Comcast announces some Xfinity Mobile throttling as if it’s doing us a favor

Comcast XFINITY mobile wireless press event product shoot at the Comcast Center on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Fusco/AP Images for Comcast)

• Comcast notified users that it is introducing some Xfinity Mobile throttling.
• Video streaming will drop from 720p to 480p, and hotspot speeds will cap at 600Kbps.
• Comcast says that these changes are being put in place to “help” users stay under their data limits.

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Do you know about Xfinity Mobile? It’s a Verizon MVNO that gets you unlimited nationwide talk and text and either $12 per GB of data or an “unlimited” plan for $45 per month (capped at 20GB). It’s all the Verizon speed and coverage you could want but through Comcast!

Surprising no one, Comcast announced some imminent plan changes today which will surely make its customers hopping mad. The first is that video streaming quality on its unlimited plan is getting bumped down from 720p to 480p. Comcast spins this change by saying it will “help you save money if you pay By the Gig and take longer to reach the 20 GB threshold if you have the Unlimited data option.”

Of course, the company added that “later this year, 720p video over cellular data will be available as a fee-based option with your service.”

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In other words, Comcast just took away a feature its customers have enjoyed in order to sell it back to them at a higher cost. Same ol’ Comcast.

The next change it made which unlimited customers are sure to love is that hotspot speeds are now capped at 600Kbps. Customers who pay-by-the-GB will continue to enjoy full 4G LTE speeds, but unlimited customers are out of luck.

Once again, Comcast spins this as helping you to “conserve data so that it takes longer to reach the 20 GB threshold.” Gee, thanks.

It can’t be a coincidence that Comcast announced these changes not long after the repeal of Net Neutrality. While wireless cell phone service was not bound by the rules of Net Neutrality while it was in place, Comcast’s business as an internet service provider certainly was. Stay tuned for the likely-imminent upcoming changes to your DSL and cable internet service that will also be to “help” you…for a fee.

NEXT: Verizon quietly launches Visible, its answer to AT&T’s Cricket

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