Back in January 2009 we exclusively reported that Comcast was cooking up an online backup and storage service called "Secure Backup and Share." More than a year later and Comcast is officially announcing that the service is launching nationwide. They've shaken up the pricing a little from our initial report, offering users 50 GB of storage for $5 a month or $50 a year, or 200 GB of storage for $9.99 a month or $100 a year. All Comcast users will get 2GB of backup storage free.

But wait a second. The service is created by Mozy, who already offers 2 GB of storage free to any Joe who walks in off the street. For $4.95 a month (or $100 for two years), Mozy offers unlimited storage. You're actually paying more money for Comcast's branded version. Why?

The only difference we can see, after perusing the Comcast Backup and Share website, is that Comcast's giving you a secure vault you can access via a unique URL from any device, anywhere. That jibes with our original source, who also stated there would be some restrictions placed on sharing vault music files with others because of copyright concerns.

Keep in mind that unlike using Mozy on a carrier without caps, Comcast's Backup And Secure service will count against your 250 GB monthly cap, though it seems unlikely that Comcast would really punish paying, heavy users of this service. The question remains whether anybody is actually interested in a backup and storage service from their ISP. Are any Comcast customers thinking about buying the service?

Update: Comcast's Jay Opperman stops by our comment section below to try and explain why Comcast's version of Mozy's service is more expensive:The added value would possibly depend on what Comcast's "plans to extend the feature set" entail. Is the ability to access backed-up files from anywhere worth the significantly higher price tag?