Comcast zipping Extreme 50Mbps internet to Bay Area

Another week, another round of DOCSIS 3.0 implementations from Comcast. This time, we've learned that two new higher-speed internet tier options will be made available in Silicon Valley, Tri-Valley and Monterey, with rollouts continuing to San Francisco, Oakland and the rest of the Bay Area later this year. Needless to say, that means Extreme 50Mbps and Ultra 22Mbps packages are within reach, and better still, Comcast will be doubling the speed of existing connections for most users at no extra cost. The full list of available neighborhoods is tucked away in the read link, but before you go hunting, you should know that Extreme 50 will run you $139.95 per month while Ultra 22 will set you back $62.95. Oh, and both of 'em just help you reach your 250GB cap that much faster each month.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 8th 2009 9:18PM]

What the hell is the point of this if you're capped at 250GB a month? A few HD rentals off the iTMS and you're done!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 8th 2009 9:22PM]

Because most of us would never dream of going anywhere near close to 250GB, christ I would hate to see you live in other parts of the world that don't offer unlimited plans with any provider, in those countries 250GB is not available even if you wanted to pay for it.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 9th 2009 2:13PM]

Actually I don't know many people (that use the internet beyond just surfing and e-mail) that DON'T come near or past the 250GB cap. The internet is the source for a lot of entertainment these days. 250GB per month is EASILY reachable.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 9th 2009 6:54PM]

Only pirates can go over 250gb in one month. 250gb is very extreme if you are actually paying for the content.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 8th 2009 9:40PM]

Wow thats gay w/ the cap, i used to pay the same for 10Mbps/1Mbps w/ NO cap w/ GCI in AK...

[cydeweyz Posted Mar 8th 2009 9:54PM]

That's why those of us in the know, already use http://web-pass.com

[hodedofome Posted Mar 9th 2009 10:21AM]

Wow that's incredible 100mb/s for $45/month. Is that for real?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 8th 2009 10:27PM]

$140/month for 50Mb/s??? nahz thanks, its even more expensive than FiOS 50/20 one and with that 250Gb/month cap?? hell no lol

Thanks god I left that garbage of TimeWarner and can't be happier with FiOS, 20/20 all the way and when the next speed comes cheaper I'll do the upgrade.

Seriously, cable companies are going downhill and feel sorry for people who don't have FiOS in their area yet though.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 8th 2009 10:30PM]

I upgraded to Ultra last Friday here in the south bay. Needed to get a new cable modem (which Comcast sent to me overnight) and return the old one. Although they looked identical, the new one was DOCSIS 3 which is required for Ultra.

Anyway, went in without a hitch and it screams. Friday afternoon I was getting over 30Mbps downstream and over 5Mbs upstream. Can't argue with that.

Every interaction with Comcast did however involve a very hard sell of their voice service which got on my nerves eventually.

[bystrika Posted Mar 9th 2009 12:14AM]

SUCH A RIP OFF!!
Paying $139.95!! at least they would get rid of that Cap!!

Ah!! Comcast was always a rip off...

Neighbors internet is always the best!! especially when it's FREE!!! lol

[bystrika Posted Mar 9th 2009 12:23AM]

Ok... Does this mean..
If the Internet is 50MBps and it actually does Download at that Speed,
That pretty Much mean the I would Hit the cap Limit in 84 Minutes, if I would download constantly.

... and that would cost me $140!? mmmah.. I'll Pass, I'll leave this to the "I'm Rich" folks..

[FAUguy Posted Mar 9th 2009 3:29AM]

50Mbps is mega-bit-per-second, not 50MBps mega-byte-per-second. 50Mbps = 6.25MBps. The monthly data cap is 250GB.

[fopkins Posted Mar 9th 2009 3:32AM]

Try 11.1 hours......

Still ridiculous, but not 84 minutes.

[Bozster Posted Mar 9th 2009 2:20AM]

Good to see broadband speed growing.. the regular Ultra 22 is affordable overall.. and it's more then enough for anything really.

I don't know what people are complaining about. Seriously.

And please stop it with the whole caps crap. I use my connection to the MAXIMUM. I download quite a few shows on iTunes in HD every single week (or better yet daily), stream all day long Hulu and other TV related video content including large Tekzilla videos, download at least a few HDX movies from Vudu each week and surf sites, upload and download stuff as I work from home and my business is highly dependent on internet and exchanging design assets (very large in size, 100s of megabytes per Photoshop file or similar) with clients and of course play PS3/Xbox 360 online plus download a bunch of stuff and demos from XBL and PSN.

I have yet to hit the cap. Not once was this a problem. The cap is imposed and a problem those who download gigabytes of torrent material, pirated software, HD movies even if you don't need it etc. Of course they'll cap you. For regular legal usage, there will be no problems whatsoever and I have Cox which IS Comcast and have the Ultra 22 connection.

[fopkins Posted Mar 9th 2009 3:35AM]

When I joined comcast, it was advertised as unlimited internet. So yes, I will complain about them capping me at a ridiculous 250 GB/month.

Their goal is to limit my HD to their inhouse (crappy and extremely limited) on-demand. It's that simple.

Lucky for me, I have a 1TB eSATA/FW800 external, and an extremely fast work connection. I feel sorry for my friends who are not as lucky.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 9th 2009 7:17AM]

Jesus, internet in the US is a joke, here in Portugal we can get 100 mbps from 2 different providers, one ISP has a pack with 100mb/10mb Down/Up with unlimited downloads and 100 TV Channels, all of this for 65 euros per month. Another ISP has a pack with 100Mb/6Mb Down/Up with unlimited downloads, 93 TV Channels, unlimited phone calls just for 65 euros per month.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 9th 2009 2:15PM]

That's because this country is FREAKING HUGE. We have a lot of infrastructure. Higher speeds will get rolled out country wide eventually, but it takes a while. Countries the size of one of our states will have a fairly easy time rolling out all sorts of advanced communications. It's not so easy in the US.

[Uxorious Posted Mar 9th 2009 5:06PM]

But even the highly populated areas get crappy speeds and high cost.
The same goes for cell coverage. It's horrific over here, and it costs a fortune.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 9th 2009 12:18PM]

I've used Comcast Internet for years but just added Comcast Voice and was required to replace my modem with one that works for both Voice and Internet. Does anyone know if I can get the new Ultra speeds using the Voice / Internet modem?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 12th 2009 9:15PM]

I think that the upgrade nationwide for this DOCSIS is great. However, the cons of this, is that they expect a bunch of consumers to stand in line, and sign up for paying $140/month when WE'RE IN A RECESSION??!! I think not. Come on Comcast... get real. I'm already paying about $53/month now, I may consider the 22Mbps service for an additional $10/month for that, but the price tag for the 50Mbps is asking too much. I guess we'll need to wait a few years for the newness of it to wear off, and then that speed will be standard service.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 16th 2009 4:49PM]

Some Bay Area residents are lucky enough to have access to PAXIO, which provides connections up to 1,000Mbps upload and download ($245/mo, but still a great value for the speed). Their 100Mbps up/down plan is $94/mo. http://www.paxio.com/home.php?link=Internet