xfinity type division industry telecommunications founded april 2 1981 ; 35 years ago 1981 04 02 1 key people brian l. roberts chairman neil smit ceo products cable television broadband internet voip phone home security parent comcast subsidiaries comcast business comcast spotlight comcast wholesale website www.xfinity.com comcast cable communications is the cable television division of comcast . the division primarily markets its consumer oriented services under the brand xfinity . comcast cable s ceo is neil smit its chairman is brian l. roberts and its cfo is catherine avgiris . 2 comcast cable went from 23.7 billion in revenue in 2007 3 to 48.1 billion in 2013 . 4 contents 1 branding 2 internet provider 2.1 comcast internet availability by state 2.2 xfinity wifi 2.3 data cap 2.4 network management and peering 3 land line telephone 4 cable television 4.1 retransmission fees 5 home security and automation 6 comcast business 7 official sponsors 7.1 mlb 7.2 nfl 7.3 nba 7.4 nhl 7.5 mls 7.6 motorsports 7.7 college sports 8 references branding edit previous comcast logos comcast logo from 1969 to 1999 before it was replaced with the crescent logo a variation of the comcast logo used between 1999 and 2011 . still used on comcast sportsnet channels . in 2010 comcast began promoting xfinity the company s rebranded trademark for triple play services in comcast s largest markets including the company s digital cable cable internet access and cable telephone services and radio . 5 comcast digital cable was renamed xfinity tv comcast digital voice became xfinity voice and comcast high speed internet became xfinity internet . business services remains under the comcast name . 6 a marketing push involving the new xfinity brand took place during the 2010 winter olympics coverage on nbc which was in the early stages of a merger with comcast . 7 the xfinity rebranding has been controversial as a purported effort to sidestep the negativity of the comcast brand . 8 9 10 in february 2010 time listed xfinity at number 2 in their top 10 worst corporate name changes list . 11 internet provider edit comcast internet availability by state edit comcast availability map by zip code state percentage of state s population with access to comcast 12 district of columbia 97.9 % massachusetts 85.4 % utah 78.5 % illinois 75.9 % colorado 75.9 % washington 73.1 % pennsylvania 69.1 % maryland 69 % new hampshire 68.8 % michigan 60.3 % oregon 57.9 % indiana 57.7 % georgia 56.4 % tennessee 56.0 % new mexico 55.4 % florida 52.7 % connecticut 50.6 % minnesota 45.6 % virginia 41.5 % mississippi 31.9 % california 31.8 % comcast is the largest provider of cable internet access in the us servicing 40 % of the market in 2011 . 13 as of june 30 2013 comcast has 19.986 million high speed internet customers . 14 according to the comcast high speed internet terms of service residential customers are provided with dynamic ip addresses . 15 comcast began offering internet services in late 1996 when it helped found the home network which sold internet service through comcast s cable lines . the agreement continued after home s merger with excite . 16 when the combined company excite home filed for bankruptcy in 2002 comcast moved their roughly 950 000 internet customers completely onto their own network . 17 available comcast high speed internet plans name download speed upload speed connection type notes economy plus 3 mbit s 768 kbit s docsis 3.0 18 no longer available in some markets . internet 5 5 mbit s 1 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 performance starter 6 mbit s 1 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 lowest tier offered in some markets . performance starter 10 mbit s 2 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 lowest tier offered in some markets . internet essentials 10 mbit s 1 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 only for families with at least one child that qualifies for the free school lunch program . 19 performance 25 mbit s 5 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 performance 50 mbit s 5 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 performance pro 75 mbit s 5 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 performance pro 100 mbit s 5 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 blast 50 mbit s 10 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 in some areas blast customers have been upgraded to extreme 105 speeds . 20 blast 75 mbit s 10 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 in most service areas blast 50 mbit s customers have been upgraded to blast 75 mbit s speeds . blast 105 mbit s 10 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 blast pro 150 mbit s 10 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 blast pro 200 mbit s 10 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 extreme 105 105 mbit s 20 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 in some areas extreme 105 customers have been upgraded to extreme 150 speeds . 20 extreme 150 150 mbit s 20 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 not available in all areas . extreme 250 250 mbit s 25 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 not available in all areas . extreme 300 300 mbit s 25 mbit s docsis 3.0 18 not available in all areas . extreme 505 505 mbit s 105 mbit s ftth not available in all areas . gigabit 1 gbit s 35 mbit s docsis 3.1 21 not available in all areas . gigabit pro 2 gbit s 2 gbit s ftth not available in all areas . speeds are given in megabits per second where 1 megabit 0.125 megabytes 125000 bytes . along with the price of internet subscriptions comcast charges users an additional 10.00 month to rent a cable modem . 22 this fee has been seen by some as unfair 22 23 but is waived for customers who buy their own modems . 24 comcast charges 20 for internet installation 25 but the fee is waived for customers who opt to install themselves . 26 in 2011 comcast launched its internet essentials program which offers low cost internet service to families with children who qualify for free or reduced price school lunches . the u.s. federal communications commission fcc required this budget service as a condition for allowing comcast s acquisition of nbcuniversal in january 2011 . 27 of an estimated 2.60 million households eligible for the program about 220 000 households participate in the program as of june 2013 . 28 29 30 a similar program is available from other internet providers through the non profit connect2compete.org . 30 31 comcast has stated that the program will accept new customers for a total of three years . 27 in march 2014 as he met with fcc concerning the time warner cable merger comcast vice president david cohen told reporters that the internet essentials program will be extended indefinitely . 32 xfinity wifi edit in early 2013 comcast began broadcasting hotspot services using xfinity branded equipment from customer s homes . specifically this xfinity branded equipment is the combination cable modem and router that the customer needs to access the internet . this is the situation for every customer unless they provide their own equipment . these combination cable modem routers are used to provide other comcast subscribers with free wifi access at over 500 000 locations across the united states . xfinity wifi has been an issue because the cable modem router equipment that comcast provides to residential customers in their homes not only provides wifi access to the customer but also transmits a separate wifi channel labeled xfinitywifi . it is this xfinitywifi channel that provides the xfinity wifi to other comcast subscribers . because the xfinity modem router equipment in the customer s home is now supporting both the customer s private wifi capability and a public hot spot there are both security privacy and performance concerns . comcast claims customers internet speeds are not affected by the hotspot feature being enabled on their equipment and may opt out of the program anytime . customers can begin using xfinity wifi before installation of their service . data cap edit initially comcast had a policy of terminating broadband customers who use excessive bandwidth a term the company refused to define in its terms of service which once said only that a customer s use should not represent in the sole judgment of comcast an overly large burden on the network . 15 company responses to press inquiries suggested a limit of several hundred gigabytes per month . 33 34 in september 2007 comcast spokesman charlie douglas said the company defined excessive use as the equivalent of 30 000 songs 250 000 pictures or 13 million emails in a month . 35 comcast introduced a 250 gb monthly bandwidth cap to its broadband service on october 1 2008 36 combining both upload and download towards the monthly limit . if a user exceeded the cap three times within six months the customer s residential services may have been terminated for one year . 37 a spokesperson stated that this policy had been in place for some time but was the first time comcast has announced a specific usage limit . 38 as the cap provoked a strongly negative reaction from some 39 comcast decided to modify its policy in 2012 . under the new system the cap was increased to 300gb in some markets and consumers who exceed this limit are charged 10 for every 50 gb above the limit . 40 41 42 customers could purchase a 30 add on for unlimited data . 43 in a leaked memo comcast employees were instructed to state that the policy is for fairness and providing a more flexible policy to our customers and not for controlling network congestion . 44 on april 27 2016 comcast announced that it would raise its data cap in trial markets to 1 tb by june 2016 ; the company stated that more than 99 percent of our customers do not come close to using a terabyte . the decision to raise the cap came following an implication of increased scrutiny surrounding them by the fcc in its approval of charter communications purchase of time warner cable the commission stipulated that charter must not implement caps . as previously a 10 overage fee is charged for every 50 gb above the limit and customers can purchase an add on for unlimited data but its price was increased to 50 . 43 in october 2016 comcast announced that bandwidth caps would be implemented in the majority of its markets outside of new york and the northeast beginning november 1 2016 . 45 the data usage plan does not currently apply to the gigabit pro tier of service business internet customers customers on bulk internet agreements and customers with prepaid internet . 46 network management and peering edit in september 2007 a rumor emerged among tech blogs that comcast was throttling or even blocking internet traffic transmitted via the bittorrent protocol . 47 comcast vehemently denied the accusations of blocking traffic stating that comcast does not has not and will not block any web sites or online applications including peer to peer services and that we engage in reasonable network management . 48 after more widespread confirmation that comcast was throttling bittorrent traffic 49 comcast said it occasionally delayed bittorrent traffic in order to speed up other kinds of data but declined to go into specifics . 50 following the announcement of an official investigation by the fcc 51 comcast voluntarily ended the traffic discrimination . 52 the fcc investigation concluded that comcast s throttling policies were illegal . 53 however after filing a lawsuit in september 2008 54 comcast overturned the illegality of its network management in 2010 as the court ruled that the fcc lacked the authority to enforce net neutrality under the fcc s then current regulatory policy . the court suggested instead of its current framework the fcc move