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Comcast's 1TB data caps start to roll out nationwide
Comcast's data restrictions are going from testing to reality for most of its customers. Its 'XFINITY Terabyte Internet Data Usage Plan' is already in place in a number of places, and will roll out to 18 new markets (including California, Michigan, Florida and others listed on its FAQ) beginning November 1st. For its part, the ISP claims 99 percent of customers use less than 1TB of data per month, and that median use is just 75MB (correction: 75GB). Of course, with digitally delivered games and software, and streaming video that is increasingly coming in HD and 4K resolutions, that could change rapidly.
You can now pay your Comcast bill at thousands of 7-Elevens
For those who prefer to pay their cable or internet bills in cold, hard cash, Comcast's new partnership with PayNearMe will allow you to do just that at some 7,700 7-Elevens. Finally, customers can re-up their gigabit internet and grab a couple taquitos anytime, night or day.
Comcast's Rio portal is a good way to keep up with the Olympics
The Olympics are starting in a little over a month and Comcast has devised a way to watch pretty much every minute of them. Xfinity X1 customers -- roughly half of Comcast's user base -- will have access to a special "Front Row to Rio" portal through which they'll be able to watch live content from both NBC-affiliated networks and internet streams. But that's just the start.
Comcast brings its gigabit internet service to Nashville
Comcast announced that it's beginning an "advanced consumer trial" of gigabit service in Nashville. It's the second area to roll out the DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem powered speeds after Atlanta, and it doesn't look like the policies have changed. Customers living in areas where it's available can get the 1Gb down / 35Mb up speeds for $70 with no bandwidth cap... if they're willing to agree to a 36 month service contract. Otherwise, a 1TB capped offering is available with no contract for $140 per month. As DSL Reports points out, the contract offering should keep customers tied up until whenever Google Fiber properly rolls out... almost as if it were planned that way.
Comcast Xfinity heads to Roku and Samsung TVs without a box (update: FCC responds)
While the FCC is working on ways to "unlock the box," Comcast announced plans for its Xfinity TV service that don't require the set-top add-on. Later this year, the company will release an Xfinity TV Partner app for Roku-powered TVs and streaming gadgets as well as Samsung's 2016 line of smart TVs. The app is part of a wider Xfinity TV Partner Program from Comcast, which brings its cable service to consumer home entertainment devices while nixing the extra cost of renting a box.
Comcast deal lets you buy 'Star Wars' from your set-top box
It's not that hard to get Star Wars: The Force Awakens through digital sources, but Comcast doesn't want to be left out. It just struck a deal that brings Disney's movies to the Xfinity TV store, both online and from your TV proper -- if you want to watch the adventures of Rey and Finn from your set-top box, you can. Only The Force Awakens is available right away, but Comcast will fill out the catalog over the "coming weeks."
Amazon starts selling Comcast cable TV and internet
Amazon has moved into some unexpected areas recently, like a physical bookstore, and apparently the spot on its list is cable TV. TV Predictions was first to notice the Amazon Cable Store, which so far is only stocked with Comcast's Xfinity TV and Internet services for customers living within areas it covers. According to Comcast, the site offers easy ordering and simplified pricing that is identical to its new customer offers sold elsewhere, so what's really new is the storefront. There's also a dedicated support team for the site, equipped to cover everything from sales to followup via phone, email chat and social media -- which is hopefully enough channels to avoid some of the installation nightmares we've all heard about.
Comcast starts rolling out gigabit internet access in Atlanta
At last, Comcast's promised gigabit internet rollout is starting in earnest. The cable giant is beginning an "advanced consumer trial" of the extra-quick, DOCSIS 3.1-based broadband in multiple Atlanta neighborhoods, with additional cities coming this year. You'll have to make a big commitment if you want in, though. It costs $70 per month if you lock yourself into a 3-year contract, and it's an eye-watering $140 per month if you want the freedom to leave at any time. And it gets worse: if you don't commit to that contract, you'll have to accept a 300GB monthly data cap that's trivially low for the speed. Assuming you max out your connection, you could blow through your limit in 40 minutes.
Comcast buys a sports tech company to boost your set-top box
In case you had any doubts that Comcast is serious about improving your sports-watching experience, the cable giant is making its efforts abundantly clear. It just acquired OneTwoSee, a Philadelphia-area sports tech startup that has played a big role in the interactive sports TV upgrades for Comcast's X1 set-top box over the past year. No, Comcast isn't tipping its hand just yet, but it's reasonable to presume that real-time stats and other sports-related perks will become that much more central in the living room going forward. And no, OneTwoSee won't ditch efforts on other platforms -- you can still expect it to bring its technology to smartphones (not to mention other companies) in the future.
Comcast home security exploit could let burglars in (updated)
Comcast's Xfinity Home system is supposed to keep your whole house secure, but a recently published vulnerability could leave things wide open. Researchers at Rapid7 report that you can use a quirk in the 2.4GHz wireless frequency to break communications with security sensors, forcing them to fail open and take a long time (several minutes to 3 hours) to reconnect. As the system doesn't even recognize the lost connection, that gives intruders free rein -- you might not know that anything's wrong until it's too late.
Comcast brings personalized TV notifications to X1 users
Comcast isn't done improving its X1 cable box. Over the past few months, the company has added a variety of new features to the device, including the ability to record extra-long events and more. Today, Comcast is keeping that trend going by adding notifications support to X1, which will let users receive personalized alerts directly on their TV. Those can be from Evernote, Gmail, Instagram, Jawbone, LinkedIn and "many" others, according to Comcast.But since you definitely don't want notifications to get out of control as you're watching a show, Comcast teamed up with IFTTT, the recipe-based, if-this-then-that web service. This means there's an option to control when you want your screen to be alerted, simply add the Comcast Labs Channel on IFTTT and you're all set. Or, you know, you could choose not to use the feature altogether -- those Instagram "likes" aren't going anywhere.
Comcast expanding internet usage caps to more areas
Now that cord-cutting is taking off, thanks to web services like Sling TV and Hulu Plus, Comcast won't let that dictate how much money it's going to make going forward. The company, which runs cable and internet operations across the US (among other things), recently started testing bandwidth caps on Xfinity customers in Atlanta, Miami and Nashville. These internet users have a 300GB monthly limit and, if they go over it, there's an overage fee of $10 for every 50 gigabytes. Now, despite customer backlash, Comcast is expanding the plan to more places, including Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Little Rock, Arkansas; Houma, LaPlace and Shreveport, Louisiana; Chattanooga, Greenville, Johnson City/Gray, Tennessee; Charleston, South Carolina; and Galax, Virginia.
Add NFL stats to any show with Comcast's new app
If you can't get enough gridiron minutiae and analysis, Comcast has just unveiled Football Extras for its X1 sports app. It'll work in a similar way to Comcast's Baseball Extras, which was delivered to baseball stat fans earlier this summer. Armchair quarterbacks (and hardcore gamblers) will get info like injury reports, pre-game comparisons, fantasy league stats, win/loss probabilities and post-game analysis. Relevant stats will pop up during a telecast, or can be selected from a menu. You can even keep the app running while you watch other programs, in case you need to appease other family members. If you've got a Comcast X1 set-top box, you should see the app shortly.
Comcast is charging its trial users extra to avoid data caps
If you're participating in Comcast's capped broadband trials, you'll soon get a way to avoid usage limits, according to document spotted by DSL Reports. If you guessed "pay more money" as that solution, you can step up for your prize. The company has released a new FAQ for its trial Xfinity program in Florida, one of the regions where it's testing 300GB cap limits. A new "unlimited data option" will let users avoid any overage charges -- which normally run $10 for each 50GB of data -- by paying an extra $30 per month on top of the normal rates.
Comcast releases its livestreaming app to all subscribers
Comcast says its livestreaming app did very well during its limited release, so the company's now making it available to all Xfinity customers. The app, called Xfinity Share, gives you a way to broadcast video streams, photos and even previously recorded videos not just on your own TVs, but on other subscribers' TVs. It also lets you share from mobile to mobile, though, if that's more convenient. Xfinity Share used to be exclusive to Triple Play package customers, but now it can be accessed by every voice, video, home and internet subscriber. However, the recipient still needs to have an X1 DVR-ready set-top box to see what you're trying to send them on a bigger screen.
Next month Comcast will turn off the Xbox 360 app Netflix hated
When it launched in 2012, Comcast's Xfinity Xbox 360 app became a lightning rod for controversy. That's because to some (like Netflix CEO Reed Hastings) it was a symbol of the cable giant's abuse of network neutrality by streaming video that didn't count against its own bandwidth caps. Since then, the app hasn't quite turned the video market on its head, Comcast failed to acquire Time Warner Cable, Netflix grew by a few (tens of millions of) customers and now users report the ISP has sent emails out indicating the Xfinity app will disappear September 1st. Windows Central contacted Comcast via Twitter and heard back that "We are removing this to make way for new updates and improvements to our online experience for customers."
Comcast to launch its own YouTube rival called 'Watchable'
Fresh off of its multi-million dollar investment in Vox and Buzzfeed, Comcast is reportedly set to launch a digital video platform akin to YouTube in the coming weeks. According to Business Insider, the platform, called "Watchable" will be populated with non-exclusive, unlicensed, original content that will stream to users. Comcast has announced content-sharing partnerships with both Vox and Buzzfeed (obviously), as well as a host of other producers including AwesomenessTV, Refinery29, The Onion, Mic and Vice -- even NBC Sports. The company has not yet released a complete list of partnerships (or even officially announced the service for that matter) as a number of them are still being finalized.
TV giant Comcast actually has more internet customers now
Just in case you were wondering why Comcast is suddenly ready with TV service for people who prefer to watch over the internet, the earnings report it released today can show you why. For the first time (albeit by a narrow margin of 22.55 million to 22.3 million), the cable giant has more high speed internet customers than cable TV subscribers. As it usually does in its financial Q2, Comcast lost TV subscribers, but fewer this year (69,000) than last year (144,000), a number it credits to ongoing improvements in customer service. While the shift away from TV is a small one right now, it reminds us of a similar tipping point: when Netflix streaming overtook discs, and never looked back.
Comcast launches its own cable-free TV with Stream
The latest (and most interesting) entrant to the cord-cutting TV wars is here: Comcast. Tonight the company announced Stream, a service that delivers TV exclusively over the internet (Correction: it is "IP-based managed network" connection, check after the break for why that matters) to phones, tablets and computers -- but now TVs. The big catch? You'll need Comcast internet service to subscribe, and the Stream TV feeds only work while you're at home. It's only available in select areas to start, and will launch in Boston this summer. For $15 a month, subscribers get about a dozen channels, including all broadcast networks and HBO (but not ESPN or any other cable channels, according to the New York Times). It also has access to the usual TV Everywhere cable authenticated-streaming for when you're away from home, plus Comcast's Netflix-like Streampix service for movies.
Comcast's TV sports app delivers baseball stats when they matter
If you're a baseball stats hound, you probably don't enjoy tearing your eyes away from the game just to dig up facts about the latest at-bat matchup. You might not have to distract yourself for much longer if you're a Comcast subscriber, though -- the cable TV giant has introduced a Baseball Extras feature to its Xfinity Sports app that turns your X1 set-top box into a real-time stats machine. Fire it up and you'll get a carousel of info that pops up as it becomes relevant, such as the batter's chances of defeating the pitcher or post-game recaps. You can also use it to track a game even when you're watching something else, so you don't have to interrupt your kids' show to get a better sense of how your favorite team is doing. This isn't as unintrusive as keeping your phone out while you watch, but it's definitely more convenient.
