Cord Cutting 2.0 Hits Comcast Hard

telcodad · 2025-04-07T11:51:16+00:00

According to a recent Cord Cutters News survey, less than half of cord cutters now use cable TV providers for even their home internet: Cord Cutting 2.0 Hits Comcast, Spectrum, & Other Cable TV Companies Hard As Their Internet Market Share Drops Below 50% With Cord Cutters By Luke Bouma, Cord Cutters News - April 7, 2025 https://cordcuttersnews.com/cord-cutting-2-0-hits-comcast-spectrum-other-cable-tv-companies-hard-as-their-internet-market-share-drops-below-50-with-cord-cutters/ Cable TV companies are facing a brutal reckoning in 2025 as the phenomenon dubbed “Cord Cutting 2.0” accelerates, pushing their dominance in the internet service market to new lows. According to a recent survey of over 1,900 cord cutters conducted by Cord Cutters News, less than half of cord cutters—42.7%—now rely on cable TV providers for their home internet, a steep drop from 51.1% in 2023. This seismic shift highlights a growing exodus from traditional cable internet services, driven by the rise of fiber, 5G home internet, and alternative providers, leaving industry giants like Comcast and Spectrum scrambling to adapt. The survey paints a stark picture of a rapidly changing landscape. In 2025, fiber-optic internet has surged to claim 33.4% of cord cutters, up from 26.7% two years ago, reflecting its growing availability and appeal with faster, more reliable speeds. Meanwhile, 5G home internet providers like T-Mobile and Verizon have captured 16.3% of the market, a notable jump from 11.5% in 2023, as affordable plans and easy setup lure tech-savvy households. SpaceX’s Starlink, while still a niche player, holds steady at 0.8%, catering primarily to rural users with its satellite-based service. The remaining 6.8% of cord cutters turn to a mix of other options, including DSL and smaller regional providers. This data underscores the evolution of “Cord Cutting 2.0,” comes as Americans extend their cord cutting beyond ditching cable TV subscriptions to abandoning cable internet cutting times with companies like Comcast and Spectrum altogether. The survey, conducted in March 2025, reflects responses from a diverse pool of readers who’ve ditched traditional pay-TV services, offering a glimpse into the broader trend reshaping the telecom industry. In 2023, cable TV internet still held a slim majority at 51.1%, buoyed by its widespread infrastructure and bundled offerings. But the past two years have seen fiber providers like AT&T and Google Fiber expand aggressively, while 5G home internet has gained traction with promotional pricing—often under $50 a month—and no-equipment headaches. For cable giants, the numbers spell trouble. Comcast reported losing 389,000 broadband subscribers in Q4 2024 alone, while Charter’s Spectrum shed 291,000, trends that analysts say are likely to worsen in 2025. Indeed, the average cable internet bill now hovers around $85 monthly, compared to $60 for fiber and $45 for 5G plans, per industry data. The survey’s breakdown for 2025 is as follows: Cable TV Internet: 42.7% Fiber: 33.4% 5G Home Internet (e.g., T-Mobile, Verizon): 16.3% Starlink (SpaceX): 0.8% Other: 6.8% Compare that to 2023: Cable TV Internet: 51.1% Fiber: 26.7% 5G Home Internet: 11.5% Other (including Starlink, DSL, etc.): 10.7% The shift isn’t just about cost—reliability and flexibility matter too. Fiber’s symmetrical speeds appeal to remote workers and gamers, while 5G’s plug-and-play setup suits renters and mobile lifestyles. Starlink, though a small slice, fills a critical gap for rural cord cutters where cable never reached. As Cord Cutting 2.0 gains momentum, cable companies face an existential challenge: adapt or fade. Some are pivoting to offer their own fiber services, but for many, it may be too little, too late. For now, the 2025 survey signals a clear message—less than half of cord cutters are sticking with cable, and that number may keep falling as alternatives continue to rise.

telcodad

Yup, not looking good for Comcast’s cable internet service:

T-Mobile Added 424,000 5G Home Internet Customers in the First Three Months of 2025
By Jess Barnes, Cord Cutters News - April 25, 2025
https://cordcuttersnews.com/t-mobile-added-424000-5g-home-internet-customers-in-the-first-three-months-of-2025/

This week, T-Mobile released its Q1 2025 financials, reporting net additions in every customer category. The company added 424,000 net high-speed internet customers in the first quarter, bringing its total internet customer count to 6.9 million. …

kmax

Interesting conundrum that Comcast got themselves into.

You got a ton of sunk costs…(aging infrastructure they have failed to invest to, technology, etc.) all on account of stock buybacks, shareholder value, quarter returns (Capex, what’s that?? let’s bleed our high ARPU people) which results into effing over the customer.

Glorious.

telcodad

kmax … (aging infrastructure they have failed to invest to, technology, etc.)

Well, I wouldn’t say “aging infrastructure they have failed to invest to, technology, etc.” as Comcast has regularly upgraded areas of their system/plant - first from just coax to Hybrid Fiber-Coax (HFC), CMTS upgrades, node and line-amp upgrades (extended frequencies to 1 GHZ+, mid-split, and D4.0 FDX, etc.

Comcast was the first to move to D3.0, IPV6, D3.1, low-latency, and now D4.0.

Got to give them credit where credit’s due! 😉

kmax

telcodad

I’ll take a waltz through my hood and snap pics.

lol, no, filed a FCC complaint. They haven’t buried a coax for over 6 months now. This franchise couldn’t care less.

Man-of-Leisure

telcodad Yup, not looking good for Comcast’s cable internet service:

T-Mobile Added 424,000 5G Home Internet Customers in the First Three Months of 2025

Kind of surprising that people are signing up for $50-70 fixed wireless over $30-45 Comcast prepaid.

Comcast needs to market prepaid a lot more heavily if people are still picking fixed wireless instead.

Devious

Man-of-Leisure Kind of surprising that people are signing up for $50-70 fixed wireless over $30-45 Comcast prepaid.

Must be mostly people who do not game as wireless sucks for gaming with the added latency.

Donut417

Man-of-Leisure I’ve said it before. Some times it’s about not wanting to do business with a company. Comcast has spent decades pissing people off, now there is a competitor, they want to try to see if the competitor is any better.

kmax

What is also funny, is they are setting themselves up for Epic Failure 2.0 with their mobile offerings.

Sure, get the free unlimited line…now see what they give ya/bill ya a year later. The upgrade deals are done/a joke now. So, in another year, expect another exodus of customers from their mobile side.

And it is a hell of lot easier for folks to bail on cell phone providers to chase the next shiny thing.

jweaver

telcodad they don’t deserve any credit. Should’ve already moved everything to vCMTS at least 5 years ago, making the CMTS upgrade point moot. All they really did was line card updates, which is more of a band aid than anything.

Man-of-Leisure

Donut417 Not sure why. My family has had Comcast since 2002 and it’s worked well since then. We’ve had very few outages, and they were all fixed pretty quickly.

kmax I also don’t understand why people would sign up for Xfinity Mobile. It’s not even that cheap, and you’re required to also be a Comcast internet customer.

You can get the same coverage on Visible for $25/month, and have any home internet you want.

Donut417

Man-of-Leisure Not sure why. My family has had Comcast since 2002 and it’s worked well since then. We’ve had very few outages, and they were all fixed pretty quickly.

Why. Lets see hear. Constant price hikes. I remember when the modem was free, then it was a few dollars, nows its $15 a month. We have had numerous employees lie to us. We had a tech install our digital voice service wrong. Not to mention they auto paid the wrong amount out of my sisters account before. Then lied to her so she would pick up a Mobile line, which then took 30 calls to fix. Just because your relationship with Comcast has been sunshine, rainbows and unicorns, doesnt mean everyone’s has.

Man-of-Leisure

Donut417 Constant price hikes.

Looking at an old Comcast press release, they were charging $68/month for 4Mbps in 2004. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $118 today.

Today, they charge $30 for 100Mb. I’d say that’s pretty good.

Prices have only gone down over time.

A T1 line used to cost at least $500 per month just for 1.5Mb speeds.

People were paying $50/month in some cases just for 56kb dial-up access.

Donut417 I remember when the modem was free, then it was a few dollars, nows its $15 a month.

You have the option to switch to Prepaid, or the 5 year price lock, which both include unlimited data and a free modem.

Donut417

Man-of-Leisure like usual you’re missing the point. Decades of bending us over the barrel. Regardless of recent changes they are still the same old greedy bastards. Mountains of bad experiences can’t be swept away that easily.

lesmikesell

Man-of-Leisure You have the option to switch to Prepaid, or the 5 year price lock, which both include unlimited data and a free modem.

Except you can’t ‘switch’ to those. You have to be a new customer.

Man-of-Leisure

lesmikesell Except you can’t ‘switch’ to those. You have to be a new customer.

They said the 5 year price lock will be available to current customers soon.

And switching to Prepaid isn’t difficult. You just cancel postpaid and sign up for it. You can even walk into a store and do it the same day.

Man-of-Leisure

Donut417 Decades of bending us over the barrel.

How?

Donut417

Man-of-Leisure Ive Come to the conclusion that you either work for Comcast, because you boot lick for them hardcore, or you own a lot of Comcast stock. Either way Im done with the discussion. Ive said my peace, you can either accept my opinion or not.

Man-of-Leisure

Donut417 Ive Come to the conclusion that you either work for Comcast, because you boot lick for them hardcore, or you own a lot of Comcast stock.

Neither. I just quoted the actual prices they charge.

$68/month in 2004 for 4Mbps

$30/month today for 100Mbps

If I owned stock, I’d want them to be charging higher prices, right?

px_eliezer_

Man-of-Leisure You can get the same coverage on Visible for $25/month

I pay roughly 10 bucks a month each for various services: AT&T through RedPocket, Verizon through US Mobile, Verizon through a TracFone/QVC deal, T-Mobile Connect…

No, it’s not “unlimited” but it’s way more than I need… 🙂

lesmikesell

Man-of-Leisure How?

By treating loyal customers much worse than new accounts. Especially the last year or two when it has been pretty much impossible to get discounts unless you cancel first.

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