Wave Broadband → Wave/Astound 50mbps @ $40 scam in Bay Area...

A few months ago I switched from Astound (10/1 @ $50 100GB cap) to UVERSE (24/3 $65 no cap, now 250GB).

Today I got this flyer in the mail and got REALLY excited.

»imgur.com/jMbjf

Until I read the fine print on it, which states

"Special High Speed 50 Internet offer includes 50 Mbps downstream / 5 Mpbs upstream with 100GB data transfer usage."

...and per their website,

"All levels of internet service include up to 100 GB of data transfer usage a calendar month at no additional charge. High Speed 18 and standard-rate High Speed 50 include an additional 200 GB, for a total of 300 GB. Data transfer usage includes both downstream/download and upstream/upload activity. Data transfer usage beyond the included allotment in a month is subject to additional charges. Click here for details."

What a joke. You don't get customers back by offering them a great deal on ultra fast internet then heavily penalizing them with obscene overage rates of $5 per 25GB if they actually use their internet.

The age old lesson of "Too Good to be True" still applies unfortunately.

Caps suck for those who use a lot of legitimate bandwidth. They are few and farther between.

I don't come anywhere near using what I'm capped at. I don't worry about it. But when I *do* download something, I like it getting here as fast as possible.

That might be a typo. Their website says the new 50 mbps service includes the same 300 GB cap as the 18 mbps service.

Actually its not. The small flyer that comes with it has it in the fine text that its 100gbs. I called Astound to confirm as well. I'm gonna try their retention department in a month to see if i can get some slack on it, i'd be interested to know if anyone else got something from talking to a rep.

I am in South San Francisco as well. I found this thread while Googling.

It's an UNHEARD OF price for this level of service. Expires June 30, 2011. You MUST have a DOCSIS 3.0 modem for this to work.

I will save $10 a month, but I am really concerned about the $5 for every 25gb
It's still cheaper than any other special I have seen AND it is guaranteed for 24 months with no contract. I am seriously considering this.

"Guaranteed"? This is the first guarantee on High-speed Internet that I have EVER seen, and I've been around for almost half a century.

Please tell me more ...

I meant that you are locked in the price for 2 years.

$40 for 50mbit. unbelievable. I am set for a long time

You Are correct, I called Astound, thay gave me that deal even I am with them more than 3 years. Also they gave me afordable cable package.

Anyone using the new 50mbps service? How does it compare to their 10mbps?

I am currently on the 10/1 plan and I have consistently been able to pull 11-12mbps at a constant stream (ie. no Comcast speedboost bullshit). Is the 50mbps ACTUALLY 50mbps all the time or are they playing rate-limiting/filtering games like Comcast does?

The cap at 300GB is bad. But giving me 50mbps for about 10 seconds of the download then throttling down to 18 or 10 is unacceptable.

It should be 50mb all the time. I have the 18mb service and I download at 18mb always. 50mb should not be any different.

I am using the High Speed 50. I was a RCN-grandfathered customer with 12mbit before and I hit 50Mbit per second with torrents/usenet/downloads from fast servers frequently.

It is 50Mbit all the time. There is no "powerboost" like Comcast.

Just an FYI: The cap for the High Speed 50 is actually 100GB if you go with the $40 deal.

Also note you will need a DOCSIS 3.0 modem for this to work
I recommend the Surfboard 6120 -- the best 3.0 cable modem I've found so far.

»www.amazon.com/Motorola- ··· 0&sr=8-1

buy it from Amazon when the price hits $75. Use Camelcamelcamel to track the price.

Good information. Thank you!

Guess the next step is to measure how much I actually download. 100GB seems low. But I bet in reality I probably only do half that...