Comcast is afraid of Google Fiber

[Commentary] Comcast is worried that real competition is creeping in on its markets, so the company is offering customers in Atlanta a new choice as part of its gigabit internet trial: sign a three-year contract, or pay twice as much with a data cap.

Comcast's promotional price of $70 is the same as Google Fiber's regular price, but locks customers in for two years longer than what Google is asking. The move is clearly designed to deny Google Fiber customers as it enters Comcast's turf, and Comcast hasn't been shy about it; the ISP has been dumping flyers that say "don't fall for the hype" on Atlanta residents, and even set up a website that offers silly cherry-picked facts about how the services compare.

But Comcast conveniently neglects to mention Google Fiber's real competitive advantages in its chart, which are the only ones that really matter: the price customers have to pay and the quality of service they get. Fiber is cheaper, doesn't lock customers into a 36-month contract, and is actually faster, since Comcast's gigabit plan only offers 35Mbps upload speeds. To get symmetrical speeds, customers would have to opt for Comcast's "Gigabit Pro" service, which offers 2 gigabit upload/download speeds. That plan costs $299.95 a month.

because it's afraid of competition, which is why it tried to buy Time Warner Cable instead of competing with it.