Ever go to an all-you-can-eat buffet that offers you tons of stuff you have no interest in eating? Well, then you know what it's like to be a customer of Comcast's (Nasdaq: CMCSA) new Internet service.
Called "Extreme 105," the service is designed for customers like me. I'm a heavy user of cloud computing services. So while I'm usually getting better than 30 megabit-per-second download speeds from my existing Comcast Internet service, my bandwidth-crunching Mac sometimes fills my data pipe enough to kill VoIP calls.
So the idea of a hyperfast plan is appealing. There are just two problems:
- At $105 a month (with a corresponding Triply Play bundle) it's priced to be ignored.
- Comcast's 250-gigabyte monthly data cap still applies.
Anyone notice the conflicting messages? Here, have a Maserati. All we ask is that you stay within the 25 mph zone. Vegas nightclubs don't tease this much. It's surreal, like watching a Steven Wright stand-up routine after a 48-hour bender.
To be fair, Comcast isn't the only one teasing users. AT&T (NYSE: T) has held back on delivering the 4G service it's been advertising while it upgrades the backbone of its wireless network. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has also promised to limit speeds for some of its heaviest data consumers. I've got two words for all this:
Buzz. Kill.
If you're serious about offering us this service, Comcast, lose the data caps. You'll only annoy users who would otherwise pay to experience the digital equivalent of gunning the engine of a top-down Corvette on a sun-soaked desert highway.
Do you agree? Disagree? Let us know what you think about data caps, networks, and who'll profit from further buildouts of the world's cloud computing infrastructure using the comments box below.
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