Comcast’s Gigabit service will cost roughly a third of rent in parts of its coverage area

Comcast finally unveiled the cost of its blazing 2-gigabit-per-second Internet service: $299 per month, or $159 during a special promotional period.

This is all well and good, except that its coverage area is a portion of Tennessee, where the median household income is 45th in the nation at $41,693. In Nashville, the biggest city in the coverage area, that price is nearly a quarter of average rent. In Sumner County, which is also a coverage area, it costs more than a third of the median rent.

The number is steep, but gigabit service really isn’t there for the common folk. An article from the Nashville Business Journal shows that Comcast’s offering is a boon for the capital because it “attracts the young, tech-savvy entrepreneurial class the city wants.” The expansion also boosts the speeds of its lower tier services for free, and will add 250 and 150 megabits-per-second tiers.

In short, Nashville (and no doubt surrounding areas) sees the installation as an opportunity to turn cities into places where startups can prosper. Other folks will get benefit of that on their bills, to boot. A rising tide lifts all boats.

But Comcast’s gigabit service is still pricey, even for eager businesses. AT&T’s competing GigaPower service, which covers a limited number of Nashville residential units, starts as low as $120 per month. And Google Fiber, which is also set to debut in the Nashville area, costs as low as $70 in similarly-sized Austin.

➤ Comcast unveils pricing on gigabit service [The Tennessean]

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