Comcast Says Subscribers Are More Important Than Tiered Data Pricing
Comcast Says Subscribers Are More Important Than Tiered Data Pricing
Posted 12/07/2011 at 12:34pm
| by Brad Chacos
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The sky is falling for movie lovers! The post office recently announced that it was closing down nearly half of its processing centers starting in early in 2012, which could eliminate next-day delivery services – and add an extra day of delay to Netflix deliveries. No worries, you can just shift the slack to streaming, right? (Possibly) wrong – as we recently reported, ISPs are considering implementing tiered data pricing to squeeze more cash out of heavy media streamers. So is all lost? Could your ABC Family Movies addiction be in danger of extinction? Not if you’re a Comcast customer. The company apparently has no plans of switching to tiered data pricing.
“We don’t want to disrupt the consumer experience,” CEO Michael Angelakis said at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference earlier in the week. GigaOm reports that Comcast feels that changing to a tiered pricing structure could cause customers to stop signing up for the company’s high-speed data service.
President Neil Smit put thing even more clearly. “We don’t want to nickel-and-dime customers at this point.”
Whew! That’s a breath of fresh air, and it’s surprising that it’s coming from Comcast, given the customer service horror stories that are often associated with the company. But before you get too excited, remember that no tiers doesn’t mean no restrictions: Comcast currently imposes a 250GB/mo. bandwidth cap on its customers – a fairly generous cap, but a cap nonetheless.
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bling581
December 08, 2011 at 11:16am
“We don’t want to nickel-and-dime customers at this point.”
At this point? Sounds like they're just going to wait until everyone else has tiered pricing in order to justify making the change without pissing off as many customers.
noobstix
December 08, 2011 at 9:54am
I really don't care what Comcast says at this point in time. I was without cable TV for like half the day yesterday because of their equipment. Ever since we all made the switch to the digital signal for basic cable, I've actually had more issues now than before (their signals for FOX and CBS were horrendous this past weekend). Comcast's service was great in the beginning but has gotten progressively worse for the time I've had them. “We don’t want to disrupt the consumer experience” and “We don’t want to nickel-and-dime customers at this point” make me laugh because that's essentially what they're doing already. My parents pay over $100 a month for both TV and Internet and with all of the problems, they're not even worth that much.
Markitzero
December 08, 2011 at 2:00am
I am Stuck in a Rural Area in California so no FiOS, DSL, Cable. I am on a WISP Provider and for Residential is 5Mbps and 75GB Cap and the backbone is Charter Communication. The only other option for me area is Dial-up and Satellite Internet"Wildblue and Hugesnet". So I can't do NetFlix or Hulu.
Eoraptor
December 08, 2011 at 11:43am
count yourself lucky, I live in Central iowa in a town with 43,000 people, and my ISP is still locked in on DSL to this building at 256 kbs (no cap though) and even the fastest service in town is only 5 mbps
Blaze589
December 07, 2011 at 3:48pm
President Neil Smit put thing even more clearly. “We don’t want to nickel-and-dime customers at this point.”
munky101
December 07, 2011 at 2:51pm
I use Mediacom and as of yet they have not even tried to put into place caps or tiers. The problem is that most cable companies hold a market in a death grip. This doesn't allow for any real competition in a city. I remember hearing a few years ago about some cities changing their laws to allow for multiple cable companies in an area in an attempt to broaden the market and allow for real competition. Sadly, this idea has not caught on in a lot of areas. It would mean lower pricing and better service over all because the consumer would then have a real choice. Currently, you may only choose between high-speed/cable or DSL/Dial-up. Not any real choices there I suppose.
methuselah
December 07, 2011 at 1:23pm
Comcast has no where to go but up.
I recently picked them up for my internet after getting screwed by worthless CLEARwire. I hope that company fails and burns in hell.
So far Comcast has not given me any technical problems and it's been consistently fast.
Biceps
December 07, 2011 at 1:07pm
I appreciate Eraptor's cynicism and tend to agree. However, I am extremely pleased to see Comcast make the right decision (at least in the short term) about tiered data plans. The 250 GB cap sucks, but I can live with it. Tiered data plans would send me to the competition immediately.
MastaGuy
December 07, 2011 at 12:57pm
I'm a Comcast subscriber and I'm very pleased by them. It's almost impossible to hit 250GB in one month.
jesse_n_sf
December 07, 2011 at 7:40pm
When the connection is share with all your house mates (5 for me) then there is no room for streaming video services. I like using Vudu, Netflix and Amazon ondemand (all in HD). This data cap needs to be doubled for large households. I wouldn't mind registering my household to prove that I have 5 people using the internet.
jaymz668
December 07, 2011 at 7:10pm
I routinely do 240+ gb of data a month. That's just regular data, no torrenting. Streaming from netflix, online backup and vpn.
God forbid Steam have a super sale and I buy more than 2 or 3 games...
roadshow41
December 07, 2011 at 3:13pm
I routinely have to monitor my usage at the end of the month to prevent going over the 250 cap. I've ridden the line and even gone over by a fair bit a few months. If you are in a one pc house, I agree it would be tough, but I have 3 pcs going nearly 24/7 in my house, along with an airave VOIP unit to make cell service reliable where I live. Streaming and gaming consumes a lot, but I also work from home. I would routinely blow through 350gb if I didn't keep a close eye. I know I'm not the 'usual' customer, but I'm certainly not alone and folks like me are much more common than you think.
Techrocket9
December 07, 2011 at 6:57pm
Are you me posting under another account and the wiping my memory afterwards? I was about to post an almost identical coment, right down to the airave.
Eoraptor
December 07, 2011 at 12:38pm
Yeah, sure... Let me lean out my window and catch some of this air borne bacon.
Sorry, companies like Comcast ( the original bit torrent throttler mind you) get just about that much beliefe, trust, and good will from me.
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