Comcast Jacks up Price of Standalone Broadband to $75 Wall Street analysts have been rather excited about the fact that a lack of competition in the market means Comcast should be able to significantly raise rates without much repurcussion, especially now that the Trump FCC has made its apathy to the broadband market's competition problem abundantly clear. And Comcast began following through this month, warning customers across numerous markets that they'll soon be seeing increases in broadband and TV prices, and paying Comcast significantly more money in random fees and hardware rental surcharges each month.

But Comcast is quietly raising the price of its standalone broadband tier as well. Comcast’s Performance tier, priced at $65 per month for much of this year, has slowly climbed toward $70 per month in many areas as the year rolled on. The folks at Stop the Cap notes that the tier, the cheapest standalone option Comcast offers that meets the FCC's 25 Mbps definition of broadband, will soon cost users $75 per month. That of course doesn't include the $11 per month modem rental fee (up $1 since last month), or the usage caps and overage fees applied on top of that rate. ISPs have long punished customers who refuse to bundle services they may not need, though this has traditionally been framed as a "discount" for users that do bundle. But as users increasingly cut both the TV cord (for streaming alternatives) and trim cable phone service (going wireless only), the skyrocketing cost of standalone broadband becomes more of a problem. Wall Street, meanwhile, has been cheering Comcast to take standalone broadband pricing even higher. Back in October, New Street analyst Jonathan Chaplin suggested that Comcast should raise the cost of standalone broadband to $90 per month. "We have argued that broadband is underpriced, given that pricing has barely increased over the past decade while broadband utility has exploded," he argued excitedly. "Our analysis suggested a ‘utility-adjusted’ ARPU target of ~$90. Comcast recently increased standalone broadband to $90 (including modem), paving the way for faster ARPU growth as the mix shifts in favor of broadband-only households. Charter will likely follow, once they are through the integration of Time Warner Cable." With telco apathy toward DSL upgrades making many markets less competitive, and regulators signaling they have no intent of standing up to Comcast, there's every indication that Comcast will likely follow Wall Street's advice in 2018. With telco apathy toward DSL upgrades making many markets less competitive, and regulators signaling they have no intent of standing up to Comcast, there's every indication that Comcast will likely follow Wall Street's advice in 2018.







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Most recommended from 92 comments

keason

Premium Member

join:2002-05-02

Ann Arbor, MI 61 recommendations keason Premium Member Textbook Econ 101 monopoly behavior. Competition needed. Congratulations. You are now experiencing monopoly behavior, where the most of benefits accrue to the monopoly, and little to the customer. Rather than b**ch about it, start advocating with your city government to implement municipal fiber and with your congressional representatives to open up spectrum for fixed wireless broadband.



Comcast clearly wants to retain their title of the most hated company in America (except by investors)

Frank

Premium Member

join:2000-11-03

somewhere 23 recommendations Frank Premium Member My prediction As more people "cut the cord" and drop their tv and home phone services, cable companies will continue to raise rates for internet only service in order to offset losses. At a certain point the rates will be high enough and the technology will be cheap enough for other competition (wireless? telco? fiber?) to enter the market. When that happens prices are going to fall and you're going to see cable companies start reporting heavy losses from actually having to compete. Tch81

join:2015-08-10 18 recommendations Tch81 Member Fools! Ajit Pai said we had a thriving broadband market that is about to get even better. Raising prices in such competitive environment makes no economic sense. Ostracus

join:2011-09-05

Henderson, KY 18 recommendations Ostracus Member Insensitive. I've suspected for some time that "Wall Street" is exclusively the rich. Whom else would be unaffected by the consequences of their perpetual greed? Their broadband goes up? Check the sofa for loose change. Medicine go up 800%, fire a maid? If there's ever going to be any change is when Wall Street starts hurting as much as the rest of us.

cb14

join:2013-02-04

Miami Beach, FL ·Localphone

·Zadarma

·Verizon Wireless

·callwithus

·T-Mobile

·AT&T U-Verse

·Callcentric

15 recommendations cb14 Member One day If this continues, I will kiss goodbye my VoIP,give up watching bird cams for the most, get for additional 10 $ a second account on my t mobile 55+ plan which gives me additional 50 gigs; then get the machete from the garage and do the ultimate cord cutting.

NOCMan

MadMacHatter

Premium Member

join:2004-09-30

Colorado Springs, CO 14 recommendations NOCMan Premium Member Sucks but Comcast has put a price on each account, they will make X from an account no matter what. Even better for them as traditional cable subs drop they can layoff those employees servicing the television side, and keep the profits by moving the expense to the HSI side.



I see the price per account across many industries now and it's a pathetic way to price things.



Miss the gold ole days that cable was 45 and broadband was 19.99 and that was enough.

tshirt

Premium Member

join:2004-07-11

Snohomish, WA 6 recommendations tshirt Premium Member Not a big suprise. well known and long predicted that the more TV cords that were cut the higher priced HSI would become.



If the current ARPU is ONLY $90, then they've slipped a few dollars from last years goal of just over $104. wiggum

join:2003-05-05

Seattle, WA 6 recommendations wiggum Member FCC seems to be forgetting its mandate "make available so far as possible, to all the people of the United States, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, rapid, efficient, Nationwide, and world-wide wire and radio communication services with adequate facilities at *reasonable charges.*"



The current regime seems to have no interest in consumer protection, and would rather protect some dinosaurs’ antiquated business models. crowbar4444

join:2007-07-25

Athens, OH 5 recommendations crowbar4444 Member People act like this is expensive..... Well, for some it probably is I suppose but if you live in an area with only Comcast and/or not a very populated area then this is a normal or even a low price. When I had TWC internet I had a 15/1 connection that cost me almost $60/month here in southeastern Ohio where I reside. Since Spectrum took over TWC Internet awhile back I am paying $64/month for a 100/10 connection which is MUCH nicer for me price wise. My old speed was fine as I only do Netflix, gaming, and some light downloading. Though I have a friend who lives in NYC and shes tells me I am paying a TON compared to what she is paying for her internet with the same speeds. It floors me how they price different regions so differently for the exact same service. I get maybe a few $$ here and there but I have seen some crazy price difference.



The problem is these ISP's are gonna get stupid now in the next few years and sloooowly raise the rates and fees on us. They are still on their anti-NN high win and are loving it and probably thinking of ways to mess over the consumer even more.

TIGERON

join:2008-03-11

Boston, MA Motorola MG7550

4 recommendations TIGERON Member Here's the face of the scumbag who wants to screw consumers more csreports.aspeninstitute ··· -chaplin



»www.linkedin.com/in/jona ··· 5240521/



And here you have it: Jonathan Chaplin And here you have it: Jonathan Chaplin BiggA

Premium Member

join:2005-11-23

Central CT 4 recommendations BiggA Premium Member It's been $75/mo here It's been $75/mo here for at least a couple of years. Nothing new. $75 for 25/5, $83 for 100/5, $87 for 200/10. kdex86

join:2016-06-10

Boxborough, MA 4 recommendations kdex86 Member overpriced In Massachusetts, standalone Performance Internet has been $75/month for quite some time - and you only get 25 Mbps!



Blast is $13 more at $88/month standalone. But these prices do NOT include modem rental.

Rambo76098

join:2003-02-21

Columbus, OH 3 recommendations Rambo76098 Member Go for it If my provider ever does this I'll completely cut the cord and they'll get $0. I have no issue tethering to a cell phone. Hell, if the 4 lines we have already aren't enough, it's only $20/mo for another from my carrier.



$75/mo is completely overpriced. It doesn't cost anywhere near that much to deliver the services even with a reasonable overhead and profit built in. The only reason they would need to charge that much is either excessive expenses (executive salaries, lobbying, etc), or excessive dividends/stock buyback/acquisitions.