On one hand, I love the idea of true Ethernet-sized Internet connections finally coming to the home, like Comcast just announced they’re doing with their new Extreme 105 105 Mbps service.
On the other hand, I’m not crazy about the price – an introductory price of $105/month (with their triple-play cable/internet/phone bundle) or standalone at a whopping $199.95!!!
I mean, I understand that bigger and better is traditionally more expensive, but at the same time it kind of astounds me at how much some of us are paying just for data access these days – in our household, we’ve got 20 Mbps cable service (part of a bundle, but probably around $55/month) and also data plans for two iPhones ($35/month each), meaning that we’re spending a total of $125/month just on Internet access … and they wonder why people don’t feel they should have to pay for the content on top of that!
I suppose on the upside, in theory as faster, albeit premium, speeds are made available, the overall default should slowly rise as well. I mean, figure I first started with broadband back in 2000 with a measly 1 Mbps cable connection, and slowly that rose over time to where lately without the upgrade that I pay extra for, I think the standard Roadrunner package is now something like 7 Mbps. Still a far cry from triple digits, but good enough to at least get a start online if you can’t afford more.
As long as they don’t just assume that as video and other high-bandwidth sites flourish, it can’t be a perpetual money pit for them as fast as they can get the tubes a flowin’. Of course, with inflation factored into the numbers, I suppose eventually $75 or $90 could become the new $50/month plan … which I don’t want to think about because the math makes my head hurt … but with any luck by that point maybe 50 Mbps will be the new base speed and they’ll be offering 300-500 Mbps for a premium price…