this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
335 points (98.6% liked)

Technology

72479 readers
4705 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Comcast resists call to stop its misleading “10G Network” claims | Comcast renamed its whole network "Xfinity 10G" despite cable's slower speeds.::Comcast renamed its whole network "Xfinity 10G" despite cable's slower speeds.

top 43 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 104 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I like how they said 10G meant 10 Gb/s and wasn't meant to be confused with meaning 10th Generation.

Then when it was pointed out that their speeds aren't 10 Gb/s, they're trying to claim that the 10G never was about the speed. So if it doesn't mean 10 Gb/s and it doesn't mean 10th Generation, then what the fuck does it mean?!?

The answer is obviously nothing. They're just trying to confuse consumers who think "10G surely must be better than 5G".

[–] ChronosWing@lemmy.zip 15 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Well technically Coax can do 10Gb/s and being in the industry that is the current goal for most cable companies. Problem is its going to take years of upgrading infrastructure to achieve those speeds. Seems like Comcast just jumped the gun trying to build hype for a product that doesn't exist yet.

[–] 0x0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I mean, it's light fraud, aka fraud. They're intentionally misrepresenting the product to consumers.

[–] ChronosWing@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

They were smart enough to include verbiage that 10G did not mean 10Gbps on their website. I don't work for Comcast so I'm not sure of their current infrastructure. The company I do work for (charter) already has some infrastructure in place to facilitate those speeds but it's not being offered yet. It's currently a giant project all cable companies are working on that likely will only be available in major metro areas at first.

[–] SeaJ@lemm.ee 9 points 2 years ago

You have to dig to find that verbiage. Their homepage is plastered with the phrase 10G and no note that it is meaningless.

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I wish telecom advertising had the same rules as drug advertising. Would love for every Comcast commercial to end in "Warning: 10 gigabit speeds not available in all areas. 10G plans start at $330 per month after a $1,000 installation fee. May cause erectile disfunction."

[–] ChronosWing@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 years ago

That installation fee was a scam of the highest order. You wanna know why they originally charged for it for 1Gbps customers only? Because at the time the network was not setup enough to handle the bandwidth allocation, so they hoped to scare off most people from wanting it with the $200 install fee. Eventually once the plant was upgraded they dropped the fee.

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Coax can do much more, it can also run symmetrically vs the asymmetric, slow af upload channel that makes it feel like garbage that they give us.

Upgraded to Comcast Business with 200mbps upload for work, finally feels like I have actual broadband, those upload speeds are brutal.

[–] ChronosWing@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Your right it will, the problem is the current infrastructure cannot support it.

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

No, because they're milking their old infra as much as they can, and not properly supporting modern technology.

[–] ChronosWing@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Not milking it at all, it's just a giant undertaking to upgrade millions of miles of plant.

[–] villainy@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Both can be true. It's a massive effort to upgrade the infrastructure. Comcast will squeeze every drop from the existing plant, then hem and haw for a few years while service suffers, before actually committing to the massive effort.

[–] Artyom@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago

Upgrading infrastructure you say? I love company retreats!

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world 83 points 2 years ago (3 children)

"If I was trapped in a room with Hitler, Comcast, and a gun with two bullets, I'd shoot Comcast twice."

-Comcast customers probably

[–] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 27 points 2 years ago

Comcast customer here. Can confirm.

Yay local monopolies!

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

I'm going to need more bullets.

[–] manned_meatball@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 years ago

as one of their customers, I second this

[–] RandomPancake@lemmy.world 42 points 2 years ago

In related news, AT&T has decided to rebrand their 5G network as 25G.

(they've done this before)

[–] Uniquitous@lemmy.one 34 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] FUCKRedditMods@lemm.ee 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Boost mobile unveiling (10^1000)G network next quarter, capped 7up20down

[–] maxprime@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 years ago

Speeds will be limited to 512kb down and 16kb up after user uses over 1Gb of bandwidth.

[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 27 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you have to resort to using controversial and potentially misleading advertisements, you suck as a company.

There are no two ways about it, you just suck.

[–] MooseBoys@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I don’t even know why they’re trying; the only people I know who have comcast have literally no other choice. Their marketing could be “get fukd what you gonna do get satellite internet?” and their subscriber base would drop less than 5%.

[–] sturmblast@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago

nothing like false advertising and bullshit

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

I swear baby, it's freaking huge. 10 whole Gs. Lets go back to your place and I'll show it to you.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

This is the best summary I could come up with:


An advertising industry group urged Comcast to stop its "10G" ads or modify them to state that 10G is an "aspirational" technology rather than something the company actually provides on its cable network today.

Comcast isn't alone in its use of the 10G term, which was unveiled in January 2019 by cable industry trade group NCTA-The Internet & Television Association.

Further, NAD determined that the evidence in the record was insufficient to support the broad, unqualified message that the "Xfinity 10G Network" is vastly superior to 5G.

But a Gigabit Pro fiber connection is not available to all homes in Comcast's cable territory, and it costs $299.95 a month plus a $19.95 modem lease fee.

Comcast started offering cable upload speeds as high as 200Mbps late last year, but only if you bought the $25 per-month "xFi Complete" add-on that included a gateway rental.

Comcast notified customers a few months ago that it was removing the xFi Complete requirement for higher uploads as long as you have a compatible Xfinity gateway or third-party modem.


The original article contains 842 words, the summary contains 174 words. Saved 79%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] Holyginz@lemmy.world 25 points 2 years ago (5 children)

300 a month?! What a massive fucking ripoff.

[–] FUCKRedditMods@lemm.ee 21 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Every single provider just sets completely arbitrary price-gouged rates. We need a public internet service to undercut these goons.

[–] takeda@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

Actually there's even a simpler solution (although your idea doesn't conflict with it and both could be implemented).

What is needed to bring competition back is a law requiring that the last mile (the wire that is between your home and nearest PoP (Point of Presence) can be leased to competition (at reasonable price of course).

This is the primary reason why is it so hard to enter existing market. This is also the reason why we had so much competition in early 2000 with DSL (a phone line was used to which such law applies)

[–] tony@lemmy.hoyle.me.uk 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

And $500 installation and $500 'activation' (just call it $1000 installation FFS).

And a 'modem fee'.

They'll probably add a few more fees on top for the hell of it if you query that..

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Processing fee, I'm sure. It costs you more money for them to take your money.

[–] SinningStromgald@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Paperless billing fee. Online portal fee. Mobile app portal fee.

[–] theterrasque@infosec.pub 1 points 2 years ago

Fee'ing fee. You thought all these fees were free?

Meanwhile, here in London, 25GBP, ~30USD per month for symmetric 1Gbps, including router - https://communityfibre.co.uk/

[–] sramder@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

If you say so... that's a pretty big tube.

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

The internet is not a big truck; it's a series of tubes!

[–] Holyginz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It's fiber. Literally a strand of glass.

[–] sramder@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Wait... are you saying it's not a series of tubes?

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Not really; in my market, $300 to Cox gets you a cable line with like a third of a gig down (theoretical) and like 20 megs up, business class. Compared to that absolute shit, it's amazing. If you don't get biz, you get a 1TB (or 750GB?) cap that you can lift for extra money but they can still decide that someone, anyone, in your area or neighborhood is using too much bandwidth, even if they pay the extra for unlimited, and throttle everyone.

[–] SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 years ago

https://help.orcon.net.nz/hc/article_attachments/18766789266585

Several ISPs in NZ will sell you 10G fibre (advertised as 8G) for that, if you're in urban areas with 100G handover links - otherwise, they'll only sell 4G plans due to the risk of congestion.

I believe 1000/500 is now the most common plan as the cost is barely more than the 300/100 plans

Write to the FCC asking them to unbundle the retail divisions of your ISPs from the wholesale and physical plant divisions. And regulate the fuck out of the pricing and services offered by the monopolistic wholesalers.

[–] SuperJetShoes@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Brit here, Leeds centre. ISP is "City Fibre". Fibre-to-property. 512Mbps. £27/month.

[–] m3t00@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

£27 Illinois here, haven't see rates like that since DSL/dialup days. https://www.google.com/search?q=%C2%A327 had cable internet abou 10 years. kept rising from about $30 to $50+ recently they came down our street with fiber so finally ditched xfinity for fiber for $55/month 250mb/s up/down, no caps

[–] You999@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 years ago

When i saw the billboards for their "10G" network I got legitimately excited thinking it was 10Gb/s home internet. 10G was already short hand for 10Gb/s and home internet doesn't have 'generations' unless you are WISP. I can't tell you how pissed I was seeing their bullshit advertising. Thankfully we are lucky and have four ISPs offering gigabit (and some even offer multi-gig if you move over to a business line) so I don't have to deal with Comcasts bullshit anymore...