Comcast Price Increase: Telecom Set To Raise Rates In 2018
Comcast subscribers will start the new year on an unpleasant note: the telecommunications giant started to inform its customers that it will be increasing the cost of its broadband internet service in 2018, Stop the Cap reported .
According to a notification providers to Comcast subscribers, the basic broadband internet service offered by the company will cost users as much as $74.95 per month starting Jan. 28, 2018 for new subscribers or after all promotional offers have expired for existing customers.
That $75 price tag will buy consumers Comcast’s Performance tier internet service, which provides consumers with the Federal Communications Commission’s minimum requirement for broadband service of 25 Mbps download speeds and 3 Mbps upload speeds.
Comcast’s Performance tier internet was priced at $65 per month at the start of 2017 and began creeping up to $70 by the end of the year. The monthly cost also only accounts for the broadband service itself and none of the additional fees that accompany it, including the $11 per month cost to rent a modem from Comcast—which is also up $1 from the 2017 price.
The broadband subscription from Comcast also includes a monthly data cap. The cap is quite high, set at one terabyte—more than 99 percent of Comcast customers do not exceed the cap, the company claims—but is still a looming restriction that many other providers do not have.
New subscribers may be able to get Comcast’s basic broadband service for less based on where they are located, but the lower price is a promotional offer and only last for 12 months. After that, customers can expect their monthly bill to jump to the $75 price point—assuming the price hasn’t been increased again by the time the one year offer has expired.
The jump in prices is likely driven by a number of factors, including the increasing tendency of consumers to want to cut the cord on cable and embrace streaming media options. Those services require internet access but eat up more bandwidth and cut into Comcast’s other business of providing cable television services.
In order to recoup some of those costs, the company appears intent on increasing the cost of its broadband service. It’s a move that has also been encouraged by Wall Street analysts, who are likely excited about companies like Comcast capitalizing on their monopolistic-like holds on certain markets and the roll back of net neutrality protections completed by the Federal Communications Commission earlier this month.
New Street Research suggested that “broadband pricing could double from current levels,” and Comcast’s decision to increase its prices would likely pave the way for other broadband providers like Charter to follow suit.
Comcast’s decision to hike up broadband internet service costs follows news earlier this month that it would also increase the cost of its cable service . Starting Jan. 1, Comcast will boost the cost of most of its cable plans by a couple dollars per month. On top of that, it will also increase the charge for its broadcast and regional sports fees—which often are not included in the advertised monthly cost—by nearly $2 per month.
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