Comcast (CMCSA), the country’s largest cable company, is seriously considering charging all customers for how much Internet they use at home, limiting how much they consume. In a shareholder conference, Comcast executive vice president David Cohen said a usage-based pricing model is in the testing stages, but could be implemented within the next few years. He said, “I would predict that in five years, Comcast at least would have a usage-based billing model rolled out across its footprint.” This seems to be turnaround from Cohen’s comments in May 2012, saying customers don’t have to worry about a limit on how much data they use each month. Back then he said, “The headline today should be ‘There isn’t a cap anymore. We’re out of the cap business.’” A usage-based data model has become standard with cell phone providers, which charge customers a monthly fee for the amount of data they use. For example, Verizon Wireless offers unlimited talk and text, but customers choose the data allowance they want. If they go over that month, they have to pay more that month. But Cohen said he’s not worried a user-based model will chase customers away. “We are comfortable that we are not going to shoot ourselves in the foot by rolling something out that is going to turn people off to what arguably could be the most important product that we offer, which is our high-speed,” Cohen said.
Posted on: Fri, 16 May 2014 23:11:24 +0000
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