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In an effort to tap into the credit-challenged market, Comcast has unveiled a prepaid Internet service in Philadelphia that requires no credit check or ongoing service contract.
Similar to prepaid cellphone service, would-be customers can buy a “starter kit” that includes a DOCSIS 3 cable modem and a unique sign-up PIN code for a suggested retail price of $70.
The offer is most likely to appear in wireless retail outlets that specialize in prepaid service, but will also be sold online. At present, the service is available in parts of Philadephia, Delaware, and New Jersey.
Light Reading notes there are some important restrictions on the offer:
- You must live in an area where Comcast provides service;
- The address where you hook up the modem must not currently receive Comcast broadband service;
- You must use the cable modem in the startup kit;
- The maximum available speed is 3Mbps down, 768kbps up;
- The price is just a few dollars less than faster connections available from the cable operator.
The service is presently undergoing a trial in Philadelphia and it is unknown if or when the prepaid offer will expand to other cities.
Comcast is targeting low-income customers and those without bank accounts or a healthy credit profile. The prepaid offer requires a customer to pay in advance for service, and refill PIN cards will be available from retailers, or the customer can renew with a debit or credit card.
Comcast has little to fear from its prepaid service cannibalizing its traditional broadband offers. Comcast’s 6Mbps Performance Starter service runs $49.95 per month, just four dollars more than 30 days of prepaid 3Mbps service.
There is no mention of any usage caps with the prepaid service.
Other stories of interest:
- When Competition Isn’t: Comcast<->Clearwire<->Time Warner Cable
- Comcast Internet Service Promotions: Experiences With the Retention Department
- Comcast Makes Customers Wait 90+ Days for Refunds of Final Bills
- Verizon Wireless Introducing Prepaid Wireless Broadband, But Get Your Wallet: $15 A Day For 75 Megabytes
- Comcast Fees to Skyrocket in California; ‘Think of Them Like a List Price on a Car’
A DOCSIS 3 modem just to supply 3Mbps? What a waste! DOCSIS 1 would be more than adequate. And of course you must buy it from them, since every sale is a profit. The modems probably cost $20 to manufacture now, even if they charge $70-$150 for them. When they sell you that modem, they’ve already made a profit even if you never activate your service. They probably have a strict policy of refusing to let you use that modem for regular service, so you have to buy/rent YET another modem then.
Can’t use it where Comcast is already installed? Hogwash. I took my TW/Earthlink cable modem with me when I moved down the street and it worked fine. I had paperless billing and never told TW I’d moved. I’m sure you can hook that modem up in any house with current Comcast service using a splitter. Probably too much trouble for Comcast to restrict it to your local loop, but even if they did that, it would still work anyplace in your neighborhood. Why in heck do they want to tie you down to one address?!
This prepaid cable modem is a dead end. The only thing it would have going for it is if it was easily portable, but they insist on stupid restrictions and mandatory purchases. Likely just to “prove” a point about customers being “happier” with their established options. Look forward to a future publicized remark from a Comcast exec about how customers “don’t want prepaid”.
Why not just loosen the qualifications for the low income $10 internet package?
Pay for the modem, and pay in advance every month.
All this does is preys on people with bad credit, no credit, and/or no bank account. These people are already getting ripped off at check cashing places and rent-a-center.
Why not let people supply their own modem (thrift shops have them for $5) register it, and prepay by the hour like airport wifi? Because that would be a successful program which would earn only an honest amount of profit. The deeply flawed program as given is a straw man they will use later to claim that customers don’t want this kind of option.