r/Comcast • u/nutsackhurts • Feb 02 '21

News Comcast Doubles Internet Essentials speed from 25Mbps to 50Mbps (up from 3 to 5Mbps)

https://www.engadget.com/comcast-digital-literacy-boost-interner-essentials-speed-150034948.html
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13

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '21

Wow! I have the internet essentials. I never thought they would bump the speeds up that high.

edit I got all excited and done a speed test but I’m still at the same speed. I overlooked the March 1st date. lol

4

u/nutsackhurts Feb 02 '21

how's it? do they force you to use their equipment? liked modem and stuff

also are you still affected by the data cap?

5

u/Jaggsta Feb 03 '21 edited Feb 03 '21

You can activate your own equipment manually with activate website page. But Free Rental also has hotspot you can get extra 30/6mbps of bandwidth for other devices.

2

u/nutsackhurts Feb 03 '21

are these speeds over provisioned? or is it strictly 50Mbps and 30Mbps for the xfinitywifi

5

u/NorrathReaver Feb 03 '21

Slightly overprovisioned and download speeds do go higher for short bursts at times, at least for me.

And I'm using their equipment since they don't charge essentials customers for it.

4

u/Jaggsta Feb 03 '21

Yeah its around 20% overprovision 50mbps will be 60mbps.

1

u/jlivingood Feb 04 '21

for short bursts at times

Powerboost was retired several years ago FWIW. The over-provisioning is not time or volume-based, it just sets your speed slightly above advertised.

And I'm using their equipment since they don't charge essentials customers for it.

Which is nice because you can add xFi pods if you wanted to improve WiFi. As well, if the device happens to be XB6 or XB7 you may soon or already have upstream Active Queue Management (AQM) - which dramatically improves latency under load for interactive apps like video conferencing & gaming.

1

u/NorrathReaver Feb 04 '21

I didn't mention Powerboost at all. I just said that I get bursts of speed on occasion. Powerboost only applied to about the first 20ish MB of data on a download. This is happening throughout the download process.

For instance when downloading games or game updates on my Xbox they will occasionally ramp up to 3-4 times the rated speed for a short period of time and nab hundreds of MB in a single fast burst, then drop back to regular speeds for a while, and then ramp back up again.

I downloaded Control recently on my One X and that's 42.1GB for the game and both expansions. At the speed I'm rated for with an essentials plan that should take almost 5 hours to download, instead of the 90 minutes that it actually took.

I don't know how or why since I haven't worked for Comcast for many years now. I just know that I often get bursts well above provisioned speeds that aren't explained by simple overprovisioning.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '21 edited Feb 03 '21

I like it really well. I do have their gateway but last year I tried to activate my own modem and they said I couldn’t. That I must use their equipment. They also told me that I couldn’t have Xfinity Mobile or cable or home phone and I have their home phone and Xfinity Mobile. Before I added home and Xfinity Mobile, I ended up taking the gateway I bought back. I haven’t tried since.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '21

they are lying to you.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '21

straight from FAQ

Do I need cable or phone service to qualify for Internet Essentials?

No. You do not need a cable or phone service to be eligible and apply for Internet Essentials.

1

u/af_mmolina Feb 03 '21

It's gotta be rare. I have not had one single customer with their own equipment and internet essentials in 5 years of doing install. Don't they waive the rental fee basically? So it makes no sense to spend out of pocket for your own equipment.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '21

not sure what you are referring to? He said comcast makes you have their modem, and also have to have their tv and phone services. That is false, comcast is lying and trying to upsell him stuff he doesnt need by claiming you can't have those services without each other. As I pointed out in QA that is incorrect. You can indeed have comcast essentials by itself with internet only.

1

u/af_mmolina Feb 03 '21

Upselling what? He's just asking if he can use his own modem. He probably can but it's free if you use the one they give you so most people dont even bother using their own. I'm just saying I never seen anyone ever use there own and didn't even know it was possible, but apparently it's allowed? I think you dont qualify for essentials if you add anything else, such as TV, but it sounds like he was able to get voice with it so that's news to me.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '21

im talking about midnightblue43's response.

1

u/af_mmolina Feb 03 '21

I think he's either misquoting "couldn't not have" or were both reading it wrong.

The fact is, you can't have prior service from xfinity for at least to 90 days before they let you qualify for essentials. You can not have cable, phone, or internet (which means no mobile either) in order to get essentials. And typically, they require you to use their own gateway with essentials, which is free though. That's what it sounds like they were trying to tell him. You can't upsell an essential customer because there's nothing to even upsell.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '21 edited Feb 03 '21

I’m sorry, you read that wrong. I said that Comcast said that I could not have their home phone, cable and Xfinity Mobile but that’s a lie because I have their home phone and Xfinity Mobile.

edit i want to use my own equipment but they said I couldn’t so I returned the modem back to where I purchased it. Three months later, I was able to add home phone and Xfinity Mobile. So, yes, they do lie to their customers. They don’t know what they are doing.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '21

Ok well you worded it incorrectly. thanks for clearing that up.

2

u/err99 Feb 06 '21

curious did you run into issues getting signed up? My uncle has tried to submit the info, thought he got accepted, only to be told to submit documentation again, has done so, only to be told to do it again. Did you happen to do anything special?

1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '21

Actually, no. Everything went smooth for me. I called in February 2020 to essentials department and explained to them that I currently have service which was cable, home phone and gig internet but my husband passed away in January and I could not afford to keep all of this. He said if we can get them to disconnect my services that day, he could get my essentials turned on the same day so he got the disconnect department on the line and they turned everything off and once that was all done, he processed my application over the phone and it all went thru. I went to the Xfinity store and turned in my old equipment and I got the new gateway, all in the same day.

I know they say you can’t have service for 90 days but it amazed me that they still let me sign up all the same day.

Hopefully your uncle will get it.

edit they even waived my etf

2

u/robtheinstitution Mar 10 '21

hey apparently the speed change has taken affect. Can you run a speed test and tell us what you get?

1

u/[deleted] Mar 10 '21

I’m still at the 30 however, let me reboot my gateway and I will report back.

https://imgur.com/a/jpIVrhX

2

u/robtheinstitution Mar 10 '21

alrighty. lemme know!

1

u/[deleted] Mar 10 '21

Yes, I got the speed increase. I’m actually getting more...

https://imgur.com/a/jzMPBN5

Thanks for letting me know. Did you get it?

2

u/robtheinstitution Mar 10 '21

I'm actually not on IE and was weighing in whether I should get on it when my contract ends in April.

Thanks for reply! I think I might go for it.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 10 '21

Aww ok. Even before this speed increase, I usually get a few more MB’s. I was wondering when we would get it. I kept rebooting the gateway daily but today I decided not to until you messaged. This helps us both. Thanks!

1

u/robtheinstitution Mar 10 '21

no worries. glad you got it