Comcast Data Usage Meter Launched

About a year ago there was some buzz about Comcast limiting the amount of data that users were allowed to download/upload per month.  Apparently some users were sent a letter warning them that they were consuming too much bandwidth and if they continued their account would be closed.  I never did hear of anybody that actually got their account closed but the threat was there. 

 

The amount of data that Comcast allows you to download per month is 250 gb, which is quite a bit.  Given that a High Definituin movie is about 5 GB, that would allow you to watch about 50 movies per month.    According to Comcast, 99% of their customers get nowhere near that limit.  The problem was that there was no way to know how much bandwidth you were consuming.

 

Comcast now has a solution to the issue with the launch of the Data Usage Meter.  To access this tool you need to log into your Comcast CustomerCentral.  Once logged in click on the Usage and Settings tab and then click View Details under High Speed Internet Data usage.  You should see a screen that looks something like this:

 

It looks like you can see the current month's data usage as well as the past 3 months.  Fortunately I am not even getting close to the data limits.  But I don't currently watch many movies online or download that much data.  But I can see how some customers may have an issue with the data limits.  With everyone in a family having a computer now I can see a large family hitting the limit if there are kids in the family streaming movies and such all day long.  At this point movie streaming is not as common place as it will be in a couple years from now.  Even Netflix only offers a small percentage of their movies for download.  But eventually I think we will see DVDs go away and all movies will be streamed.  When this happens Comcast will either have to bump up the data usage limits or offer a new pricing tier for high data usage customers.

A couple more details about the Data Usage meter:

• The email I recieved announcing the launch said it was now available in my area (North of Boston).  It may not be available in your area yet.
• The data usage meter tracks total household data usage (not individual users/computers).
• The data usage calculation includes downloads and uploads.
• The usage meter is only available to primary user accounts and unrestricted secondary user accounts with billing access. 

xfinity

Comcast is apparently in the midst of rebranding its product line as xfinity.  According to the Comcast website xfinity represents the future of Comcast and their promise to keep innovating.  So guess the products will now be called xfinity TV, Internet and voice.  They will be changing the logos on all of their vans and marleting materials in the upcoming weeks as well.

I guess the xfinity name is a bit cooler and younger sounding than Comcast but it does seem like an expensive undertaking that will just confuse some of the older customers.  Same products just a different name, guess we will have to wait and see if it sticks.

Comcast adds NECN HD in New England

On January 18th Comcast added NECN HD on channel 810. 

Our current High Definition channel lineup is:

771 - HBO Signature HD  *
772 - HBO Family HD  *
773 - HBO Latino HD  *
774 - HBO Comedy HD *
775 - HBO Zone HD *
776 - More MAX HD *
777 - Action MAX HD East *
778 - 5 Star MAX HD East *
779 - Thriller MAX HD East *
780 - WMAX HD East *
781 - Outer MAX HD *
784 - Travel Channel HD
785 - Encore 1 HD  *
786 - G4 Video Game Television HD
787 - Style HD
788 - Lifetime Movie Network HD
789 - Fox Business Network HD  *
790 - Hallmark Movie Channel HD 
791 - QVC HD
792 - DisneyXD HD *
793 - Fuse HD
794 - Bravo HD
795 - CNBC HD
796 - ESPNEWS HD *
797 - Biography HD
798 - Independent Film Channel HD
799 - Women's Entertainment HD
800 - HDPPV
802 - PBS - WGBH
803 - ION HD - WBPX (formerly PAX)
804 - CBS HD
805 - ABC HD
806 - FOX HD
807 - NBC HD
808 - CW HD - WLVI
809 - ABC - WMUR (New Hampshire Affiliate)
810 - NECN HD new
814 - WSBK 38
815 - Planet Green *
816 - TV One HD  *
817 - NBA TV HD *
818 - MLB Network HD
821 - National Geographic HD
822 - NHL HD
823 - Discovery Channel HD
824 - Disney HD
825 - Nick HD
826 - ABC Family HD
827 - MTV HD
828 - Palladia HD
829 - VH1 HD
830 - FX HD
831 - TBS HD
832 - HGTV HD
833 - TNT HD
834 - E! HD
835 - USA HD
836 - Lifetime HD
837 - A&E HD
838 - The Tennis Channel HD  *
839 - HD Theater
841 - Fox News HD
842 - CNN HD
845 - WeatherScan HD
846 - Univeral HD
847 - The Weather Channel HD
848 - Golf HD
849 - ESPN HD
850 - ESPN2 HD
851 - NESN HD
852 - Comcast Sports Network HD
853 - NFL Network HD
854 - Food Network HD
855 - Spike HD
856 - CBS College Sports Network HD  *
858 - Comedy Central HD
859 - American Movie Classics HD
860 - Cartoon Network HD
862 - SciFi Network HD
863 - Animal Planet HD
864 - Country Music Channel HD  *
865 - Versus HD
866 - Science HD
867 - TLC The Learning Channel HD
868 - Cinemax HD *
870 - HBO HD *
871 - HBO 2 HD  *
872 - History Channel HD
873 - Starz Edge HD  *
874 - Stars Kids HD  *
875 - Starz HD *
876 - Starz Comedy HD  *
877 - Showtime HD *
878 - Showtime 2 HD *
879 - Showtime Showcase HD  *
880 - Showtime Extreme HD  *
883 - The Movie Channel HD *
884 - The Movie Channel Xtra HD  *
885 - The Big Ten Network HD *
899 - NFL Redzone HD
901 - MSNBC HD  *
902 - Tru TV HD
904 - MGMHD *

Comcast Secure Backup and Share

A few months ago I posted about Comcast's lack of offering any kind of online backup product to their customers. At the time there were a few articles floating around the web stating that Comcast would be offering Online backup soon but the pricing structure seemed a bit out of line with the competition.

Just today I found a new page on the Comcast Security Site offering Online Backup to its customers. The product is called Comcast Secure Backup and Share (powered by Mozy). It appears Comcast has partnered with Mozy to offer their software to its customers with a couple additional features that I will discuss later in this post.

I was a but surprised though that Comcast Secure Backup and Share has a bit different pricing structure than the Software you get directly from Mozy.

Mozy Offers:

2 GB - Free
Unlimited Backup - $55 year

Comcast Secure Backup and Share Offers:

2 GB - Free
50 GB - $50 year
200 GB - $100 year

So if you can get the same product directly from Mozy for less money what is the incentive to purchase the product from Comcast?

Multuple Users - With regular Mozy for each additional PC you need to backup you need to pay an additional $50/year. With Comcast Backup you can add 6 additional users/computers to the backup plan.
File Sharing - Access any of your backed up files from any PC or mobile device through the Comcast Vault application

The key feature for me is the ability to add multiple PCs. This is a feature that none of the online backup providers offer. I currently have Carbonite Online backup running on one PC in my home that has about 15GB backed up. On another PC, I am using Mozy's free 2GB plan. So since I am currently well under the 50GB limit for the Comcast Secure Backup and Share plan it would make a lot of sense to move to the Comcast plan and have everything managed under one account as well as have the ability to easily access my files from any device. Unfortunately I am signed up with Carbonite for another 6 or so months so I will have to wait. In the meantime if anyone out there is using Comcast Secure Backup and Share let me know if you like it and if it will be worthwhile for me to make the switch.

Free Norton Security Suite / Anti Virus from Comcast

Looks like Comcast has parted ways with Mcafee and is now offering Norton Security Suite to its customers for free.  No details on the reason why they are no longer offering McAfee but the Security page now allows dowloads of Norton Security Suite for PC or Mac.

I downloaded McAfee a couple years ago when Comcast started offering it for free and have been pretty happy with it.  I had it installed on two PCs in my home and have never had a virus problem.  Years ago, I did have an early version of Norton Anti Virus installed on my PC and I seem to remember needing to uninstall it as it was slowing down my PC so much.  Remembering this I was a little hestitant to install Norton Secuity Suite.  But a quick google search confirmed that the product is much improved performance wise and overall is one of the highest rated Security / Antivirus products available. 

So I downloaded the product and installed it and I have to say I am pretty impressed.  The initial download was pretty large, almost 100 mb and the install took about ten minutes.  It automatically uninstalls McAfee for you so no need to manually uninstall.  It has all of the features that McAfee had (parental controls, identity protection, backups) and does not seem to be affecting performace at all.  Best of all it is free!!!

comcasttheworldofmore.com

I got a letter in the mail today from Comcast that at first glance looks like a counter-punch to the intense advertising campaign that Verizon Fios has going on in my area right now.  The letter thanks me for using Comcast and tells me that they have recently upgraded the network in my community. 
It goes on to inform me of the new HD channels in my area, 50mbs High Speed Internet Service and Digital Voice, all of which I already subscribe to.  The website then asks me to visit a website to see how I can take advantage of all that Comcast has to offer. The website was not a Comcast site that I had seen before and seems to be customized for me...

FirstNameLastName.comcasttheworldofmore.com

Of course the real link has my actual first and last name but the above link brings you to the same site.  The site again is trying to sell all of the Comcast products that I already have but there is a link at the bottom to download a coupon for a free On Demand movie.  Cool!!!!  So I click on the link and get the below error:

Invalid Password?  I was never prompted for a password or a username for that matter.  Anyone else out there able to download the coupon.  I can't imagine Comcast sent out a link to a website that doesn't work.  If so I gotta think someone is going to get fired.

New Concast Guide and DVR Features

I just found this page on Comcast's website announcing a bunch of new/upcoming features to the Cable Guide Software.  Seems like Comcast is giving the the standard guide software some similar features to the Comcast TIVO Guide software.  Some of the highlights are:

• Watch In HD - The Watch In HD button allows you to instantly watch programs in HD with a click of your remote.
• On Demand - Skip Ahead / Skip Back - Allows you to skip ahead or back 5 minutes by using the page up and page down buttons on the remote.
• Interactive TV - Shop by remote or request coupons from advertisers using your remote
• Caller ID - See who is calling on your TV,  This feature is not really new, it became available in my area about 4 months ago.
• myDVR Manager - Schedule DVR recordings online.  This has been available on the Comcast TIVO software for quite a while.  Looks to be the same software being used on the standard Guide.
• DVR Search and Record - Enter a search term and the DVR will aoutomatically search and record programs related to your search.
• DVR History - The DVR will remember shows you have already recorded and will not record them again.
• DVR Folders - Categorized programs in folders
• DVR Clean up - Allows you to delete more than one DVR Program at once.

Many on the new DVR features are features that have been always been available on the Comcast TIVO DVR,  But you pay an extra couple dollars a month for the TIVO DVR.  One of the reasons I pay a little more for the TIVO DVR is because I was always having lag problems with my standard DVR.  With these new features it may not make sense to play the extra money for the TIVO DVR (as long as the lag issues are gone).  Will be interesting to see these features in action.