Tuesday July 1, 2025; 2:56 PM EDT
- Last week I learned that Comcast/Xfinity had announced new Internet plans that eliminates the data caps that I have complained about frequently over the years. The data caps have always been a way for Comcast to make more money through fees and never anything to do with a technological limitation. In other words, the caps have always been arbitrary. Comcast executives claimed they are concerned about recent losses of customers and were addressing this with price certainty (the data plan prices are supposedly guaranteed for up to five years) and making it easier for their customers to do business with them. In my experience today Comcast is still failing on both points. #
- When I first learned about the plans, which the articles claim ranged from 300 Mbps to 2 Gbps, I logged in to the Xfinity web site and could not find any information about the plans. Today, for the first time I saw the new options. Problem is, it was not clear to me how to change my current plan because all the options were to "add a plan." If Xfinity wants to be easier to do business with, they should plan for existing customers and their software should know that I have a plan and offer to change it. #
- So, I started an online chat and was happy to find that I was sent to a person (allegedly) rather than a bot. In the process of asking to change my plan I was told that my TV package was old and needed to be changed. I immediately felt this was a bait and switch tactic but was willing to play along. I told the person I wasn't interested in more channels, in fact all we use cable TV for is to watch sports and they have a News & Sports package that looked like a good fit except that it doesn't have NFL Red Zone. Still, I proceeded to the point of reviewing the changes but not finding a clear statement that the Internet was unlimited data. Instead under the Internet service was a bullet saying "Data usage plan applies," which sounds to me like a data cap! #
- At this point I asked if I could talk with a person and was given a toll free number. I was surprised that I got through to a human right away and began again the process. I told the person on the phone that my goal was to change to an Internet plan that had unlimited data and I wanted to keep my Xfinity bill the same or lower. I also told him about my prior chat and that I was told I had to change the TV package which he said was not the case, although in the end I see that while it appears my TV package is the same in terms of channels the package name is different, from "Digital Starter" to "Popular." So it's possible the person on the chat was right at least as far as the name is concerned and the issue here might be with the format of an online chat. #
- I proceeded through the process but again saw in the Internet section of the plan the statement "Data usage plan applies" and I asked the person on the phone what that meant. He didn't really know but assured me the plan does not have a data cap. At this point I took his word, and I won't know for sure until at least tomorrow as I am told it will take 24 hours for the switch over. I won't be surprised if the cap is still there. #
- Even if I do in fact get the unlimited Internet data that started all this my message to the Comcast executives is that you are failing to meet your intended outcome. As for the price certainty, no where in the new plan do I see any mention that the price is guaranteed for any amount of time, you would think that would be upfront in bold if that is what you are trying to assure customers. Next, I spent probably an hour trying to make this change that really I should have been able to do by myself using the portal. You need to be sure all your public facing employees, those physical stores, online chat, and answer phones are on the same page about what it is you are selling. When you start publicity for new plans you should make sure that the new plans are available on your web site at the same time. Comcast has a long way to go to be easy to do business with, you only have my business because I really have no other comparable provider choice. #