Xfinity won't give folks in certain locales (maybe everywhere in the US?) unlimited bandwidth unless they use their modem/router. This seems like a good reason that practice should be illegal.
AzzyHN 19 days ago | parent | next [–]
If you want to remove the 1.2TB data cap, you can either pay $25/mo and get Xfinity's gateway router "included" OR pay $30/mo to use your own modem/router.
To recap, we are trying to figure out what someone meant when they said:
>> Or worse-yet, opt-in means "Hey our rates are going up, but not if you agree to this" (something comcast did recently).
We need something where they said rates are going up, but said you could keep your old price if you agreed to something.
You suggested it was the "imaging through wifi and was auto enabled for their routers".
To fit what we are looking for it would have to be that Comcast put that on their routers and enabled it and raised their rates, but said that if you kept it enabled you could keep the old rate.
That doesn't fit because (1) they made it available on their routers but you have to explicitly enable it and (2) whether or not you enable it does not affect your price at all.
The way they price unlimited data, $30/month if bought separately, or bundled with one of their routers for $25/month is annoying, but doesn't fit what we are looking for because the person said they are talking about something done recently. Unlimited has been handled that way for ages.
They did recently announce a new set of 4 plans that are nationwide and for new customers replace their olds plans. These plans make a significant change to unlimited and to modem/router rental. Current customers can switch to the new plans if they want. But I don't think this is what he was thinking of.
The new plans are 300 Mbps, 500 Mbps, 1 Gbps, and 2 Gbps no contract plans. Currently you can get them with 1 or 5 year price guarantees, but as I said they are no contract plans so you are not locking yourself into staying with Comcast.
I'm not sure why anyone would not choose the price guarantee option. For new users in my area the price without a guarantee is $80, $95, $110, and $140, respectively. With the 1 year guarantee those $40, $55, $70, and $100. (This all assumes you go paperless and use autopay--add $10 is not). With the 5 year guarantee those are $55, $70, $85, and $115.
I'm an existing customer on a plan that is $69/month with 400 Mpbs download. To switch to the new plans without the guarantee the price is $70, $85, $100, $140. For the first 3 that is also the price with the 1 or 5 year guarantees. For the 2 gig plan it is $100 with the 1 year guarantee and $115 with the 5 year guarantee.
All of these new plans are unlimited data. All of them include modem/router. You are not required to use the modem/router they provide. You can use your own, and you will get unlimited data. Whether you use theirs or yours does not affect the price.
I don't think this is what he was thinking of, because existing users can keep their existing plans. They aren't raising prices on the old plans and saying "switch to the new plans if you want to keep the old price" so it doesn't fit.
In fact it is more the opposite. Take my case, currently paying $69/month with a 1.2 GB cap and using my own modem. If I want to add unlimited to my current plan that would add $30/month, bringing it $99/month. If I switch to the 500 Mbps new plan and continue using my modem [1] that would get me a 25% speed boost and unlimited and save me $14/month over going unlimited on the old plan.
[1] I'd probably use their modem. Mine is old and doesn't support the higher upload speeds the Comcast rolled out a while back. My current plan, and the non-gig new plans, can do 100 Mbps up, but my modem can only do 35.
