Comcast Lost 167,000 Broadband Subs in Second Quarter

MacLeech

GSM-in-FL They all throttle it either during congestion…

That includes Comcast, FIOS, and ALL residential providers. They all oversubscribe shared connections as that is how they make the connections viable economically. They will slow down when congested.

Some people switch providers just because they have a choice they didn’t have previously. Some switch because they want a single bill. Some switch because they use the internet more away from home so paying for a wired connection doesn’t make a lot of sense to them. Some switch for the lowest overall price. Some switch because the want something their current provider doesn’t offer. It’s up to them to decide if it works for them. If it doesn’t work they can switch again.

GSM-in-FL You’re sharing that cell tower’s 10Gbps pipe with thousands of other people in most cases.

Depending on the location as the tower may not have thousands of other people in range to service, but you well know that with all of your posts in Reddit Cellmapper in support of wireless providers.

GSM-in-FL

MacLeech That includes Comcast, FIOS, and ALL residential providers.

They don’t deliberately throttle like the wireless carriers do. Node congestion is different from deliberate throttling.

Show me where Comcast’s website says you will be throttled after using 1.2TB per month, or that you may get throttled to 512kbps during network congestion?

T-Mobile says exactly that: “During congestion, customers on this plan may notice speeds lower than other customers and further reduction if using >1.2TB/mo.”

AT&T is even worse: “AT&T may temporarily slow data speeds if the network is busy.  In addition, in very rare cases, if your data usage is contributing significantly to congestion on the wireless network, AT&T will slow your speed to as low as 512Kbps for a minimum of 30 minutes.”

The only cable company I’m aware that did this was Cox, they throttled the upload speed from 35Mb to 10Mb on congested nodes during Covid, but from what I can see they stopped doing that years ago. They removed all references to that from their website a while back.

MacLeech Some switch for the lowest overall price.

I’m not able to find anything cheaper than $30.

MacLeech If it doesn’t work they can switch again.

Most people don’t bother switching at all. Everyone I know with Comcast has had them for 20+ years, and everyone I know with a cell phone has had the same carrier for 20+ years also.

The postpaid churn rate for all 3 wireless carriers is well below 1%

Unless you’re moving, switching is a hassle for most people.

hex0101

GSM-in-FL yes, wireline has no deprioritization or throttling like the cellular based 5G providers do. The average person may not care, and just wants to do business with a different entity instead of with the cable company. (especially after having a poor customer experience). Heck, their data usage may be low anyway.

GSM-in-FL Everyone I know with Comcast has had them for 20+ years

AT&T Fiber got popular around here once it became available. In local Facebook groups, people talk about it, and I have never heard a major complaint especially relating to service quality/performance itself.

MacLeech

GSM-in-FL I’m not able to find anything cheaper than $30.

That doesn’t include mobile service for use outside the home, which almost everyone using the internet at home ALSO HAS. That is why I said lowest OVERALL price, which many get by dropping home wireline service altogether. A growing segment of the population doesn’t differentiate home from mobile internet service, they just call it internet service or wifi.

GSM-in-FL

hex0101 The average person may not care, and just wants to do business with a different entity instead of with the cable company.

That’s their choice. Irrational, but their choice.

I am surprised to see how heavily Starlink is marketing their services to areas that can get cable/fiber. I guess after their IPO, they’re getting pressure to get more customers, though I can’t imagine who would give up cable/fiber and switch to satellite, other than massive Elon Musk fans lol

My parents aren’t in a rural area at all, their town has Comcast and Shentel Glo Fiber being installed now, but they just got a Starlink flyer in the mail the other day, it seems to have been sent to everyone in the area.

My parents aren’t very tech-savvy, but even they were like “Why would we switch to satellite when we have cable?” lol

hex0101

GSM-in-FL but they just got a Starlink flyer in the mail the other day, it seems to have been sent to everyone in the area.

I got this too a few months ago lol
Addressed to “Current Resident”.

But I have also received Xfinity flyers before as well so

MacLeech

GSM-in-FL Some don’t give up their current internet provider, they buy service from another provider in addition to, for backup. Especially if they’ve had multiple problems with their service in the past or they work from home.

Tshirt

GSM-in-FL

Comcast prefers to keep their limitations a bit vague, but there are plenty of them and they vary by initial signup date and/or last upgrade of service.

https://www.xfinity.com/policies/mobile/broadband-disclosures

GSM-in-FL

MacLeech That doesn’t include mobile service for use outside the home, which almost everyone using the internet at home ALSO HAS. That is why I said lowest OVERALL price, which many get by dropping home wireline service altogether.

Oh, not this nonsense again.

A very small percentage of homes in the US are wireless only, with cell phones only and no home broadband at all.

As has already been pointed out, you can’t really watch TV that way, unless you love the amazing quality of 480p streaming. And the wireless carriers prohibit you from using the service as a home broadband replacement in their ToS.

It would be pretty slow and painful anyway. For example, here’s Verizon’s unlimited plan:

“Unlimited data is restricted to on-device smartphone usage. After 500GB of data during a monthly billing cycle, speeds reduced to 4 Mbps for remainder of that cycle. After exceeding 10GB/mo of Mobile Hotspot data, speeds reduced to 1 Mbps for the remainder of that monthly billing cycle.”

So… sure, you can use your hotspot for 10GB and then enjoy 1Mbps for the rest of the month lol

hex0101

GSM-in-FL My parents aren’t very tech-savvy, but even they were like “Why would we switch to satellite when we have cable?” lol

some people see the promo price or $45.00 off for the first three months (which is what the Starlink flyer said) and think of it to be a good deal especially compared to what they are paying for their current Internet service.

Yes NOW exists but it’s not advertised a whole lot.

GSM-in-FL

Tshirt Mobile Broadband Disclosures

That’s for Xfinity Mobile wireless service, not their cable internet.

GSM-in-FL

hex0101 Yes NOW exists but it’s not advertised a whole lot.

I see ads on TV for it all the time, and it’s listed alongside their postpaid plans when you shop for new service online.

hex0101

GSM-in-FL this is a mobile plan which is designed for a smartphone. With the dedicated 5G Home Internet service offerings you can stream 4K, video isn’t capped. (on most service offerings anyway)

You would typically bundle both services from your wireless provider. And not be using your smartphone as your home internet source.

GSM-in-FL

hex0101 this is a mobile plan which is designed for a smartphone. With the dedicated 5G Home Internet service offerings you can stream 4K, video isn’t capped.

He said some people cancel home broadband entirely to save money, and only use their phones for internet.

That’s true, but it’s not common at all.

MacLeech

GSM-in-FL A very small percentage of homes in the US are wireless only, with cell phones only and no home broadband at all.

As has already been pointed out, you can’t really watch TV that way, unless you love the amazing quality of 480p streaming. And the wireless carriers prohibit you from using the service as a home broadband replacement in their ToS.

Yet, all the cable providers are losing customers and it’s not all going to fiber. See the title of this thread.

Some users fine with 480p, some wireless providers downgrade video to 720p, some providers don’t downgrade at all depending on the plan/promo customers signed up for. Some users don’t really watch TV. Some aren’t home enough. Some buy FWA from their mobile provider for cheaper than what they were paying their cable provider and mobile provider. Some use mobile and their work connection. Lots of variations in internet usage and the differences add up.

Just because YOU don’t see it personally, doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

GSM-in-FL He said some people cancel home broadband entirely to save money

I didn’t say home broadband entirely, but that’s an option. I said:

MacLeech That is why I said lowest OVERALL price, which many get by dropping home wireline service altogether.

hex0101

GSM-in-FL yes it is on the website iirc. It may even be on the plan builder still. However, on TV and over the radio, I only see and hear advertisements for standard non-prepaid Xfinity Internet service. With 5 year price guarantee and fiber powered Wi-Fi.

Xfinity, Imagine That
How the ads end ^

GSM-in-FL

MacLeech Just because YOU don’t see it personally, doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

It’s about 15% of homes in the US. It does happen, but it’s not that common.

Because the experience is terrible, and it really doesn’t work that well lol

And if you use a ton of data, they’ll cancel your service for violating their ToS, since they clearly say it’s not intended for use as a home broadband replacement.

You guys need to get checked for cataracts if you think 480p looks acceptable lol

GSM-in-FL

MacLeech Some users fine with 480p, some wireless providers downgrade video to 720p, some providers don’t downgrade at all depending on the plan/promo customers signed up for.

You know who doesn’t need to throttle your video quality depending on how much money you give them…?

Cable/fiber lol

MacLeech

GSM-in-FL You know who doesn’t need to throttle your video quality depending on how much money you give them…?

Cable/fiber lol

Yet, as the title of this thread shows Comcast (actually all the cable providers) have been losing customers for 2+ years and fiber isn’t taking them all.

Also 1% churn in ATT wireless is around 300,000 customers a quarter. TMO is a little more and Verizon Wireless is a little more than that. Collectively they have 6 times more customers than the cable so more churned customers doesn’t look as bad.

GSM-in-FL

MacLeech Comcast (actually all the cable providers) have been losing customers for 2+ years and fiber isn’t taking them all.

Because fiber still isn’t available everywhere, and honestly, most people switching to fixed wireless didn’t read the fine print and don’t know about these limitations.

I see lots of posts on Reddit “Why does my video streaming look terrible and keep pausing to buffer? I just switched to 5G home internet!” or “Why can’t I be on a Zoom call without it always cutting out?”

Churn for fixed wireless is pretty high as tons of people end up switching back to cable.

FTTH churn is around 0.8% according to analysts, while fixed wireless churn is as high as 2%.

MacLeech Also 1% churn in ATT wireless is around 300,000 customers a quarter. TMO is a little more and Verizon Wireless is a little more than that.

Their postpaid churn for all 3 of them was around 0.85% as of Q2 2026. (Phones only, not including fixed wireless.)

Most people rarely or never switch wireless carriers.

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