contract to secure that pricing. But the hits don’t stop there — if you forgo the three-year contract, you’ll pay a more princely $139.95 per month AND face monthly 300GB data caps. We hate to say it, but gigabit Internet service with a relatively low 300GB data cap (or any data cap at all for that matter) seems incredibly harsh when you’re paying $140...
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Following a successful trial to a single customer's home in Philadelphia, Comcast is confident that it's ready to begin deploying the world's first DOCSIS 3.1-powered gigabit Internet service to several U.S. cities. The first of these will be Atlanta and Nashville, which will receive the upgrade in early 2016, followed by Chicago, Detroit, and Miami in the second half of the year. Gigabit Internet, though relatively scarce, is far from new—companies like Google and AT&T have been expanding their fiber optic networks to offer business and residential customers 1Gbps downloads and uploads. But what's different about Comcast's DOCSIS 3.1 approach is that it doesn't require a new and costly fiber...
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Let the confetti fly, Comcast has served up a 1Gbps Internet connection to a single home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! Okay, maybe that isn't cause for balloons and streamers, though it's a notable achievement because the connection is the first to use a DOCSIS 3.1 modem on a customer-facing network. The significant of using a DOCSIS 3.1 modem in a customer's home is that it paves the way for 1Gbps Internet on Comcast's existing network infrastructure. It's not like competing 1Gbps (and higher) broadband roll outs that require extensive network upgrades -- all Comcast needed in this case was a new modem, a software upgrade, and a "few good engineers." "The beauty of DOCSIS 3.1 is that it is...
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Several Internet service providers (ISPs) have drawn the attention of the Federal Communications Commission with so-called "zero-rating" offerings, which is the practice of exempting certain services from counting against a customer's data cap. What FCC chairman Tom Wheeler wants to figure out is whether or not zero-rating services run afoul of net neutrality rules. This is a relatively new thing on the part of mobile operators. T-Mobile made waves when it introduced Binge On, which allows customers to stream an unlimited amount of video from over 20 services, including Netflix, HBO Now, Hulu, Crackle, and many others. The video streams are optimized to deliver DVD quality (480p) or better and...
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Comcast CEO Brian Roberts is making good on the company’s ‘Comcast Cares’ policy. For many, however, it appears that Comcast Cares more about its bottom line than about its customers. Roberts made that clear at Business Insider’s Ignition conference after he was asked point blank by the publication’s EIC, Henry Blodget, to respond to customer complaints about data caps. Roberts first tried to dance around the use of the term data caps, stating, “But they’re not a cap. We don’t want anybody to ever not want to stay connected on our network.” In other words, since Comcast doesn’t simply turn of the spigot, so to speak, when you reach your monthly data allotment, Roberts is not comfortable with...
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