Nov 12

Comcast TV Everywhere launch details: December, free for existing subs, really goes anywhere

Posted in: Today's Chili

Comcast’s Amy Banse just hit the stage at NewTeeVee Live and announced key details about the company’s new On Demand Online launch. If you can’t check out the video (embedded after the break) here’s the important stuff: It will be available at no additional cost to existing subscribers and allow the authorization of up to 3 devices per household. Log in once from home to Comcast.net or Fancast.com, download the Move Networks powered player to authorize your PC and proceed to stream from the very healthy library of VOD, whether at home or anywhere else, despite previous rumors to the contrary. The bad news? Yes, this does still count against the 250GB monthly cap if used at home and still no word on HD streaming, but within the concept of making content available to subscribers wherever they want to view it, this seems like a good first step.

[Via Media Experiences 2 Go]

Continue reading Comcast TV Everywhere launch details: December, free for existing subs, really goes anywhere

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Comcast TV Everywhere launch details: December, free for existing subs, really goes anywhere originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 05

Comcast announces new bandwidth throttling scheme

Posted in: Today's Chili
Comcast customers have been no stranger to bandwidth shenanigans over the years, from the whole torrent filtering mess to the 250GB monthly cap. Now the company is back with a new data throttling scheme intended to put the kibosh on excessive traffic during those times when the network is already being overwhelmed. The two-tiered system is put on alert if either more than 70 percent of your max bandwidth (downstream or upstream) is used for more than 15 minutes or if your particular Cable Modem Termination System gets congested and it decides that you’re partially responsible. Should you run afoul of the traffic warden, expect to find yourself down-throtted for at least 15 minutes, or until your average bandwidth utilisation rate drops below 50 per cent for 15 minutes. If there is no congestion, however, you shouldn’t notice any difference whatsoever — unless, of course, John McCain gets his way. Warning: PDF read link.

[Via Slashdot]

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Comcast announces new bandwidth throttling scheme originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 05

Comcast announces new bandwidth throttling scheme (update: old news)

Posted in: Today's Chili
Comcast customers have been no stranger to bandwidth shenanigans over the years, from the whole torrent filtering mess to the 250GB monthly cap. Now the company is back with a new data throttling scheme intended to put the kibosh on excessive traffic during those times when the network is already being overwhelmed. The two-tiered system is put on alert if either more than 70 percent of your max bandwidth (downstream or upstream) is used for more than 15 minutes or if your particular Cable Modem Termination System gets congested and it decides that you’re partially responsible. Should you run afoul of the traffic warden, expect to find yourself down-throttled for at least 15 minutes, or until your average bandwidth utilization rate drops below 50 per cent for 15 minutes. If there is no congestion, however, you shouldn’t notice any difference whatsoever — unless, of course, John McCain gets his way. Warning: PDF read link.

[Via Slashdot]

Update: Due to crossed wires when researching this piece, we mistakenly reported that this policy was new. It is not. In fact, the throttling detailed above has been in effect for nearly a year.

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Comcast announces new bandwidth throttling scheme (update: old news) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 26

Sprint Flicks On 4G Service in Philadelphia

Posted in: Sprint, Today's Chili, WiMAX

Sprint_4G_Modem.jpgSprint has announced it has launched 4G WiMAX mobile broadband service throughout the Philadelphia area. Sprint 4G costs an extra $10 per month over current Sprint 3G mobile ad plans, and is capable of delivering speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G (though less than that in the real world, as we’ve found in our testing).

Last week, Clearwire, Sprint, and Comcast announced plans to turn on 4G service during the month of November in Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, San Antonio, and Seattle, with Honolulu and Maui following in December. All three companies sell 4G plans for the same service under different names.

Head over to www.sprint.com/4g for a full-blown coverage map.

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Oct 22

Clearwire, Sprint, Comcast Announce More WiMAX Launch Dates

Posted in: Sprint, Today's Chili, WiMAX

wheresclear.jpg

Hot on the heels of Clearwire’s soft launch of WiMAX in Philadelphia today, the WiMAX company announced more rollout plans in conjunction with their partners Comcast and Sprint. All three companies sell service on the same network, but they do it under three different names, with three different service plans: CLEAR, Comcast High-Speed 2go, and Sprint 4G.
November 2009: Austin TX, Chicago, Dallas, Charlotte, Greensboro NC, Raleigh NC, San Antonio TX, Seattle. Also, Philadephia will get Sprint and Comcast service (they have Clearwire already.)
December 2009: Honolulu and Maui, HI
Of those cities, Chicago, Philly and Seattle will have plans from all three providers. The rest of the cities will offer Clearwire and Sprint, but not Comcast branded service.
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Oct 21

Comcast On Demand Online rolls out fully this year, but stops at the front door

Posted in: cable, Today's Chili

Following the 5,000 person beta already ongoing, Comcast is apparently ready to deliver the On Demand Online experience to all of its customers by the end of the year, with a few rather significant caveats. At launch one the much hyped placeshifting element of the service will not be live, for the time being you’ll need internet and TV service, and it will only work at home. Still, if queuing up last night’s ep of Mad Men on your laptop is all you’re looking for there should be a decent library of content to choose from with 24 cable networks signed on, and a $0 additional cost for the service. Our excitement level depends mostly on how quickly HD streaming and on the go access becomes a part of the package.

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Comcast On Demand Online rolls out fully this year, but stops at the front door originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 05

Comcast looking to buy NBC?

Posted in: business, merger, Today's Chili

Not sure how a story like this snuck under the radar on Friday, but the WSJ reports that Comcast and NBC are in the early stages of a buyout offer — Comcast’s plan is to control 51 percent of a new joint venture with current NBC owner GE. Needless to say, that would be a massive content industry shakeup, and it would bring over two dozen networks and stations under Comcast’s control, from E! to NBC itself, as well as the Universal movie studio. Sure brings that whole TV Everywhere plan into sharp relief, doesn’t it? Talks are said to be far apart and contigent on Comcast maintaining its credit rating by putting as little cash upfront as possible, but big companies like this don’t poke around lightly — we’ll see how this one turns out.

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Comcast looking to buy NBC? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 01

Comcast Denies NBC Purchase Rumors–Sort Of

Posted in: Today's Chili

Who wouldn’t want to buy the station charged with bringing the world the magic of 30 Rock? Comcast, apparently. The cable giant denied recent rumor that it would be purchasing NBC for $35 billion.

“While we do not normally comment on M&A rumors, the report that Comcast has a deal to purchase NBC Universal is inaccurate,” the company said in a recent statement.

It’s not a flat out denial, to be sure. It’s more of a “someone didn’t get their facts quite right,” i.e., maybe the price was actually $36 billion. According to “people close to the situation,” Comcast is “kicking the tires” over at that network.

So, what’s going on? Only Comcast and the Sheinhardt Wig Company know for certain.

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Sep 23

Video: Intel Tru2way server streams cable all over your house

Posted in: cable, dvr, Features, intel, Today's Chili

Look, Moblin and MIDs and USB 3.0 are all well and good, but the real highlight of IDF is hiding in plain sight: it’s Intel’s CE 3100 Media Processor-based Tru2way DVR server, which has three digital cable tuners that can be streamed over a regular gigabit Ethernet or MoCA to any number of clients, ranging from other 3100-based set-top boxes to DLNA devices like laptops and even the PS3. It’s seriously cool — the clients all see the server’s tuners as their own, so the experience is seamless, and since it all runs on the Tru2way stack, it doesn’t matter what kind of client you plug in — the three clients on the show floor were running interfaces from Intel, Comcast (Rovi), and Digeo. Of course, since it’s a DVR, you can actually add more clients than tuners and have them play back recorded content while your other boxes use the tuners — Intel was demoing XBMC on a Sony laptop connecting over DLNA and streaming a recorded program while a PS3 nearby ran a photo slideshow, all while the three cable clients streamed uncompressed HD video from the tuners. Intel says a number of cable companies are interested in deploying this stuff and that we should see things on the market in the next year — we honestly can’t wait. Check a video after the break.

Continue reading Video: Intel Tru2way server streams cable all over your house

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Video: Intel Tru2way server streams cable all over your house originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 16

Comcast could serve TV over WiMAX, inflate your bill even higher

Posted in: 4G, cable, content, hdtv, mobile broadband, mobile internet, MobileBroadband, MobileInternet, Today's Chili, TV, WiMAX, wwan

Think you’re good at turning down the upsell? Try saying no to adding WiMAX to your home internet service for the low, low price of whatever Comcast wants to charge. Thanks to a multi-billion dollar tie-up with Clearwire, Comcast has been offering WiMAX-based internet services in a few markets, but now that On Demand Online is a go, it makes sense to think that the operator would use that as leverage to get people hooked. For those unaware, ODO enables Comcast pay-TV subscribers to watch a vast array of programming from any internet connection, which of course means that any ole 3G / 4G data connection would work just as well as Comcast’s own. Oh, and while mobile TV is pretty good — and we’re going to let Comcast finish — watching HDTV at home with a DVR is definitely the best scenario of all time.

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Comcast could serve TV over WiMAX, inflate your bill even higher originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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