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Businesses The Almighty Buck

Comcast Will Limit Xfinity Mobile Video Streaming Resolution (engadget.com) 87

Posted by msmash from the up-next dept.
Xfinity Mobile customers will soon see a change to their video streams. From a report: In the coming weeks, videos streamed using cellular data will be limited to 480p resolution, a move that other carriers including T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint have implemented for certain plans in the past. Videos streamed over WiFi won't be affected by the change and Comcast says that it will offer the option to stream 720p video over cellular data for an added fee later this year. Until that plan becomes available, customers who would like to continue streaming video at 720p will be able to do so for no charge, they'll just have to call the carrier in order to set that up. Additionally, users with an unlimited plan will see their hotspot speeds capped at 600 Kbps.
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Comcast Will Limit Xfinity Mobile Video Streaming Resolution More

Comcast Will Limit Xfinity Mobile Video Streaming Resolution

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  • People will freak out at this (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 02, 2018 @02:01PM (#56881304)

    Yet they'll not realize that it is essentially pointless because mobiles don't have a decent resolutions for useful HD, it's just crushed in to such a small screen.,
    480p is fine for mobiles.
    Only if you have a >10inch screen would HD make sense to even want.
    Of course, people will say "but I am using my phone as an internet connection for laptop", yeah well pay up bucko, that wasn't in your terms.

    Still a dick move, but this is what you get when you stand back and let your communications regulator fuck your country over instead of taking the incompetent scummy corrupt pricks to supreme court.

    • Honestly this is just Comcast marketing being completely inept. T-Mobile manages to sell this behavior as a feature: Use our amazing video shrinkifyer and save your data! Comcast comes off more like: YOU USE TOO MUCH DATA. COMCAST SMASH. GIVE MORE MONEY.

    • Yet they'll not realize that it is essentially pointless because mobiles don't have a decent resolutions for useful HD, it's just crushed in to such a small screen.,
      480p is fine for mobiles.
      Only if you have a >10inch screen would HD make sense to even want.

      Or using VR lens over your smartphone.

      • Having a VR lens won't improve your screen's resolution.

        • Having a VR lens won't improve your screen's resolution.

          The point is resolution matters when your smartphone is used in this way. 480 ... 1080.... 2160 ... are all quite noticeable leaps in quality in VR.

          480 looks like total crap in VR. Contrary to OPs assertion 480 is far from sufficient.

    • Like the Supreme Court would side with the consumer.

    • I can definitely tell the difference between 480p and 720p on my phone and it's the smaller screened google pixel, not even one of the large screen phones. I'd say about half the videos I'm watching in the browser, it's to grainy, I go through the effory of switching to the youtube app so I can get 720p. My phone would be a lot less useful if capped at 480.
    • 480p isn't that all that great for most phones now. The base line should now be 720p. Most phone now a days have 1080p panels or higher
      I can tell the difference between 480p, 720p, and 1080p on my phone.

    • Yet they'll not realize that it is essentially pointless because mobiles don't have a decent resolutions for useful HD

      Not entirely sure what kind of a shitty backwards phone you have along with your desperate need for an updated prescription but even the difference between 720p and 1080p is easily visible on a mobile phone screen.

    • 480p is fine for mobiles. Only if you have a >10inch screen would HD make sense to even want.

      Speak for yourself!

      There is a world of difference between 480p and 720p on an iPhone 6/8 Plus or iPhone X. And you can even tell the difference between 720p and 1080p with most content. The difference between 900p and 1080p is hard to notice, but do not say that it requires a 10" screen to want actual HD content. You must have crummy vision?

  • So not only does a mobile user need to pay T-Mobile, Sprint, etc for data, but then they need pay Comcast for the ability to use that data if it's >480p?!

    Wow. Good thing the FCC / FTC / current administration all have the consumers back.........

    • So not only does a mobile user need to pay T-Mobile, Sprint, etc for data, but then they need pay Comcast for the ability to use that data if it's >480p?!

      Wow. Good thing the FCC / FTC / current administration all have the consumers back.........

      Okay, so quick question: would the Net Neutrality rules, as implemented by the FCC before the recent walk-back, have prevented this?

      Asking for a friend...

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by r_naked ( 150044 )

        Probably not. They could probably use the "reasonable network management" clause to justify this.

        However, what Title II would have prevented was what is going to come next: "Pay $XX.YY and get the Comcast Streaming Service(c) package! Stream in GLORIOUS HD! Package includes Netfix, and HBO. Package subject to change without notice."

        Paid fast lanes.....

        -- Brian

        • TFA already said they are going to charge extra for 720p streaming.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by r_naked ( 150044 )

            TFA already said they are going to charge extra for 720p streaming.

            If that is across the board, then that STILL would fall under the guise of network management.

            When they charge extra for specific services, THAT is NOT network management.

            Now, do I know that they are going to do this -- nope. However, if anyone here thinks that Comcast ISN'T going to do that -- you are on crack.

            -- Brian

  • See, we didn't need NN! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    "Just look at all of the innovation in service pricing we've unleashed! Clearly, this will lead to better service and consumer experiences. This is the kind of greatness you can have without all of that pesky bad government regulation."

    - Ajit Pai Verizon Lawyer, FCC Chairman.

  • 600 Kbps? other networks give full speed till about 20G.

    Any ways what is next at home speeds caped at say 5meg for non Comcast network useless you pay $50/mo month or get multi gig at $300/mo?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by msauve ( 701917 )
      Yea, "users with an unlimited plan will see their hotspot speeds capped at 600 Kbps." So, IOW, it is not unlimited, there being a very strict and specific limit.

  • I predict sometime soon as fragmentation of video services and content continue we will start to see video services changing their systems to prevent providers from screwing with them to gain competitive advantage.

  • Even in Africa they have unlimited 2Mbps connections

    • Since I'm posting this from an inexpensive symmetrical Gigabit connection at my house in the USA, pretty sure you meant to say Comcast mobile video, not USA as a whole.

  • Additionally, users with an unlimited plan will see their hotspot speeds capped at 600 Kbps

    But didn't the FCC say that we didn't need a higher definition of broadband because people could use mobile for high speed access?

  • This is going into play so that, later on, they will announce this ' limitation ' will not impact customers who are streaming from Xfinity's own video services.

  • So, if I got this straight,in order to get a decent resolution on a cellular connected laptop or tablet, one now needs to first stream it to their desktop at home, and then through a VPN it to another endpoint site, and then finally to their laptop. Yes, I can really see this improving service quality. Thanks Comcast. /s

    • You think that Xfinity is still going to allow VPNs or uploading enough data from your desktop to stream? That's cute.

      But in all seriousness, your solution probably will work until just after the 2020 election. After all, why risk making it a voting issue?

  • If the streaming is over HTTPS they shouldn't be able to throttle based on video resolution. Yes, they can throttle based on data rates and the source network address but that's still going to be a crude mechanism. Constant quality video should have variable bitrates anyway.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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