Comcast 2Gbps fiber to launch “in a bunch of markets this month”
Comcast briefly delays fiber-to-the-home rollout; price still not
revealed.
by Jon Brodkin
Ars Technica
Jun 1, 2015 4:05pm CDT
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/06/comcast-2gbps-fiber-to-launch-in-a-bunch-of-markets-this-month/
Comcast's plan to launch a 2Gbps fiber-to-the-home service
<http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/04/comcast-doubles-google-fiber-with-2gbps-symmetrical-fiber-service/>
by the end of May didn't come to fruition, but the company says the
rollout is being delayed only briefly and will go live in numerous
cities this month.
Comcast originally said that its "Gigabit Pro" service would be
available during May in the Atlanta metro area, Nashville, Greater
Chicago, and four cities in Florida (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm
Beach, and Jacksonville). Rollouts in June were to follow in
Chattanooga, Tennessee; Northwest Indiana; and several parts of
California (Chico, Fresno, Marysville/Yuba City, Merced, Modesto,
Monterey, Sacramento, Salinas, San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Barbara
County, Stockton and Visalia metro areas.)
Customers in Atlanta and West Palm Beach who wanted to order Gigabit Pro
complained about the lack of availability on the company's support
forums
<http://forums.xfinity.com/t5/Customer-Service/Ordering-Gigabit-Pro/td-p/2514967>.
A Comcast employee originally said the service "will be available in
your area [Atlanta] come early May" but amended that to May 28
and finally told customers, "The launch of this has been temporarily
delayed. No tentative date has been announced yet."
A Comcast spokesperson acknowledged today that the 2Gbps service hasn't
rolled out in any of the markets where it was supposed to launch in May.
But there doesn't seem to be any technical roadblock preventing an
imminent launch. "Our plan is to launch simultaneously in a bunch of
markets this month," Comcast told Ars.
DSLReports noted
<http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcasts-2-Gigabit-Service-Launch-Appears-Delayed-133985>
that "we're also no closer to Comcast unveiling how much this new
service will cost. The company's website briefly leaked word
<http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcasts-2-Gigabit-Service-Launch-Appears-Delayed-133985>
that the symmetrical two gigabit service would cost $300 a month," but
that information was pulled offline, with Comcast saying no final
decision has been made.
Comcast has been charging $399.95 a month for its existing 505Mbps plan,
but it has said
<http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/04/comcast-doubles-google-fiber-with-2gbps-symmetrical-fiber-service/>
the 2Gbps price will be lower and that all 505Mbps customers will be
upgraded to the new, faster service.
Google Fiber and AT&T charge as little as $70 a month for gigabit
service (though with AT&T, that price requires opting in to a program
that scans your Web browsing
<http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/03/atts-plan-to-watch-your-web-browsing-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/>
in order to serve up personalized ads).
Google Fiber plans to compete against Comcast in Atlanta and Nashville
while AT&T is already serving customers
<http://www.att.com/att/gigapowercities/> in both those cities as well
as Chicago, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and San Jose. AT&T's prices range
depending on how much competition it faces; in Atlanta, the AT&T gigabit
service costs $120 a month
<http://communities.att.com/news-events/u-verse%C2%AE-with-att-gigapower-launches-today-in-atlanta,-sandy-springs-and-surrounding-areas>.
"My guess is Comcast is in a quandary about how to price it, since
Google Fiber charges only $70 a month for gigabit Internet and is coming
to Atlanta in early 2016, and AT&T is charging $120 a month for gigabit
service and appears to be available now in some parts of Atlanta (not my
house, however)," one Atlanta resident wrote on the Comcast support
forum. "I don't think they will get many residential customers at $299 a
month. If they'll do it for $150 a month with no data cap and no
installation charge, I'd sign up for a year. Once Google Fiber is here,
though, I don't think I'd pay more than Google charges."
In Chattanooga, Comcast faces competition from the local electric
utility
<http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/04/comcast-brings-fiber-to-city-that-it-sued-7-years-ago-to-stop-fiber-rollout/>,
which charges $70 for gigabit Internet.
Comcast will announce more cities for Gigabit Pro later on. The company
has said the fiber-to-the-home service will be available to 18 million
homes by the end of this year. For homes outside the fiber area, Comcast
will roll out gigabit download speeds over cable using equipment
supporting the new DOCSIS 3.1 standard
<http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/12/why-comcast-and-other-cable-isps-arent-selling-you-gigabit-internet/>.
Comcast says it hopes to roll out DOCSIS 3.1 in early 2016.
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