Comcast is extending its line of low-cost, Now-branded connectivity products, introducing new prepaid home internet and mobile services.
Now Internet will challenge the fixed wireless access competition by delivering 100 Mbps of unlimited hot download action for $30 a month, or 200 Mbps for $45 a month, all over an Xfinity gateway.
And Now Mobile will provided unlimited 5G data, voice and text for $25 a month per line, while also offering connectivity to Comcast's network of 23 million WiFi hotspots nationwide.
The two prepaid offerings — which can be paused or cancelled at any time sans contracts — join Now TV, the skinny virtual MVPD that bundles more than 40 linear cable networks, along with Peacock Premium, for $20 a month; and Now WiFi Pass, which gives users unlimited access to Comcast hotspots for $20 a month.
With the Republican-led House opting to no longer fund the Affordable Connectivity Program, and the ACP set to run out of money this month, Comcast is pitching Now as an affordable connectivity alternative.
“Consumers have told us they want low-cost, easy-to-use connectivity and entertainment options that deliver the same reliability and consistency of our leading Xfinity services,” Dave Watson, president and CEO of connectivity and platforms for Comcast, said in a statement. “With Now, we’ve developed a new product construct from the ground up to be simple and easy for anybody who wants Internet, mobile or TV on their own terms without sacrificing quality. It rounds out our product offering to provide something for every consumer segment of the market and plays to our strengths in superior network capabilities, WiFi and streaming.”
There is also the specter of fixed wireless access competition, with Verizon Communications and T-Mobile undercutting the growth of cable broadband with wireless home internet services that run about $50 a month.
Comcast is also pitching Now Internet as being more reliable than FWA.
