About computeronix15

To follow-up on this, I have been with Xfinity for over 10 years (every house I move to make sure Xfinity is there).  As a result of this continual increase of cost (I purchased Gigabit + Unlimited Data because I pretty much had to considering I am in the "1% users needing this")...I am switching to MetroNet in my area which is 100% fiber and for Gigabit Internet cost 79.95 a month (with 250 mbps upload instead of 40 mbps) and includes Unlimited Data (they do not charge for data).   The price alone is saving me money compared to what I am being charged with Xfinity.  I am sticking with Xfinity Home Security but turning everything else off.   Will monitor this in the future but right now I can't justify Xfinity.   EDIT:   I forgot to mention some of you may mention well that is "new customer" pricing and what happens after a year?  Even after a year the cost is cheaper than what Xfinity is charging me (after I already negotiated with Xfinity too). ... View more

Today, Comcast lumps the Gigabit plan and lower services in the 1TB data cap.  The only exception is Gigabit Pro is allowed the unlimited data without any additional charge.   Let's look at the Gigabit plan a little bit more....   Xfinity mentions the Gigabit plan is "...good for unlimited devices." (https://www.xfinity.com/learn/offers?lob=internet)  Hmm. well I am sure it is good for unlimited devices and if you are willing to pay even more when you go above the 1TB cap...   For those thinking, just as Comcast mentions, "A TERABYTE IS A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF DATA. WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A TERABYTE?" (https://dataplan.xfinity.com/), well it may be a massive amount of data but for those with unlimited devices, or even a few devices, it can be consumed very easily.   For example, let's say you have a gamer in your house that leverages an Xbox One X, for example, Comcast mentions the average gamer can "Play better. Play more. A terabyte of data is enough to power 12,000 hours of online gaming in a month. There are 730 hours in a typical month." (https://dataplan.xfinity.com/).  While I am sure their research shows this, this fails to count for the type of gaming usage.  For example, Microsoft offers Games for Gold, multiple "free" games a month for an Xbox owner and they offer Xbox Game Pass allowing access to a huge library of games as part of the pass.  Whenever one of these games are accessed and needed to be played, you have to download the game, assuming it is not on the device. Games can range from MB to 10's of GBs depending on the game for the download.  If the game is 4K it is even more.  Also, don't forget about when a Game update is released which has the same type of range mentioned...now you have to account for this...Very quickly you can see that the usage can be maxed out very quickly from just one Xbox.  Now let's say you have two gamers in your household (I do), multiple this times two now....Also this will only get worse as Microsoft, again as an example, is working on a game streaming service, newly announced at E3 (https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/10/17446628/microsoft-xbox-game-streaming-cloud-service-next-xbox-teaser-e3-2018).  Speculating, this again, could use even more usage...   I didn't even mention if your household utilizes the following services: Spotify, Plex, Netflix, Vudu, Hulu, etc....   I didn't even mention if you have Windows, MacOS, and/or Linux devices....   Recommendation: Xfinity/Comcast should increase the data cap amount for Gigabit plan holders. Perhaps to even 2TB per month? If a customer is paying for this increased service to support a multitiude of devices, dare I say "unlimited devices", then the customer should actually be able to use multiple of these devices and services as advertised by Comcast without the worry of exceeding the smaller cap and paying even more for the same service every month....(or paying for the $50 a month unlimited plan to use the same service I already am paying more for, for the higher speeds and more devices).   EDIT:   An additional concern is as Xfinity services grow in the "Internet Cloud", Xfinity is counting the data being used on the Internet plan to support these services which then goes towards the customer's minimal 1TB plan....so Xfinity Home Cameras, for example, are more expensive than just the monthly fee for the 24x7 recording plan for each camera...see this post for details on this: https://forums.xfinity.com/t5/Devices-and-Equipment/Cameras-and-Additional-Data-Usage-Frustrations/m-p/3126823   ADDITIONAL EDIT:   Looking at a couple of your competitors as another data point...   AT&T Internet 1000 plans (1 gigabit download speeds) get unlimited data (https://www.att.com/support/internet/usage.html)   Spectrum "As an Internet customer, there is no limit to the amount of data you can upload or download." (http://support.brighthouse.com/Article/Unlimited-Internet-Data-Usage-6942/) ... View more

I find it frustrating that Comcast - Xfinity Home counts your cameras sending data back to Comcast (aka recording) against your data usage quota...here is why...   In their 24x7 camera recording FAQ page they mention the following: How much bandwidth does a Camera with 24/7 Video Recording enabled use? Due to the technology implemented, each Camera with 24/7 Video Recording typically uses less than 50 GB per month depending on the amount of activity captured. Source: https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/24-7-video-recording-faqs   This is 50 GB estimate per month, per camera.  So if a customer were to max out the subscription and pay $40 per month with 4 cameras recording, the customer would be only able to leverage 824GB (1 TB = 1024 GB - 200 GB ) of data each month.  For customers already close to maxing their data usage, this basically would set the customer over the limit causing the customer to have to pay $50 / month for unlimited data or pay the overage charge.  So this is great for getting even more money from their customers for the same level of service.   Recommendation: Comcast should not count data towards your data limit for Xfinity Home.  Xfinity Home Network goes through a seperated network and therefore when analyzing data usage Xfinity should see this and be able to ignore this.   As an example of Xfinity not counting other products/services towards your data usage, take a look at the Roku - Xfinity Stream beta app... Does streaming using the Xfinity Stream app on a Partner Device count against my Internet data usage? No. The goal of using the app on your Partner Device is to give you more options outside of our rented TV Boxes to access your full TV service within your home. The service delivered through the Xfinity Stream app is not an Internet service, so our data usage plans don't apply.   Source: https:// xfinity.com/xfinitytvbeta   ... View more