https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLQw1u4Oe7k
Comcast says it is now offering its fastest residential and business Internet speeds available thanks to a sizable investment in its next-generation broadband Internet.
This week, Comcast said it is now offering a top speed of 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps) through its Xfinity-branded “10G Network.” The speed is symmetrical, meaning users will experience the same download and upload speeds when they take advantage of the top end plan, called Gigabit Pro, which costs $300 a month for residential customers.
Comcast says the top speed is a result of its $20 billion investment in the 10G Network (the number refers to the maximum upload speed, and not “tenth generation,” breaking from brand tradition with wireless data providers that offer a 5G, or fifth-generation, network). The network takes advantage of Comcast’s existing coaxial network to bring fiber-based Internet connections into the homes and businesses of millions.
“Our network is architected to give us options to deliver a great experience over both [hybrid fiber-coaxial, or HFC] and fiber-to-the-home technologies,” Elad Nafshi, the chief network officer at Comcast, said this week.
The Gigabit Pro service plan is intended for “customers who are in the bleeding edge of tech adoption,” Nafshi said. There aren’t too many use cases for a 10 Gbps broadband Internet plan at the moment — some of the most data-hungry Internet appliances like smart TVs and surveillance cameras will work fine with a lower-cost plan like Comcast’s 200 Megabits per second (Mbps) plan, which costs $35 a month for one year with a special promotional rate.
Where things get complicated is that Comcast implements a data cap across most of its popular broadband Internet tiers, which limits the amount of data most customers can use to 1.2 terabytes (TB) per month. Customers who watch more than a few hours of streaming video content each month — particularly on utra-high definition (UHD/4K) TV sets — or who regularly game online with others can easily blow through this cap. Comcast forgives the first couple of times a customer does this, but warns that it will charge Internet users who exceed their data allotment more than a few times a year.
Comcast offers to remove the data cap if customers purchase their Xfi Complete package, which includes an Xfinity-leased modem and router for $25 a month. Xfinity customers who don’t want to lease equipment from Comcast can also pay $30 a month to remove the data cap. Both options add to the price of an
The company’s higher-end Internet packages, including those that offer Gigabit speeds, usually are exempt from the data cap. But Comcast is always changing their terms and promotions, and there is no guarantee it won’t impose a data cap on Xfinity users more broadly in the future.
Still, for the time being, Comcast is happy to sell you its fastest broadband service on the market, without a data cap, if you have $3,600 per year to part with for just Internet.
