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"Will I get more data included in my monthly data usage plan if I upgrade to a higher Internet tier? While you may upgrade your Internet service at any time to

"Will I get more data included in my monthly data usage plan if I upgrade to a higher Internet tier? While you may upgrade your Internet service at any time to receive more speed and performance, all of our tiers of service include data usage plans with 300 GB of data per month." http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/data-usage-plans-expansion-upgrade http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/data-u... Sigh.

MAGZine 13y ago
My hope is that they eventually conform all plans into one (at a locked speed/price), and then offer plans in varying amounts of capacity at a certain speed. Much closer reflects a usage-based model, which makes sense for internet billing, whether people like it or not.
- matwood 13y ago
  They don't really want to do that because like cell carriers they have a large number of people using very little data and overpaying. They want to keep these people paying for much more than they use.
  - MAGZine 13y ago
    oh, that wouldn't change. but instead of: $59.99 - 300GB @ 50mbps, $69.99 - 300 GB @ 75 MBPS, $79.99 - 300 GB @ 100MBPS you'd see, in the future mind you, $59.99 - 300GB @ 128 MBPS, $69.99 - 500 GB @ 128 MBPS, $79 - 800 GB (or, alternatively, $59.99 - 300GB, $0.n /GB afterwards)
- guelo 13y ago
  That's an awful hope. My hope is that they are declared an illegal monopoly and an environment is created where actual competition can occur so we end up paying what bandwidth actually costs.
  - MAGZine 13y ago
    They're not an illegal monopoly though. Paying for what bandwidth costs is the crux of my argument. We're both arguing for what is essentially usage-based-billing ;-)
  - sp332 13y ago
    It's not an illegal monopoly, they're actually state-sponsored.
- draebek 13y ago
  Does usage based billing truly make sense for an ISP like Comcast? If it's 4 AM and Comcast's network is mostly idle, does it matter how much bandwidth you use? Likewise, if everyone in your city uses their 300 GB between 5 PM and 8 PM, Comcast ends up having to spend more money to upgrade their network (or they just provide shit service). I wonder if some kind of billing during peak hours makes more sense. Taken to an extreme I think you'd have pricing like Uber's demand-based pricing, which is really "fun" to think about. Edited to add: Not that I want this at all! I'm just saying that billing based on network utilization seems to make more sense to me, since the bits on the cable are essentially free once you've got it set up. It quite possibly makes Comcast more money to bill based on bytes, and it's probably much easier to explain too.

MAGZine 13y ago

My hope is that they eventually conform all plans into one (at a locked speed/price), and then offer plans in varying amounts of capacity at a certain speed. Much closer reflects a usage-based model, which makes sense for internet billing, whether people like it or not.

matwood 13y ago
They don't really want to do that because like cell carriers they have a large number of people using very little data and overpaying. They want to keep these people paying for much more than they use.
- MAGZine 13y ago
  oh, that wouldn't change. but instead of: $59.99 - 300GB @ 50mbps, $69.99 - 300 GB @ 75 MBPS, $79.99 - 300 GB @ 100MBPS you'd see, in the future mind you, $59.99 - 300GB @ 128 MBPS, $69.99 - 500 GB @ 128 MBPS, $79 - 800 GB (or, alternatively, $59.99 - 300GB, $0.n /GB afterwards)
guelo 13y ago
That's an awful hope. My hope is that they are declared an illegal monopoly and an environment is created where actual competition can occur so we end up paying what bandwidth actually costs.
- MAGZine 13y ago
  They're not an illegal monopoly though. Paying for what bandwidth costs is the crux of my argument. We're both arguing for what is essentially usage-based-billing ;-)
- sp332 13y ago
  It's not an illegal monopoly, they're actually state-sponsored.
draebek 13y ago
Does usage based billing truly make sense for an ISP like Comcast? If it's 4 AM and Comcast's network is mostly idle, does it matter how much bandwidth you use? Likewise, if everyone in your city uses their 300 GB between 5 PM and 8 PM, Comcast ends up having to spend more money to upgrade their network (or they just provide shit service). I wonder if some kind of billing during peak hours makes more sense. Taken to an extreme I think you'd have pricing like Uber's demand-based pricing, which is really "fun" to think about. Edited to add: Not that I want this at all! I'm just saying that billing based on network utilization seems to make more sense to me, since the bits on the cable are essentially free once you've got it set up. It quite possibly makes Comcast more money to bill based on bytes, and it's probably much easier to explain too.