Some AT&T customers unhappy about the company’s forthcoming implementation of usage caps are being offered an uncapped alternative from Comcast — Business Class service.
More than a few customers facing AT&T’s imminent 150/250GB usage caps who live in a Comcast service area are informally being pitched cap-free Business Class service as an alternative. Jim, a Stop the Cap! reader near Chicago, tells us Comcast sales representatives are rushing to sign up customers coming back to the cable company. Although he is not served by U-verse, he points us to messages on AT&T’s own message boards from customers sharing their experiences as they pull the plug on the phone company.
“Comcast is offering us unlimited access at 12/2Mbps speeds for $59.95 per month, which is more expensive than the company’s residential broadband service, but potentially cheaper than getting a bill from AT&T with overlimit fees on it,” Jim says.
For now, Jim is heading back to Comcast residential service because he doesn’t use more than the cable company’s current limit – 250GB per month. But he appreciates there is an alternative service available that comes without a usage limit, something he’ll keep in mind for the future.
“I feel sorry for AT&T customers stuck with them as their only broadband provider, and I think customers should continue to call and complain about the unjustified limits,” Jim offers. “The best way AT&T customers can tell the company it has gone too far is to take their business somewhere else.”
Comcast does not normally market business products to residential customers, but many sales representatives will offer the service if a consumer expresses concern about the residential service’s usage limit.
Yup, I have had Comcast’s “Starter” business service for a while now, to avoid usage caps. Whether I use 100 GB or 1TB in a month, I’ve never gotten a nasty letter from Comcast, and speeds are almost always as advertised. The service goes down for a few minutes – a few hours about once a quarter, but I’d expect that from just about any provider. Generally, I’d recommend it, if you’re willing to pay a little extra for no usage cap.
Comcast I know gets bashed for their usage caps on Residential service, but $60 for uncapped 12/2 with possibly Business Priority to the network, I suppose is a rather nice offer. Time Warner for $70 can give me a Basic Business package that pitches 7Mbps/768kbps.
Lots of folks (myself included) figured this out a while ago, when Verizon pulled out of anything out west, and Frontier moved in and started really messing things up (both DSL and FIOS). The 22/5 deal works fine for me, using around 1TB/month max.. the price is about right. Still too bad FIOS didn’t build in my neighborhood (stopped 2 miles down the road) but with the mess at Frontier, kinda dodged that bullet. Two minor outages in just shy of a year of service. About the same as Verizon was on DSL over some 8 years FYI was on… Read more »
Not so fast, folks. Be careful if you consider switching to “business class” internet to evade a cap. I’m another victim of the AT&T cap, and have been looking into alternatives. I originally had Comcast residential (reliability sucked, their employee attitudes universally sucked except for techs, and then they implemented their cap, so I switched to AT&T). Awhile back I got a flyer in the mail (directly from Comcast), touting their business class service. In the comparison between their residential and business services, they DEFINITELY stated that the business class service had a bigger “allowance” for data downloads than the… Read more »
Reviewing that thread suggests the “soft caps” start at 750GB of use per month and run on up to 10+TB. Until we can win this battle, customers may have to chase for the least of all evils. I can’t imagine hitting 750GB myself. 🙂 I realize there is a lot of slickness out there in these terms and conditions, but Comcast’s soft cap is better than AT&T’s hard one. As for franchise agreements, that’s really a dead issue, unfortunately. These companies have quite the cartel. When cities shop around for alternative providers, no provider will agree to take on someone… Read more »