If you're a Comcast Xfinity Internet customer, you may have gotten a nice surprise recently -- faster internet for no charge.
And for some users, your new speed is double the speed you had previously.
In a press release about the upgrade, Comcast noted several changes had occurred. The Connect level doubled from 75Mbps to 150Mbps, the Connect More tier went from 200Mbps to 300Mbps, the Fast tier went from 400Mbps to 500Mbps, and Xfinity Prepaid jumped from 50Mbps to 200Mbps.
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The company made a similar move in the fall of 2022.
According to Emily Waldorf, Comcast's senior vice president of consumer internet services, the changes come as Congress debates ending the Affordable Connectivity Program, which allows certain eligible households to receive a discount of up to$30 per month toward internet service.
Without Congressional approval for more funding, the ACP could end as early as April.
The average customer, Comcast pointed out, has over 30 connected devices in their home, which is an increase of more than a third since 2021. And with a rise in virtual schooling and online medical appointments plus streaming and gaming, people are using more data than ever. "We have really leaned into boosting speeds for these customers so that they can take advantage of these new capabilities," Waldorf wrote.
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The company says these speed increases were available largely in part due to its fiber-based network that's in more than 60 million businesses and homes across the U.S. combined with "years of research, technological breakthroughs, and massive investments, more than$20 billion since 2018 alone, in development and infrastructure."
If you're curious to know whether or not you got the upgrade, there are several tools available to check your internet speed.