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Comcast's New Plans Dump the Data Caps (pcmag.com) 31

Posted by BeauHD from the good-riddance dept.
Comcast is introducing new simplified, contract-free broadband plans that eliminate its unpopular 1.2TB data cap for residential customers. "The company began enforcing a data cap in 2008, when it set that limit at 250GB," notes PCMag. "Four years later, it raised that to 300GB, then lifted it to 1TB in 2016 and inched it up again to 1.25TB in 2020 after suspending it entirely during the early months of the pandemic." The report notes that existing customers will need to switch to these updated plans to benefit from the cap removal. PCMag reports: Steve Croney, Comcast's COO for connectivity and platforms, describes these new "everyday price plans" as "built on simplicity and transparency -- no hidden fees, no confusion." Comcast began showing the new plans on its sign-up pages Thursday morning. The monthly rates largely match those announced when Comcast advertised a rate-lock offer in April:

- 300Mbps downloads for $40 with a one-year lock or $55 with a five-year lock, then $70 a month
- 500Mbps for $55 with a one-year lock or $70 with a five-year lock, then $85
- 1Gbps for $70 with a one-year lock or $85 a month with a five-year lock, then $100
- 2Gbps for $100 with a one-year lock or $115 with a five-year lock, then $130

Upload speeds on those plans will vary by location but should start at 40Mbps. These plans also include one year of Xfinity Mobile wireless service, which combines Verizon's coverage with Comcast's Wi-Fi network.

Comcast's New Plans Dump the Data Caps More | Reply

Comcast's New Plans Dump the Data Caps

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  • In case anyone is wondering why (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Thursday June 26, 2025 @07:47PM (#65478896)
    It's because they are facing heavy competition from 5G internet. It's enough to stream at 720p, maybe even 1080p and of course it's more than enough to shop. Hell I know people working from home using it as their primary internet just fine.

    It's almost as if competition improves the quality of products and their price...
    • Also StarLink, which is not super-fast but is good enough and doesn't have caps on most plans.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Temkin ( 112574 )

        Also StarLink, which is not super-fast but is good enough and doesn't have caps on most plans.

        I have Starlink for my RV, which my wife uses for quarterly audit visits to the corporate mothership. She can stream 1080P with some buffering, once the client figures out what it needs, it settles in pretty well. It massively beats RV campground WiFi, and for my purposes... 60ms ping from Texas to the west coast.

        I can't complain too much... Except for losing my astro-photography hobby... Been thinking of taking up ham radio again and doing pen-testing. :D

        T

      • Doesn't StarLink keep raising its rates, a la Comcast?

      • Starlink is too price at $120/mo, they're market is people out in the boondocks that can't otherwise get Internet.

        But 5g is good enough for most

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Pascoea ( 968200 )
      I am one of the customers that dumped them, specifically because of their data caps, for their 5G competitors. I used t-mobile for a bit, and switched to Verizon about a year ago. I usually test out at 100/20, and have seen as high as 150/50. Pings around 20-40ms. Perfectly capable for most purposes. I've said since the beginning I wouldn't give another dime to Comcast until they ditched their caps.
    • And fiber in my area. An upstart fiber company did the hard work of putting lines in my whole neighborhood about 2 years ago. This prompted AT&T to finally wake up and they upgraded their copper lines to fiber last year. The new fiber company offered no caps and a flat monthly fee and so Comcast quickly lost at least half the neighborhood.

      • Same here. Omni Fiber came in two years ago and starting burying fiber. My neighborhood started hooking up last year and I was one of the first to do it. $45 a month for 350 up/down, no contracts, no hidden fees. Plans go all the way up to 2Gb up/down for $105 but 350 is more than enough. Screw cable, AT&T, and all the others. Fiber is the way to go. Even if the other players get fiber laid I would not switch back after all the years of fuckery from them.

    • As the kids say, that is some late-stage capitalism, right there.

  • Still lots of small operators trenching fiber eroding Comcast's market share. This pricing is still way too high and you only get the price in the summary with a $10 autopay discount.

    Comcast has been relentless in fucking people over - constantly raising prices, playing games with all kinds of bullshit fees that change even while under contract. Wouldn't trust them.

    • As someone with fiber from a small local company, they're not able to compete with Comcast. Yes, right now they give me crazy speeds for cheap but it's only for so long, while they gain market share and push into new areas. They're going to have to increase rates substantially to become profitable in the future. Right now they're all losing money.

  • The only Comcast link provided talks mostly about wi-fi for some reason... and does NOT mention data caps, one way or the other. I'd really like to see an explicit statement "we are removing our data caps".

    I'll also be curious to see if these new plans would actually nerf my current Comcast upload speed, which is officially 150mbps but typically is just shy of 180mbps. That upload speed is more important to me than the 1.2TB cap, which I've only hit once.

    • I now see the statement "All plans include Unlimited Data".

      Still wondering about those upload speeds, though.

      • 200 up in mid split areas

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by madbrain ( 11432 )

          More than 200 up. My Gigabit x2 plan is marketed as 2100 down / 300 Mbps up. They overprovision, however. Speedtest I just did shows 1429 down / 360 up, on wired LAN, of course.

          Not sure why the downstream is not higher, gotta try and bypass my pfSense custom PC router to see if it's faster with direct PC modem connection.
          Not that I really need the full 2100 down, but if it's less than advertised, maybe I can get Comcast to fix it / provide compensation for not delivering.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by madbrain ( 11432 )

            Actually not the router. My Linux NAS just got 2294 down / 352 up. Must be something with my Windows desktop. Likely the Hyper-V NIC driver slowing down the connection, sigh. Weird because my LAN transfers (iperf3) still hit >9 Gb/s.

  • the absolute WORST customer service on the face of the planet.
    I wouldn't touch Comcast if they paid me to use one of their backbone connections.
    Way too much frustration dealing with such incompetent idiots.

  • They are desperate. GloFiber came in, installed fiber and I'm paying $70/month for 600/600. No contract, no stupid lock in, no bullshit.

  • Don't know if I can switch as I'm still on a locked in rate, but I'm already a customer paying the extra for unlimited data.

    Yes Comcast is notorious for high prices and bad customer service, and I'd love to support my local ISP (which I did for a long time), but the local guys have absolute shitting reliability. I'm paying more for Comcast and I'm locked in for a year or two but honestly the increase in reliability has been more than worth it (with the local guys I was getting disconnects probably a dozen

  • If you can't get us a synchronous unlimited fiber connection into my house then please let the people that will into the market. I have been waiting 10 yrs for a fiber company to service my place. I have been on waiting lists for numerous companies. Give me at least 500Mbps up/down at a decent price and I am there.

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