Earlier this summer, Comcast began offering a new internet service in the greater Chicago area that offers fiberoptic-like speeds but over existing cable lines. Right away, there were questions about the price: In other markets where Comcast sold this service, the rate was only $70/month for people willing to sign a three-year contract, but Chicagoans weren’t initially being offered this discount. Then the company appeared to change its mind, offering that lower rate, though even then there was confusion. Now it looks like that discounted rate is off the table for the handful of Chicago-area cities where it had been an option. [More]
docsis 3.1
Comcast Stops Offering Gigabit Internet For $70/Month In Cities Near Chicago
By 11.15.16 — Updated: 11.19.16
Comcast Still Not Quite Sure If Its $70 Gigabit Offer In Chicago Actually Exists
By 8.24.16
One city at a time, Comcast is upgrading its cable internet networks to a fast new high-speed standard, called DOCSIS 3.1. In Chicago, the launch of the tech itself seems to be fine… but finding out how much it costs, if you can sign up for it at all, has proven much harder for consumers. [More]
Comcast Now Says It Will Offer Next-Gen Broadband In Chicago At Lower Price; You Just Have To Ask
By 8.19.16
Earlier this week, Comcast announced that it was launching its higher-speed next-generation broadband service in Chicago, but the only price it would confirm was double the lowest rate charged by Comcast in the other markets where it had already offered this service. However, Comcast has now confirmed to Consumerist that folks in Chicagoland will indeed be able to get the lower rate — if they know how to ask for it. [More]
Thanks To Google Fiber And AT&T, Comcast Gigabit Service Will Only Cost $70 In Atlanta
By 3.15.16
Earlier this year, Comcast announced that Atlanta would be one of the five markets to get a taste of new broadband technology that provides fiberoptic-level data speeds over existing cable lines. And while the cable company has previously charged exceedingly high amounts for high-speed fiber access, Comcast says it will only be charging $70/month in Atlanta for this new service. [More]
Why Comcast Is Wrong To Shrug Off Latest Google Fiber Announcements
By 2.25.16
Google made two important announcements this week about upcoming Google Fiber launches in San Francisco and Huntsville, AL, indicating its willingness to be flexible about how it deploys high-speed broadband service to new markets. Given that Comcast is the dominant ISP in both of these markets, you’d expect it to be worried, but the cable colossus is shrugging off Google’s encroachment. It shouldn’t. [More]
Comcast’s Next-Gen Broadband Service Coming To 5 Cities This Year
By 2.2.16
A few weeks after flipping the switch on its first next-generation DOCSIS 3.1 modem — which can deliver speeds faster than Google Fiber over existing cable lines — Comcast is detailing plans on which markets will be the first to get access to the service. [More]
Why Is Comcast Interrupting My Web-Browsing To Upsell Me On A New Modem?
By 1.12.16
We already know that Comcast can — and does — inject alerts into users’ web browsers to alert them to potential copyright infringement, but the nation’s largest Internet provider can also use this ability to interrupt your enjoyment of the web in order to remind you to upgrade your modem. [More]
Comcast Starts Test Of Super-Fast Next-Gen Broadband Over Existing Cable Lines
By 12.23.15
Earlier this year, Comcast confirmed that it would soon begin testing next-generation broadband technology that is supposed to provide faster connections than current fiberoptic networks, but over the same old cable lines. Yesterday, the nation’s largest cable company announced that it has taken the first important step in doing real-world testing of this new tech. [More]
Comcast Hopes To Deploy Multi-Gigabit Broadband By 2018
By 8.24.15
Earlier this summer, Comcast revealed that it will soon be testing an upgrade to its cable broadband network that should allow it to deliver download speeds of up to 10Gbps, ten times the current top speed of Google Fiber. Now the company is giving some idea of how long it thinks it will need to make this super-fast Internet access available on a wider basis. [More]
Comcast To Begin Testing Super-Fast Cable Broadband This Year
By 7.24.15
Most talk of new high-speed broadband has revolved around Internet service providers laying new networks of fiberoptic cable to deliver download speeds of 1Gbps or more, but Comcast says it plans to start testing a system that could provide upwards of 10Gbps over coaxial cable lines. [More]
