Skip to main content

The Xfinity Prosumer: Internet Price and Performance

We all read the ads and have seen "reviews" about Internet service provider costs and performance, but it is 99.99% advertising and affiliate link disinformation.

The Speed You Need

Most people think they need a gigabit download performance for great Internet performance.  This is nonsense.  Most people are restricted by upload speeds, not download speeds. Why?  Because upload speed is almost always the bottleneck.

Some examples of where upload speed is critical:

  • Zoom and other video calling technology
  • VoIP telephone calling
  • Online real-time gaming

Some examples where download speed is just not important

  • The number of devices you own
  • Streaming video 
  • Streaming audio

All these technologies have a need for timely packet delivery, and with upload speeds being relatively slow, this is where nearly 100% of bottlenecks occur.  If your video call or game isn't behaving well, you've almost certainly saturated your Upload performance.

So let's take a look at the Comcast Xfinity plans from the most important perspective of Upload performance:

  • 10 Mbit/sec: Connect, Connect More, Fast
  • 20 Mbit/sec: SuperFast, Gigabit
  • 35 Mbit/sec: Gigabit Extra

So as you can see, there are really only three upload speed plans.

My advice is to start with the cheapest plan, which is the least expensive at $65*** per month.  If that doesn't work, go to Superfast at $107*** per month.  

Great Bundles and Deals!

Be aware that bundles that include Cable TV or Telephone services frequently have extraordinarily expensive hidden "fees" that do not appear in the special price. These hidden expenses can easily exceed $600 dollars per year.  Once you calculate your real out of pocket costs, it becomes obvious that these "special deals" are a slimy way to do business.  Are they legal?  Yes, they have teams of lawyers and lobbyists that are payed millions to make this legal.  Blame the dummy members of Congress for allowing this trashy way to run a business.

A stern warning about Xfinity's special bundles

NEVER SIGN UP FOR A BUNDLE UNLESS YOU CONSIDER ALL OF THE HIDDEN FEES.

On my sibling's "Super+ special bundle for $149.99", Gigabit Internet + TV, here is the actual cost:

  • Discount Plan Marking Price: $149.99
  • The Fee portion of "Taxes and Fees": $53.52
  • The Tax portion of "Taxes and Fees": $0.05

Yes, this plan costs 136% of the advertised price! For what?  The fees are for things like "installing wires on the street for service" and "paying employees to do their job" and "paying for programming" and "a single TV cable tuner"... but they use buzzwords to hide these very sad realities. 

The actual cost for the "$149.99" plan: $203.56.

But what's worse than a plan that costs 136% of the advertised price?

The customer is under contract and cannot leave without more fees.  The costs are due to go up by $40.00 a month once the "bundle special" expires.  And the plans and fees increase significantly at least once per year.

Could it get more scammy than this?  YES!  Although your new contract may permit you to cancel service within 30 days, your full bill may not show your all your the monthly charges until after 30 days of service. Many thanks again to the dummies you elected to Congress.

*** = These so-called monthly plan fees do not include rental equipment fees or other fees that Comcast reserves the right to add at their discretion, and may increase your costs by 35% or more.


Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Fixing a SodaStream Jet, part 1: Disassembly Guide

I've had my SodaStream Jet for years, and once in a while something has gone wrong. Disassembly is the first step to repair.  Start with this article to see how to disassemble the SodaStream, and then once you have that down, scroll through my other articles to see how I repaired specfic SodaStream problems. SodaStream Jet Disassembly Guide Tools Required Flat head screwdriver Phillips head screwdriver 1. Remove the Carbonator.  Duh. 2. Remove the black panel lever The front big black tilt lever needs to be removed first. Removing this panel is tricky, but it isn't impossible. Looking up at the bottom of the black panel, there are two tabs, one on the left and one on the right. These tabs fully secure the panel in place. The trick is to use a flat-head screwdriver under the plastic to gently lever the tabs out of the way.  Note in the pictures how I approach these tabs with my screwdriver.  I usually release the left side first, and then I release ...
Read more

Fixing my Wahl 9918 Groomsman Beard and Mustache Trimmer

Not everyone would bother repairing a $25 beard trimmer, but why not fix something for under $5 instead of spending another $25? My  Wahl 9918 Groomsman Beard and Mustache Trimmer  has admirably performed its beauty duty for many years, but the time came when the battery just wasn't holding a charge any more.  Most people would just put the trimmer in the trash and buy a new one, but I figured I could repair my otherwise excellent Wahl and save some money. In fact, even high priced trimmer and rotary shaver brands, like Norelco and Remington, can be easily repaired using a process similar to the one I used to fix my Wahl.  Read on to find out how. I opened up the Wahl by popping off the black plastic faceplate with a tiny flathead screwdriver, which revealed two screws.  By removing the two screws I was able to easily open up the unit, revealing the guts of the device. Backplate off, Revealing the screws The internals are rather simple: a motor, a...
Read more

Macintosh: Upgrading an eMac

It's been a long time since I wrote this article, but the fact remains: The good old eMac can still be useful if you take the simple steps to keep it as good as it can be.  All can run Tiger, and most can run Leopard - great operating systems for their day with a bit of useful life.  This article describes the procedure I used to upgrade my old eMac, including: Replacing the internal hard disk with a large capacity drive. Increasing the memory for performance Upgrading the operating system Here I'm upgrading a 700 MHz eMac, but the procedure and tasks for upgrading other eMac models should be almost identical. Upgrading versus Replacing My sister's eMac is of the 700 mhz variety, with 256 MB of memory. The machine seemed to be getting "slower", and the original 40 GB disk was becoming jammed packed with photos and iTunes, and within a few months she'd be out of disk space. There were two options to address the problems: upgrade the eMac, or go o...
Read more

Porsche Key Remote Battery Repair Video How-To

We now live in the age where part of your life is spending time and money maintaining and repairing things like your car keys . My Porsche's remote key was getting weaker and weaker, until one day it stopped operating altogether. Keyless remote without the remoteness. Not so good. I was a bit fearful spending a sizable chunk of my time and money at the dealership to have such a small problem addressed, and so I decided that I would try to replace the battery myself. Items required A clear work surface A small flat blade screw driver. A quality lithium CR-2032 Battery, available here. Procedure The following video shows how I successfully opened up the key without breaking it, and replaced the alarm remote battery. In short, from the vantage point of the key's steel part facing away and the buttons facing up: I take a small screwdriver and press on the little plastic tab on the left side.  At the same time I use my fingers to start to pull the two halves apart.  From th...
Read more

Trendnet TEW-652BRP and DD-WRT Success!

I recently visited my dad while on a business trip when I coincidentally discovered that DD-WRT is now available for his TEW-652. The TEW-652BRP has been a great router for my father, but it isn't what I'd call "feature rich". An upgrade to DD-WRT is a big bonus. I live 2500 miles away from my non-technical father, and so a well-specified router that helps me manage his network remotely is important to both of us. This article will explain what I did to finally get DD-WRT working on my TEW-652BRP v1.0R. About the TEW-652brp It's a nice looking little black 802.11n, 2.5 GHz router. It was amazingly inexpensive (usually way under $30), and  the TEW-652brp is available through Amazon. Mine is a version 1.0R, you'll likely want the same version. Out of the box, it works quite well - it has been stable, and I was fairly happy with the stock firmware. But it was short on features - I like having VPN, SSH, and flexible DHCP services on the home netwo...
Read more

Excellent DD-WRT Router for Me: Netgear WNDR3400 / N600

My WiFi performance was suffering, and so I decided to do something about it and upgrade my router. When I say my WiFi performance was suffering, I really mean it:  I live in a large high-rise apartment building and there are 100+ WiFi access points visible from my home office.  All of the contentious traffic was severely curtailing my WiFi reliability.  I was lucky to get 1 Mbit/second throughput.  Sometimes I was lucky to stay connected even with my WiFi router in the same room. I decided it was time to go for 5 GHz, which is a WiFi band which is used less frequently and which has a tougher time traversing walls.  And of course I wanted DD-WRT support.  The set of features I was looking for included: Trouble-free DD-WRT support 5 GHz 802.11n Support Simultaneous dual band capability Inexpensive.  Maybe even cheap.  For me this means under $50.  Under $35 is even better! It sounds like an easy task to bring all this together: A...
Read more

Other Posts

Show more