 IPPlanManHoly Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC
kudos:1
3 edits | How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? Here's what I'm not getting... and maybe Dadkins or someone else can explain this to me...
Comcast offers uncapped Business Class Service for 20-30 dollars more a month than the 250GB capped "residential class" service.
Internet Starter Plan $59.95 per month
6 Mbps downloads/1Mbps Uploads + PowerBoost
McAfee® Virus Scan
Microsoft Communication Tools, including 2 Outlook mailboxes
Domain name and three-page Web site
24/7 Business Class support
Additional details
Recommended for:
Businesses with lighter download needs
Businesses looking for a more economical service that doesn’t skimp on speed or features
Request a Consultation Order Now
Internet Preferred Plan $89.95 per month
16 Mbps downloads/2Mbps Uploads + PowerBoost
McAfee® Virus Scan
Microsoft Communication Tools, including 4 Outlook mailboxes
Domain name and starter three-page Web site
24/7 Business Class support
Fully customizable options
Additional details
Recommended for:
Businesses with normal download and upload needs
Businesses looking for increased productivity at a highly competitive rate
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So I ask....
How can Comcast offer these services without a cap? Are they assuming that only a few people can get them?
Are they assuming that the majority of residential users won't want to pay for this uncapped service?
Perhaps they're making the assumption that given the higher price (which included add-ons like MS email), that the "load" on the infrastructure won't be as high.
It's not clear to me how 20-30 dollars a month can change a capped service into an uncapped one.... Besides, that uncapped service is likely to have substantially higher loads because of the multiple person "office environment", whether it be surfing, uploads, or downloads.
Any thoughts on this to share? I'm just trying to understand Comcast's pricing scheme and how for 20-30 dollars more a month, the buffet becomes all you can eat. Does that 20-30 bucks really let Comcast make the necessary infrastructure investments to support uncapped service? Or are they simply trying to price residential customers out of the market so that they can actually support uncapped use on the existing infrastructure.
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"We're going to start at one end of (Fallujah), and we're not going to stop until we get to the other. If there's anybody left when that happens, we're going to turn around and we're going to go back and finish it."
Lt. Col. Pete Newell: 1st Inf. US Army | |
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 AVonGaussPremium
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL
1 edit | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? I believe the confusion you have regarding the business service offering is based on your view of the service, an uncapped version of the residential service. It's not. What you are paying for is an additional service level and the add-on features you mentioned, such as Outlook.
As far as infrastructure, who knows and my guess it would vary by area and the uptake rate of the service offering in that area. Business customers in typical business locations (offices, strip malls) may very well have a more dedicated infrastructure if the need warrants and typically should be easier and more cost effective to upgrade.
The residential "power user" using a vendors services to work from home or even run a business from home has always been a gray area. I personally think it has gotten a lot better over the years, but there are still some idiosyncrasies that you run it to every now and then.
Fixed subtitle. ~sorto' | |
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 | IPPlanManHoly Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC
kudos:1
1 edit | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? said by AVonGauss:I believe the confusion you have regarding the business service offering is based on your view of the service, an uncapped version of the residential service. It's not. What you are paying for is an additional service level and the add-on features you mentioned, such as Outlook. You've made my point exactly. How can they both offer an additional service level and the add-ons... and make it uncapped for 20-30 dollars more?... That doesn't make sense how it's possible over their current infrastructure....
Is the Comcast Business class simply one "node" for fewer users so it can be uncapped? How does it work exactly?
Fixed subtitle. ~sorto'
--
"We're going to start at one end of (Fallujah), and we're not going to stop until we get to the other. If there's anybody left when that happens, we're going to turn around and we're going to go back and finish it."
Lt. Col. Pete Newell: 1st Inf. US Army | |
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| | AVonGaussPremium
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL
1 edit | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? I think you're misunderstanding my point, most users that are using their business service offering are not using it as an uncapped version of the residential service and are most likely using less than the 250 GB allotted for a residential customer. Additionally, I would imagine that there are far more residential customers than business customers at this point.
Fixed subtitle. ~sorto' | |
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| | | IPPlanManHoly Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC
kudos:1
1 edit | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? I see what you're saying.
Wouldn't business users be more like to be above the "average" residential use figure that Dadkins quoted given the multiple users involved?... and after all... it is a business...
Fixed subtitle. ~sorto' | |
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| | | | AVonGaussPremium
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL
1 edit | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? said by IPPlanMan:I see what you're saying. Wouldn't business users be more like to be above the "average" residential use figure that Dadkins quoted given the multiple users involved?... and after all... it is a business... Not necessarily, most businesses use their Internet connection for e-mail and browsing. Quite a few business still and many more in the past had offices of 30 or more using a T1 (1.5 Down, 1.5 Up) for their Internet connection. Remember, you're not supposed to be surfing, Facebooking and YouTube'ing all day while at work... 
If you're in a business location, you most likely are required to have the business service and if you rely on it for your business you would want the business service at any rate for the quicker response time.
Fixed subtitle. ~sorto' | |
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| | | | |  DarkLogixTexan and ProudPremium
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX
kudos:3
3 edits | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? well businesses are doing more video conferancing now and VoIP
and there are those users that try to send an e-mail to "everyone" with 90+MB of attachments (it can bring e-mail over slow links to a halt)
and by "everyone" I mean a whole Exchange Global Address List (seen it to manytimes)=thousands of people * 90MB=alot
Fixed subtitle. ~sorto' | |
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| | | | | | IPPlanManHoly Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC
kudos:1
1 edit | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? said by DarkLogix:well businesses are doing more vidio conferancing now and VoIP and there are those users that try to send an e-mail to "everyone" with 90+MB of attachments (it can bring e-mail over slow links to a halt) and by "everyone" I mean a whole Exchange Global Address List (seen it to manytimes)=thousands of people * 90MB=alot Excellent point!
Fixed subtitle. ~sorto'
--
"We're going to start at one end of (Fallujah), and we're not going to stop until we get to the other. If there's anybody left when that happens, we're going to turn around and we're going to go back and finish it."
Lt. Col. Pete Newell: 1st Inf. US Army | |
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| | | | | | |  JohnInSJPremium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
 ·PHONE POWER
 ·Comcast
1 edit | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more?said by IPPlanMan:said by DarkLogix:well businesses are doing more vidio conferancing now and VoIP and there are those users that try to send an e-mail to "everyone" with 90+MB of attachments (it can bring e-mail over slow links to a halt) and by "everyone" I mean a whole Exchange Global Address List (seen it to manytimes)=thousands of people * 90MB=alot Excellent point! Fixed subtitle. ~sorto' Emailing everyone inside the organization would not route the email outside :p
Anyway, small businesses will use some bandwidth for serving web (which is your uplink, not downlink) and video conferencing might be significant (VIOP isn't I use skype its a trickle...)
The basic point is, business class costs more for less speed, and the expectation is you'll be a reasonable user. The AUP is different, some people need that (servers allowed) and you can get multiple static IPs (most businesses need that) and there aren't caps.
Business class internet pipes can be had in metered and unmetered flavors, and a business would not be surprised to pay more for massive data use.
Should Comcast offer a residential plan without caps for $30 more? Maybe. Is $30 enough to cover it? Who knows.
If anyone cares I can track my usage for a month...
Here's the usage since cutting over
RX bytes:2703649373 (2.5 GB) TX bytes:692149509 (660.0 MB)
09:55:27 up 2 days, 16:21, 3 users, load average: 0.24, 0.15, 0.17
Roughly 1.5 GB combined up/down a day. I think that puts me WAY under the cap since I'd come in around 45GB a month at that rate. Even if it were 5 times higher I'd still squeak in under 250GB. | |
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| | | | | | | | DarkLogixTexan and ProudPremium
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX
kudos:3
1 edit | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? said by JohnInSJ:said by IPPlanMan:said by DarkLogix:well businesses are doing more vidio conferancing now and VoIP and there are those users that try to send an e-mail to "everyone" with 90+MB of attachments (it can bring e-mail over slow links to a halt) and by "everyone" I mean a whole Exchange Global Address List (seen it to manytimes)=thousands of people * 90MB=alot Excellent point! Fixed subtitle. ~sorto' Emailing everyone inside the organization would not route the email outside it does when sites are mostly linked by IPsec tunnels | |
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| | | | | | | | | JohnInSJPremium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA Reviews:
·PHONE POWER
·Comcast
| Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? said by DarkLogix:it does when sites are mostly linked by IPsec tunnels "it" being email. Yes, sure. But seriously, if you're emailing multi-megabyte files to everyone, you're doing it wrong
Did you really have to quote my entire post for that one line comment?
Anywhoo, I have no doubt a business class account could grind out more then 250gb of data in a month. I'm not likely to. | |
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| | | | | | | | | DarkLogixTexan and ProudPremium
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX
kudos:3 | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? said by JohnInSJ:said by DarkLogix:it does when sites are mostly linked by IPsec tunnels "it" being email. Yes, sure. But seriously, if you're emailing multi-megabyte files to everyone, you're doing it wrong Ya they were doing it wrong and were warned but it happens | |
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| | K PattersonPremium,MVM
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH
kudos:1
1 edit | The business service (those based upon hybrid fiber=optic technology, like the residential service) use the same infrastructure.
What this discussion keeps losing sight of is that only a minuscule number of customers approach the 250 gbyte limit. I do not believe that Comcast has any expectation that a significant number of business customers will exceed 250 gb. The only reason there is a posted limit for residential customers is that the Florida Attorney General demanded it and got his way.
I believe that if a significant number of customers convert to business accounts and download exceptional amounts then Comcast will change their business models and policies to restrict them.
If usage patterns change because of IPTV or Netflix, etc, then Comcast will also adapt their policies and practices.
Until these or other events occur that affect usage, Comcast will continue their present practices of dealing with the one user in ten thousand that uses enough to make a problem for them.
Similarly, don't hold your breath waiting for the promised application that lets you check your usage. It's been something like five months - do folks really think that Comcast hasn't been able to create this application in that time?
Fixed subtitle. ~sorto' | |
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| | | IPPlanManHoly Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC
kudos:1
2 edits | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? If I could get in conspiracy mode for a sec, maybe Comcast doesn't want us to actually track our usage... in the hope that we'll all error on the side of caution and not actually use anywhere near the 250GB cap. Not having this information makes "power users" all the more careful.... If we did have this tool, I'm sure that some of us out there would take Comcast's cap for all its worth and top out at as near as 250GB as possible.
Cue the Black Helicopters.... and hand me the tin foil.... 
Fixed subtitle. ~sorto'
--
"We're going to start at one end of (Fallujah), and we're not going to stop until we get to the other. If there's anybody left when that happens, we're going to turn around and we're going to go back and finish it."
Lt. Col. Pete Newell: 1st Inf. US Army | |
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| | | | K PattersonPremium,MVM
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH
kudos:1 | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? said by IPPlanMan:If I could get in conspiracy mode for a sec, maybe Comcast doesn't want us to actually track our usage... Fixed subtitle. ~sorto' Agreed. I'm inclined to think that the reason is that Comcast does not intend to enforce the 250 gb cap except when the traffic is actually causing a problem, and they don't want to see screenshots posted on forums like this one showing higher usages with titles like "Comcrap's cap is really 387 gb". | |
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| | | |  EGThe wings of lovePremium
join:2006-11-18
Union, NJ
kudos:9 | said by IPPlanMan:If I could get in conspiracy mode for a sec, maybe Comcast doesn't want us to actually track our usage... in the hope that we'll all error on the side of caution and not actually use anywhere near the 250GB cap. Not having this information makes "power users" all the more careful.... If we did have this tool, I'm sure that some of us out there would take Comcast's cap for all its worth and top out at as near as 250GB as possible. Cue the Black Helicopters.... and hand me the tin foil.... W.I.W. here, I'm not finding this all that *far fetched*..
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Sláinte | |
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JohnInSJPremium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA Reviews:
·PHONE POWER
·Comcast
| said by IPPlanMan:Any thoughts on this to share? I'm just trying to understand Comcast's pricing scheme and how for 20-30 dollars more a month, the buffet becomes all you can eat. I'm on the business class. I need to be there because I run email and web servers, and need static IPs. Not having a cap is a benefit, but its unlikely I would pull more then the 250GB cap in a typical month anyway, even with email for 3 users, three web sites, and normal usage.
You're misrepresenting the cost difference, however. The speeds are lower and the costs higher for business class, so yes that difference in the spread covers it.
If you can get business class, that's one way to pay for uncapped service, anyway. | |
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| IPPlanManHoly Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC
kudos:1
1 edit | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? Here's what Comcast is offering in DC: (They have some kind of weird duplicate system going on, but anyway...)
Performance (up to 12 Mbps downloads with PowerBoost®)
premium movie network(s) included.
Promotional Rate is $19.99/month for 3 month(s) for eligible customers, ongoing price is $42.95/month
Blast!® (16 Mbps) Special Offer
Special Offer: $29.99 for 3 months! Promotional Rate is $29.99/month for 3 month(s) for eligible customers, ongoing price is $52.95/month
Performance PLUS (up to 16 Mbps downloads with PowerBoost®)
premium movie network(s) included.
$52.95
Blast!® (up to 16 Mbps downloads)
$52.95
Performance (up to 12 Mbps downloads with PowerBoost®)
premium movie network(s) included.
$42.95
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It's true that the 6/1 business class speeds are lower... but they also offer a 16/2 that's on par with the "residential" plan in terms of speed.
So given that there's no cap on the business class, does the 6MB speed keep you from topping out over 250GB a month if you maxed it out anyway? I'm sure that someone did the math at some point... but I don't remember.
Of course, a maxed out 16/2 line can be in the hundreds of GB over the residential cap. How does an extra ~30 dollars a month (inclusive of the service add-ons like MS email) cover that? It just doesn't add up....
--
"We're going to start at one end of (Fallujah), and we're not going to stop until we get to the other. If there's anybody left when that happens, we're going to turn around and we're going to go back and finish it."
Lt. Col. Pete Newell: 1st Inf. US Army | |
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| | DarkLogixTexan and ProudPremium
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX
kudos:3 | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? Its simple the infrastructure isn't really hurting and they can't get away with putting a cap on businesses | |
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| | | IPPlanManHoly Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC
kudos:1 | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? said by DarkLogix:Its simple the infrastructure isn't really hurting and they can't get away with putting a cap on businesses My thoughts exactly. | |
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| | | EGThe wings of lovePremium
join:2006-11-18
Union, NJ
kudos:9 | said by DarkLogix:Its simple the infrastructure isn't really hurting and they can't get away with putting a cap on businesses I believe that this is highly dependant on any given local area..
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Sláinte | |
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| | AVonGaussPremium
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL | said by IPPlanMan:premium movie network(s) included. Slightly unrelated, but can you post a screenshot of the page containing the "premium movie network(s) included" verbiage? | |
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| | | IPPlanManHoly Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC
kudos:1
3 edits | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? I was rushed for a bit in cutting/pasting it... I was curious about it myself actually.
I will be able to later tonight... but in the meantime, you can go to Comcast's homepage and put in a DC address for Zipcodes 20037/20008/20009, etc... Just pick anything, and you should be able to pull up the page with the prices/terms.
Fixed subtitle. ~sorto' | |
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| | | | AVonGaussPremium
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? said by IPPlanMan:I was rushed for a bit in cutting/pasting it... I was curious about it myself actually. I will be able to later tonight... but in the meantime, you can go to Comcast's homepage and put in a DC address for Zipcodes 20037/20008/20009, etc... Just pick anything, and you should be able to pull up the page with the prices/terms. Fixed subtitle. ~sorto' I tried a couple of addresses in the 20008 area code and did not see that verbiage on the High Speed Internet tab? | |
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| | | | | IPPlanManHoly Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC
kudos:1 | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? Weird.... came up for me... Try something in 20009. That's where I found it. | |
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| | | IPPlanManHoly Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC
kudos:1
1 edit | Here's the screenshot...
Edit:Must have been an error on my cut and paste.... Picked up some other promo, etc. | |
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| | | | AVonGaussPremium
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? Thank you for taking the time to post the screenshot. I do not see the phrase "premium movie network(s) included." on the screenshot, or am I missing it? I believe that phrase comes from their Cable section on that web site.
If it were on the HSI section and the reason why I asked, is I would be very curious as to exactly what that meant. | |
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| | | | | IPPlanManHoly Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC
kudos:1 | Re: How can Comcast offer no-cap business tier for 20-30 more? I was just about to post an edit that said that I didn't see it on a second look... it must have been an error from my cut and paste earlier...
Good eyes!  | |
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