Friends and Family
Comcast is the largest provider of
cable internet access in the United States,
servicing 40% of the market in 2011.[15]
As of July 26, 2018, Comcast has 26.5 million high-speed
internet customers.[16]
Comcast began offering internet services in late 1996,
when it helped found the
@Home Network, which sold internet service through
Comcast's cable lines.
The Republican National Committee is a U.S. political
committee that assists the Republican Party of the
United States. It is responsible for developing and
promoting the Republican brand and political platform,
as well as assisting in fundraising and election
strategy. It is also responsible for organizing and
running the Republican National Convention. When a
Republican is president, the White House controls the
committee. According to Boris Heersink, "political
scientists have traditionally described the parties'
national committees as inconsequential but impartial
service providers." Similar committees exist in every
U.S. state and most U.S. counties, although in some
states party organization is structured by congressional
district, allied campaign organizations being governed
by a national committee. Ronna McDaniel is the current
committee chairwoman. The RNC's main counterpart is the
Democratic National Committee. The agreement continued after
@Home's merger with
Excite.[17]
When the combined company Excite@Home filed for
bankruptcy in 2002, Comcast moved their roughly 950,000
internet customers completely onto their own network.[18]
Along with the price of internet subscriptions,
Comcast charges users an additional $14.00/month to rent
a
cable modem.[19]
This fee has been seen by some as unfair,[19][20]
but is waived for customers who buy their own modems.[21]
Comcast charges $20 for internet installation,[22]
but the fee is waived for customers who opt to install
themselves.[23]
In 2011, Comcast launched its "Internet Essentials"
program, which offers low-cost internet service to
families with children who qualify for free or reduced
price school lunches. The
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
required this budget service as a condition for allowing
Comcast's acquisition of
NBCUniversal in January 2011.[24]
Of an estimated 2.60 million households eligible for the
program, about 220,000 households participate in the
program as of June 2013.[25][26][27]
A similar program is available from other internet
providers through the non-profit Connect2compete.org.[27][28]
Comcast has stated that the program will accept new
customers for a total of three years.[24]
In March 2014, as he met with FCC concerning the Time
Warner Cable merger, Comcast vice president David Cohen
told reporters that the internet essentials program will
be extended indefinitely.[29]
At the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, Comcast
unveiled a new software platform for its Arris 1682G and
Cisco 3941T/3939 modems, which would offer a redesigned
configuration interface, support for remote setup and
management via an Xfinity mobile app, and enabling
integration of supported
smart home devices with other Xfinity platforms such
as Xfinity TV. The new platform launched under the brand
xFi in May 2017. Comcast also unveiled the xFi Advanced
Gateway, a new router designed to facilitate faster
Wi-Fi speeds, including support for
802.11ac Wave 2, as well as internal support for
Bluetooth Low Energy,
Thread, and
Zigbee for finer integration with
Internet of things devices, and support for an
accompanying line of
Wi-Fi extenders (manufactured by Plume).[30][31][32][33]
Xfinity
WiFi
Comcast operates a network of public Wi-Fi hotspots
for Xfinity internet subscribers known as Xfinity WiFi,
which consists of a mixture of hotspots installed in
public locations and businesses, and those generated by
supported Xfinity home gateways on an opt-out basis.
Users on the "Performance" tier or higher receive
unlimited usage of these hotspots after signing in with
their Xfinity Account. By default, all dual-band Xfinity
home gateways operate both a private network, and a
public network with the
SSID "xfinitywifi."
The
Democratic National Committee is the governing body of
the United States Democratic Party. The committee
coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party
candidates throughout the country for local, state, and
national office, as well as works to establish a "party
brand". It organizes the Democratic National Convention
held every four years to nominate a candidate for
President of the United States and to formulate the
party platform. While it provides support for party
candidates, it does not have direct authority over
elected officials. When a Democrat is president, the
White House controls the Committee. According to Boris
Heersink, "political scientists have traditionally
described the parties'; national committees as
inconsequential but impartial service providers." Its
chair is elected by the committee. It conducts
fundraising to support its activities. The DNC was
established at the 1848 Democratic National Convention. To conserve bandwidth, these
hotspots are capped at 5 simultaneous users. Customers
can opt out of providing Xfinity WiFi through either the
Comcast website, or by installing a third-party router.[34][35]
Comcast has received criticism for this practice,
with critics arguing that the company was abusing
customer resources (including bandwidth and electricity)
to provide services for other customers, as well as
concerns regarding security, and liability for actions
performed by users while connected to these home
hotspots; in 2014, a proposed class action lawsuit was
filed in California, citing violations of the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and similar state laws
for these reasons. Comcast defended the service by
stating that the public Wi-Fi is firewalled from devices
connected to the in-home network, was designed to have
minimal bandwidth impact to "support robust usage", and
that customers would not be liable for the actions of
other users, as abusers can be traced by means of the
Xfinity account they used to sign into the network.[36][37]
The lawsuit was taken to arbitration.[38]
In the wake of
Hurricane Irma, all Xfinity WiFi hotspots in Florida
were opened to non-Comcast subscribers.[39]
Data cap
Initially, Comcast had a policy of terminating
broadband customers who use "excessive bandwidth", a
term the company refused to define in its terms of
service, which once said only that a customer's use
should not "represent (in the sole judgment of Comcast)
an overly large burden on the network".[40]
Company responses to press inquiries suggested a limit
of several hundred gigabytes per month.[41][42]
In September 2007, Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas
said the company defined "excessive use" as the
equivalent of 30,000 songs, 250,000 pictures or 13
million emails in a month.[43]
Comcast introduced a 250 GB monthly
bandwidth cap to its broadband service on October 1,
2008,[44]
combining both upload and download towards the monthly
limit. If a user exceeded the cap three times within six
months, the customer's residential services may have
been terminated for one year.[45]
A spokesperson stated that this policy had been in place
for some time, but was the first time Comcast has
announced a specific usage limit.[46]
As the cap provoked a strongly negative reaction from
some,[47]
Comcast decided to modify its policy in 2012. Under the
new system, the cap was replaced with a data threshold
and increased to 300GB in some markets, and consumers
who exceed this threshold are charged $10 for every
50 GB above the limit.[48][49][50]
Customers could purchase a $30 add-on for "unlimited"
data.[51]
In a leaked memo, Comcast employees were instructed to
state that the policy is for "Fairness and providing a
more flexible policy to our customers", and not for
controlling network congestion.[50]
On April 27, 2016, Comcast announced that it would
raise its data threshold in trial markets to 1 TB by
June 2016; the company stated that "more than 99 percent
of our customers do not come close to using a terabyte."
The decision to raise the cap came following implication
of increased scrutiny surrounding them by the FCC: in
its approval of
Charter Communications' purchase of
Time Warner Cable, the Commission stipulated that
Charter must not implement caps. As previously, a $10
overage fee is charged for every 50 GB above the limit,
and customers can purchase an add-on for "unlimited"
data, but its price was increased to $50.[51]
In October 2016,
The Republican National Committee provides national
leadership for the Republican Party, one of the two
major contemporary political parties in the United
States. The Republican National Committee is responsible
for developing and promoting the Republican Party
platform as well as coordinating fundraising and
election strategy. Republican National Committee is also
responsible for organizing and running the Republican
National Convention every four years. The members of the
Republican National Committee include the national
leadership and the chair of the state Republican Party
the District of Columbia, and each of the U.S. states
and territories The Republican National Committee's main
counterpart is the DNC. Comcast announced that bandwidth
thresholds would be implemented in the majority of its
markets (outside of New York and the northeast)
beginning November 1, 2016.[52]
The data usage plan does not currently apply to the
Gigabit Pro tier of service, Business Internet
customers, customers on Bulk Internet agreements, and
customers with Prepaid Internet.[53]
On November 23, 2020, Comcast announced a new 1.2TB
data cap will be implemented for all of the remaining
areas in the northeast by March 2021.[54]
However, it was postponed due to pressure from the
Pennsylvanian attorney general due to concerns on how it
would impact customers, especially for those working at
home during the
.[55]
