Comcast insiders have informed Broadband Reports that the cable giant will soon be launching an online backup and storage service called Comcast Secure Backup and Share, for which customers can pay a monthly or yearly fee. The plan is to offer several storage options: 10GB worth of storage for $4.99/mo or $49.99 per year; 50GB for $9.99/mo or $99.99 year; or 200GB for $19.99 a month. When launched, users should be able to try it for one month free.

Once the service is purchased by a primary Comcast account holder, everyone in the family can use the service with their own individual "lockers," though their use contributes to the storage total. If the Comcast broadband account is canceled, users have fourteen days before all content is deleted permanently.

The insider notes that due to copyright concerns, the service will allow users to back up music files, but they won't be able to share them with others. Shared files can of course be accessed from anywhere there's a broadband connection. Comcast tells us this service will contribute towards Comcast's new 250GB monthly cap. We've obtained some screenshots for the service (1, 2, 3) which is tentatively scheduled for launch sometime in late February or early March.

Given the low price of storage and remote storage devices, the $240 per year you'd pay for 200GB worth of storage might be better spent on a low cost NAS (network attached storage) device -- many of which offer storage in the terabyte range for less than $500 -- with no restrictions on what kind of media you can share.

Update: A Comcast spokesman in the comments below confirms that the service will count against your monthly cap. That's probably a necessary move by Comcast, given that excluding this service would have riled up the network neutrality brigades. Still, including it would seem to limit its usefulness.