Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) said it will roll out its 2 Gbps fiber-to-the-home service Gigabit Pro in June. The company was supposed to debut the service in May but was delayed.
Technical roadblocks are not causing the delay, an Ars Technica story said, suggesting that it might be more closely tied to pricing issues. Reportedly, Comcast was planning a $299 per month price tag for the service which would not be competitive with Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) $70 per month for Google Fiber or AT&T's (NYSE: T) $120 per month charge for gigabit services.
DSL Reports added that it's tough to get a gauge on what Comcast's pricing will be.
"The company's website briefly leaked word that the symmetrical two gigabit service would cost $300 a month, but the website was pulled shortly after we contacted Comcast for confirmation, with Comcast telling me they're still working out the particulars," DSL Reports' Karl Bode wrote.
The MSO had promised service availability in the Atlanta metro area, Nashville and Chicago, as well as Florida cities Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Jacksonville in May. These were to be followed in June with rollouts in Chattanooga, Tenn. and Northwest Indiana, and California markets in Chico, Fresno, Marysville/Yuba City, Merced, Modesto, Monterey, Sacramento, Salinas, San Francisco Bay area, Santa Barbara County, Stockton and Visalia metro areas. None have rolled out thus far, an Ars Technica article said.
Customers in Atlanta and West Palm Beach were the first to notice the service hadn't launched and used Comcast's support forums to vent their frustration. Comcast replied that the services would be "available in your area come early May" and then amended that to May 28, before finally posting that "the launch of this has been temporarily delayed [and] no tentative date has been announced yet."
Right now Comcast charges $399.95 a month for 505 Mbps speeds but has said the 2 Gbps service will cost less and that all 505 Mbps customers will be upgraded to the new service, Ars Technica continued. That's a tough price to maintain in the planned markets as Google Fiber will launch in Atlanta and Nashville and AT&T is already in those two cities with gigabit service, as well as Chicago, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and San Jose.
For more:
- Ars Technica has this story
- Comcast has this support forum
- DSL Reports has this story
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