Comcast 50Mbps Coming To FloridaCable giant focuses on Florida to battle AT&T, Verizon 12:21PM Wednesday May 21 2008 by Karltags: competition · business · bandwidth · cable · ComcastA Comcast insider tells me that Sarasota, Florida should begin seeing DOCSIS 3.0 gear and faster 50Mbps speeds starting next month. The company is in the process of installing DOCSIS 3.0 in the market now to help them do combat with FiOS. Initial installs should begin in June, and all of Sarasota should have the speedier gear installed by July. In FiOS markets, Comcast is skipping 16Mbps "Blast" upgrades, and bringing out the big guns. Comcast is paying a good deal of attention to Florida because in addition to FiOS, AT&T is planning a U-Verse launch in North Florida sometime in June. Given U-Verse maxes out at 10Mbps, the broader Southeast should see an increase in 16Mbps Blast availability to help counter AT&T's long-awaited push into BellSouth territory. Comcast has also created an internal bounty program for spotting U-Verse launches. "Big wigs have been bombarding us with emails telling us to be on lookout for Uverse yard signs," one employee tells me. "There is even a bounty of $100 to first verified address that can get Uverse." Last month, Comcast launched their first pre-certification DOCSIS 3.0 market, offering $150, 50Mbps/5Mbps service in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Last week a Comcast executive stated that they've got three markets running on DOCSIS 3.0, but two of them are currently only engaged in testing. Comcast customers annoyed that they'll "only" be seeing 16Mbps instead of 50Mbps can blame AT&T for going with FTTN & VDSL instead of FTTH. Still, you won't have to wait long for DOCSIS 3.0 if you're willing to spill the $150: Comcast has promised to deploy 50Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 service to their entire customer base by 2010.
Related:- Telco Sock Puppet Wants Comcast Investigated
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- 20% of Comcast Users To See DOCSIS 3.0 in 2008
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- Comcast Tells FCC To Butt Out
- Show Us Your 50Mbps!
- Comcast Gets Investigated While Cox Gets Free Pass
- Comcast Installs DOCSIS 3.0 In Two New Markets
|
 
ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs: | Didn't they already announce this? Is this just the same news? | |
|  | | | |
ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs: | Re: Didn't they already announce this? Thanks Carl, I remember they were saying it was going to happen. Thanks for the clarification! | |
| 
Chiyo
Save Me Konata-Chan
Premium
join:2003-02-20
Minneapolis, MN
clubs:
| Pricing I wonder if the price will remain the same? its $150 in minneapolis but we don't have FiOS we have Qwest and Qwest will never get those speeds.
So will it be cheaper for FL residents to get the 50 meg package seeing as they have to battle FiOS and UVerse.
--
My Blog:
»abanzai.animeblogger.net/ | |
| | kaila
join:2000-10-11
Lincolnshire, IL
clubs:
| Re: Pricing Agreed. Comcast can get away charging $150 in Minneapolis/St Paul due to Quest. But that price is going to be a bit out of step with the market in Florida, unless they're looking mostly for PR gains and not actual subscriber gains.
It's a step forward in any case, but with caps coming, Comcast's abuse risk is limited (especially compared to Verizon's 15Mbps upstream plans) so they should have room to be able to price aggressively with FIOS. I can't imagine most stockholders are happy with this, so we'll see. | |
| 
fatmanskinny
Premium
join:2004-01-04
Atlanta, GA | Approaching caps much faster! Now that's COMCASTIC! Yawn. In reality, is anything "unlimited"? | |
| | openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Navarre, FL | Re: Approaching caps much faster! Now that's COMCASTIC! Who said unlimited? | |
| | 
Quaoar
join:2004-08-11
Fort Collins, CO
 ·Comcast
| Comcast dropped the "unlimited" several years ago. OTOH, they have not dropped their triple-secret download/upload caps and capital punishment for offenders.
The *only* reason that Comcast will permit users to access the potential of docsis 3 is for their own content.
I wonder what Comcast is going to do with NetFlix $100 streaming video system if one has the temerity to actually use the NetFlix stream at it's potential?
Q | |
| | | 
tshirt
Premium
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
| Re: Upload speed? said by ztmike  :I hope Chicago ain't to far behind..but at $150 month..you can count me out.  If you* aren't willing/able to pay for it, what difference does it make?
* I mean you in the majority of users sense, not just you individually. | |
| | | | | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| Re: Upload speed? said by BSD24 :It is capable of providing at the least 300Mbps Down. I know the Upload speed is planned (probably after a year maybe of a launch) to be available to be changed to 50Mbps Up with Docsis 3.0, and maybe even higher as more testing is done. 300 down is PER NODE. Its like Comcast releasing a 40 down plan on DOCSIS 1 or 2 equipment. Ain't happening. | |
| | | | | | | | | espaeth
Misanthrope
Premium
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
·Comcast
 ·Embarq
| Re: Upload speed? said by BSD24 :patcat88 - check your facts, if that were so then how would 100 people divide the 300 and still get a 50Mbps Connect Oversubscription.
Right now with DOCSIS1.x/2.0 systems you have 100 users sharing a 38mbps downstream channel, even with users being able to consume up to 16mbps of that bandwidth (with Blast!). | |
| | 
TK Junk Mail
Golf season has returned - hurrah
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
·Comcast
| said by ztmike :I knew they were going to go with Florida..with that leaked announcement. My only question..Will the upload remain the same at 5meg, being that there are now docsis 3 modems out (Arris modems now even) I hope Chicago ain't to far behind..but at $150 month..you can count me out. Me too. Because their std speed pkg with powerboost gives me all the speed I need for any reasonable size download and even the upload works well for transferring relative pics and videos to web sites.
The 50/5 pkg would be good for those working from home and constantly uploading large engineering drawings or PR videos, etc. A nice pkg for corporate warriors.
Of course, it is a little pricey for those who just want their P2P music & movie sharing(read stealing) apps to work quicker.
--
My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page | |
| | | nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
·Comcast
| Re: Upload speed? said by TK Junk Mail :.... Of course, it is a little pricey for those who just want their P2P music & movie sharing(read stealing) apps to work quicker. too true. at that price point INFRINGERS (read not thieves), may as well stay with a less costly, slower connection and spend the difference on legal, licensed downloads.
unless of course they don't like DRM; or the inconvenience; or installing another app; or paying too much; or having a very limited selection.... | |
| | | 
digitalfreak
Frodo failed. Bush has the ring
join:2005-12-09
Blacklick, OH
| said by TK Junk Mail :said by ztmike :I knew they were going to go with Florida..with that leaked announcement. My only question..Will the upload remain the same at 5meg, being that there are now docsis 3 modems out (Arris modems now even) I hope Chicago ain't to far behind..but at $150 month..you can count me out. Me too. Because their std speed pkg with powerboost gives me all the speed I need for any reasonable size download and even the upload works well for transferring relative pics and videos to web sites. The 50/5 pkg would be good for those working from home and constantly uploading large engineering drawings or PR videos, etc. A nice pkg for corporate warriors. Of course, it is a little pricey for those who just want their P2P music & movie sharing(read stealing) apps to work quicker. We're all quite aware of your assertion that all P2P users are thieves. Given your constant anti-consumer/pro-business rhetoric, I would assume you work for or have stock holdings in telecom companies. | |
| | | | | | | | | hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH | Re: Upload speed? Your investment list should be update- Home Depot's legal name is Homer TLC, Inc. their DBA is The Home Depot but only in the USA.  | |
| | | | | | | | | | quatrix
join:2005-02-11
Davie, FL
| said by digitalfreak :We're all quite aware of your assertion that all P2P users are thieves. Given your constant anti-consumer/pro-business rhetoric, I would assume you work for or have stock holdings in telecom companies. Is it so hard to believe that he just has some ethics? I'm not strongly pro-business, but I still see that media and software pirates are still losers. | |
| | | 
ztmike
Premium
join:2001-08-02
Michigan City, IN
·Comcast
·AT&T Midwest
| said by TK Junk Mail :said by ztmike :I knew they were going to go with Florida..with that leaked announcement. My only question..Will the upload remain the same at 5meg, being that there are now docsis 3 modems out (Arris modems now even) I hope Chicago ain't to far behind..but at $150 month..you can count me out. Me too. Because their std speed pkg with powerboost gives me all the speed I need for any reasonable size download and even the upload works well for transferring relative pics and videos to web sites. The 50/5 pkg would be good for those working from home and constantly uploading large engineering drawings or PR videos, etc. A nice pkg for corporate warriors. Of course, it is a little pricey for those who just want their P2P music & movie sharing(read stealing) apps to work quicker. So you think ALL people who use torrents "steal"? That's kinda bullheaded. Hell when I downloaded the Metal Gear Solid 4 demo off the Playstation Network for Playstation 3, Konami used p2p.
--
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdYueIC1pjM | |
| | | | | 
dlconkey
"Sneigke"
join:2003-01-19
Chicago, IL
clubs:
·RCN CABLE
| Re: Upload speed? Glad I'm in an RCN only area... (I think...)
Thank the aldermen for dividing up Chicago into discrete "single cable company" only areas.
Mostly along the lakefront....
--
Dave, Chicago - Edgewater/Uptown, @ the lakefront | |
| EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA
| Competition So now we get to see the long-awaited DOCSIS3 vs. FiOS... be interesting to see what that means, whether Verizon will be forced to ratchet their speeds up a notch (come on, 100mbps is possible isn't it?) or drop prices (hahahahahahaha, like that's going to happen) to compete. | |
| | xxTRAGEDYxx
join:2008-03-14
Kannapolis, NC | Re: Competition ^^^AGREED^^^ it'll be nice to see a real good competition race for customers. Although, I belive Verizon will win.. | |
| | | EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA
| Re: Competition Well, Comcast has a big advantage in deployment- they already have lines going to houses, it's a matter of upgrading the equipment at either end- VZ has to build everything from the ground up. I don't know how much FiOS is deployed in Verizon Florida's areas, but I doubt it's 100% yet.. and once you've gotten 50mbps from Comcast, when Verizon starts deploying in your area it's not as alluring... | |
| | | | | | | | | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| Re: Competition Comcast's Fiber can't be used for FIOS technology AKA BPON/GPON. Not enough fiber strands. A fiber node only gets 1 or 2 strands, and that fiber node serves 100-400 houses. 1 BPON strand serves 32 houses. It doesn't compare. They would have to have Uverse Size cabinets in the field (like Utopia), and use IPTV. And PR wise that is guaranteed not to happen. | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | espaeth
Misanthrope
Premium
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
·Comcast
·Embarq
| Re: Competition said by BSD24 :As they are different in some ways, Fiber is Fiber. Not sure what Comcast has for fiber in your area, but there is different Fiber line diameters. First it starts from the "Headend" those lines are extremely thick, as it should be. First off, your statement of "fiber is fiber" is completely inaccurate. There's fiber characterized for different modal qualities, such as single mode (aka long haul) and multi mode (aka short haul) fiber. The runs from the headend to the nodes are 9 micron core single mode fiber, which is incredibly thin. The thickness you are referring to is the armored cladding to prevent breakage. For multimode varieties the core sizes are 62.5micron (aka FDDI grade fiber) and 50micron, and those come in different modal bandwidths from 200Mhz - 2000Mhz. You need fiber characterized to carry the optical wavelengths you intend to transmit, with the correct amount of loss so that you don't have the extremes of signal loss or burning out your optical receivers.
said by BSD24 :All Comcast has to do (varies obviously by areas - since some areas may be outdated from recent take-overs) is build up some of the Fiber lines, but still they have good fiber already in place that could handle it. They could, in theory, use fiber to feed optical hubs, but the signal would need to be regenerated. It wouldn't technically be a "passive" optical network like Verizon's GPON/BPON infrastructure. | |
| | | | | | | | 
BSD24
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Taunton, MA
clubs:
 ·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: Competition said by espaeth :said by BSD24 :As they are different in some ways, Fiber is Fiber. Not sure what Comcast has for fiber in your area, but there is different Fiber line diameters. First it starts from the "Headend" those lines are extremely thick, as it should be. First off, your statement of "fiber is fiber" is completely inaccurate. There's fiber characterized for different modal qualities, such as single mode (aka long haul) and multi mode (aka short haul) fiber. The runs from the headend to the nodes are 9 micron core single mode fiber, which is incredibly thin. The thickness you are referring to is the armored cladding to prevent breakage. For multimode varieties the core sizes are 62.5micron (aka FDDI grade fiber) and 50micron, and those come in different modal bandwidths from 200Mhz - 2000Mhz. You need fiber characterized to carry the optical wavelengths you intend to transmit, with the correct amount of loss so that you don't have the extremes of signal loss or burning out your optical receivers. said by BSD24 :All Comcast has to do (varies obviously by areas - since some areas may be outdated from recent take-overs) is build up some of the Fiber lines, but still they have good fiber already in place that could handle it. They could, in theory, use fiber to feed optical hubs, but the signal would need to be regenerated. It wouldn't technically be a "passive" optical network like Verizon's GPON/BPON infrastructure. Cisco and other companies are working with Comcast and other providers to bring fiber deeper. Besides the fact I didn't want to get too deep in this conversation about fiber lines, I simply stated the obvious.
Should I also mention that some Comcast customers already have FTTH/FTTP... Off the same network servicing HFC customers.... It was a development area taken over by Comcast, they gutted the previous service provider (satellite and dsl) lines and equipment, and built up a completely fiber to the premise network. Althought there were some problems with some bugs in the brand new system it is now functional. People in the nearby area of this development (still on nodes with HFC) had issues whenever there were issues at the Development area, since its one network and closed circuit so to say. | |
| |
tshirt
Premium
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
| said by EPS :So now we get to see the long-awaited DOCSIS3 vs. FiOS... be interesting to see what that means, whether Verizon will be forced to ratchet their speeds up a notch (come on, 100mbps is possible isn't it?) or drop prices (hahahahahahaha, like that's going to happen) to compete. I don't understand why anyone believes any of these higher tiers are going to get cheaper, other than short term promos.
in 5-10 years once fios and DOCSIS 3 are fully deployed, you MIGHT see occasional price wars, but the standard rates will be higher than ever. | |
| | | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| Re: Competition said by tshirt : I don't understand why anyone believes any of these higher tiers are going to get cheaper, other than short term promos. in 5-10 years once fios and DOCSIS 3 are fully deployed, you MIGHT see occasional price wars, but the standard rates will be higher than ever. Both Comcast and Verizon know that a price war is bad for both of them. A race to the bottom in price is as smart as pulling the pin on a grenade, dropping it, and running as fast as possible away from it, if you trip (financial problems due to low ARPU), you die. Verizon would die first in a price war, since they need as much income as possible to build out FIOS and pay back any financing on it. Comcast is 100% sunk costs, Comcast already deployed everything and payed off installation costs years ago, so they can play the price game. | |
| | JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL
edit:
May 21st, @12:00PM
| The lower speed bundles are where the promotions will be at. Expect all out pricing war on those entry level packages once Uverse hit some areas. The upper speeds you can pretty much forget about any type of price battle.
--
»www.seabee.navy.mil | |
| | Ammler
Premium
join:2005-04-19
Pittsburgh, PA | AT&T is now going to painfully realize how short sighted they were in deploying U-verse.
Look for U-verse to get a dramatic "Upgrade" in the future. | |
| | | BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs:
·Comcast Formerly ..
| Re: Competition And who would they be fighting ?
Lots of that area that they cover are them or charter cox and the like comcast doesn't touch much of thier territory.
At&T will milk their infrastructure much like qwest is. They make way to much money off the business end to bother.
--
"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" | |
| | | | hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH | Re: Competition TWC has a lot of service areas in at$t areas. | |
| | | | | BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs:
·Comcast Formerly ..
| Re: Competition said by hottboiinnc :TWC has a lot of service areas in at$t areas. heres to hoping TW decides to upgrade as well.
--
"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" | |
| | 
PGHammer
join:2003-06-09
Accokeek, MD
clubs:
| Actually, Florida makes a great test state (because of the overlap of FIOS and AT&T's UVerse competing with Comcast) as right now FIOS is going head-to-head with Comcast literally on Comcast's home turf: the Greater Philadelphia-to-DC MegaCluster (basically everything from northern New Jersey to greater Richmond except eastern Maryland and Virginia's Eastern Shore counties). Comcast had no choice but to roll out Blast! in this area because FIOS is stealing not just HSI customers, but even cable TV customers that already had VZ for phone and were loath to leave (Comcast is losing HSI customers because VZ has the 15/15 package they are marketing like crazy; worse, new HSI customers would much rather deal with VZ, especially if they have VZ for phone). The reputation of cable companies in general (not just Comcast) is pretty awful in most of the MegaCluster, and VZ is picking up customers just by not being a cable company. | |
| ossito16
join:2004-07-31
Whiting, IN
| Why the high prices? I don't understand the justification of the high prices other than they feel they can get away with it. What resources are being used up faster internet speeds? Other than electrons and photons flying around, what else is there?
Higher hard drive capacity actually requires more "physical" space so there are resources used up to get that space. Does comcast have to pay someone also for the bandwidth they use. | |
| | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| Re: Why the high prices? said by ossito16 :I don't understand the justification of the high prices other than they feel they can get away with it. What resources are being used up faster internet speeds? Other than electrons and photons flying around, what else is there? There are backbone costs (1 gigabit card, 10 gigabit card, SONET cards....). But they are minimal since residential users don't use 100% of their supposed speed, and if they do, you get the termination letters. The different prices for different speeds is similar to CPUs. The reason you can overclock CPUs is because Intel sells CPUs at different price points to make more money. They could just sell 1 or 2 speeds, but more money is made by making really low speed CPUs and really high speed CPUs, and the high speed ones are much more profitable. Manufacturing costs are the same for each BTW. | |
| | espaeth
Misanthrope
Premium
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
·Comcast
·Embarq
| said by ossito16 :I don't understand the justification of the high prices other than they feel they can get away with it. What resources are being used up faster internet speeds? Other than electrons and photons flying around, what else is there? A typical cable plant has 750MHz - 1000MHz of frequency spectrum to work with, and that is shared between video and data services.
Per the DOCSIS spec, upstream is restricted to the 5-42Mhz frequency range. Downstream capacity is added in 38mbps chunks consuming 6MHz of frequency each. Current DOCSIS 3.0 implementations are limited to 4 channel muxing, so max capacity downstream today is 152mbps.
The limits of the physical plant are what make the opportunity cost of the bandwidth high. | |
| 
jarablue
Always be true to yourself
join:2001-06-11
Worcester, MA
| Oh well In other news, Charter sits on 16 meg otherwise known as 5 meg in areas that are not upgraded till the year 2016. When asked why they are not upgrading their network to match the times and overwhelming stress put on their network, Charter responded..."because that costs money" and "we're not making enough of NebuAD, not that we would use that money for anything other then shit deadwood managment in Charter but..."
Can't wait till Charter get's 50 meg. I'll be in a wheelchair by then but it will be cool anyways to max it out and get 19 megabit out of the 50 they advertise then. | |
| | | karlmarx
join:2006-09-18
Nashua, NH
·Fairpoint Communic..
| Re: Speed vs Caps But they aren't going to be secret much longer.
Look at it this way, comcast is going to go with a 100GB/month cap. So that means, if you actually USE the 50mb/sec, you will run out of bandwidth in about 4 hours. So, The 1st of the month, from midnight to 4:00 am, you will get all you paid for.
So, if you WERE to use your full connection all month, you would get a bill for $235,804.70 (overage charges) + 150.00 base fee.
Remember, overages is just a way for comcast to raise more money. If you were willing to spend 235,000.00 per month, you could EASILY get a 10gb/sec connection, with no limits
Look at the math. A T-1 costs about $500.00/month. With that, you can move about 900GB (or download about 450GB) every month. That means, a T-1 comes out to about $1.00/gb to use (downloads). Thus, anyone who uses more than 300GB/month, will find a T-1 cheaper, because the comcast overage charges for 300GB = $300.00 (assuming $1.50/gb).
It's more proof that comcast is overselling what they can't provide. That's like honda saying they will sell you their car, but you can only drive on 'roads they approve'.
--
The happiest countries are the most secular. The struggle AGAINST corporations is the struggle FOR humanity! | |
| | |
tshirt
Premium
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
| Re: Speed vs Caps said by karlmarx :But they aren't going to be secret much longer. Look at it this way, comcast is going to go with a 100GB/month cap. What they are testing is 250GB/month. (which throws some of your math off a bit)
said by karlmarx :Remember, overages is just a way for comcast to raise more money. And the "extra" money they raise should help pay for the increased bandwidth useage, plant upgrade costs, plus (maybe) a little extra profit for offering a premium connection. No one really knows what cap will end being applied to the standard tiers, let alone the 50/5 tier.
said by karlmarx : ........ will find a T-1 cheaper, because the comcast overage charges for 300GB = $300.00 (assuming $1.50/gb). And comcast is probably OK with that, they can only offer certain types of service for the price the average resdential account MIGHT use. If you need a different level of service go elsewhere. (or pay the overage charges, for what you use.) | |
| | | espaeth
Misanthrope
Premium
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
·Comcast
·Embarq
| said by karlmarx :So, if you WERE to use your full connection all month, you would get a bill for $235,804.70 (overage charges) + 150.00 base fee. You would have also moved 16.2TB, and unless you're channeling everything to /dev/null that's a lot of data to store / burn to optical media.
There are limits on how much information humans can consume, seeing as there are only 24 hours in a day to be divided between work, sleep, and entertainment. Unless you happen to have the most eclectic tastes of any human that has ever lived, eventually you're going to run out of content that you're interested in. Presumably at this point you already are in possession of a great deal of content that interests you, and the rate at which new content is being produced is limited to rates slower than you can consume it.
There's not a 1:1 correlation between speed and consumption for nearly every application except P2P. | |
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