Xfinity Mobile is a new player in the wireless space and includes millions of WiFi hotspots to keep you connected wherever you are. Here’s how Xfinity Mobile compares to the four major wireless carriers when it comes to price, network, plan types, contracts, and other features.
Explore Xfinity Mobile plans.
Price
Xfinity Mobile’s service is significantly cheaper than those of the top four major carriers — one line on Xfinity’s unlimited plan (see Plan Types below) is almost half the cost of the same package from competitors.
Network
Xfinity Mobile operates as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) and provides access to its extensive network of over 18 million WiFi hotspots. Your phone calls are always sent over the cell towers, but your data gets prioritized on one of Xfinity’s hotspots. This will likely save you money on data (85% of Xfinity Mobile customers do). It also means you can you get faster data speeds in some areas, as WiFi is generally faster than even 4G LTE.
WiFi hotspots also help with security. Cellular and WiFi use has more than doubled in recent years, and in an effort to always stay connected, many of us use public WiFi networks to reduce our data usage. However, these networks aren’t always secure, and consumers’ increasing awareness of this risk has led many people to avoid them altogether.
Xfinity offers two types of WiFi hotspots: Xfinity WiFi and Xfinity. The second supports 128-bit encryption at sign-in, similar to the encryption used by financial services apps and websites, to encrypt the traffic passing between your device and the WiFi hotspot. This helps you stay connected and secure.
Plan Types
Xfinity Mobile offers straightforward, customizable plans, so you only pay for the data you use. Where other carriers offer multiple tiers and confusing structures, Xfinity Mobile offers three simple options:
- Free, unlimited calling and text messaging with no data
- Free, unlimited calling and text messaging with per-gigabyte data
- Free, unlimited calling and text messaging with unlimited data
You can add extra lines to your account for no extra fee, and the price per line remains the same. For example, a family of four could have two unlimited lines and two 1Gb lines. The only prerequisite is that you need be an Xfinity Internet customer.
Contracts
While most carriers have done away with their contracts, Xfinity Mobile has never required a long-term contract for its wireless mobile service. Cancel within 30 days of your next billing cycle and just pay for that month (plus any device payments). You can also easily move between plans month by month. Know you’re likely to have a high data month? Bump up to unlimited then drop back down to your regular usage plan the following month.
You also won’t be cut off, slowed down, or need to log into an account to “upgrade” your usage to avoid overage charges, as other carriers make you do. If you use up your regular data allotment, simply pay for each additional gigabyte — no extra fees or “overage” charges.
Extra Features
Xfinity Mobile has some other added benefits to consider:
- Faster speeds with unlimited data: On the unlimited data plan, you can use up to 20Gb at 4G LTE speeds. After that, your speed may drop down, but unlike all the other carriers, Xfinity Mobile’s “slower” speed is 1.5 Mbps.
- Faster data: Because Xfinity uses WiFi hotspots and cell towers, when you’re on WiFi you may see a substantial increase in speed. None of the other top wireless carriers offer this feature.
- Faster hotspots: Nearly all the major carriers put limits on how many gigabytes you can use when tethering (sharing your phone’s Internet connection with other devices, such as laptops and tablets). But with Xfinity, you can use all your unlimited data on tethering (up to the 20Gb at high speeds).
- Streaming options: As an Xfinity X1 subscriber, you can stream live television, on demand content, and recorded shows on a smartphone using the Xfinity Stream App.
- Find your phone: Use your X1 Voice Remote to find your phone! Now that’s priceless.
Learn more about whether an Xfinity Mobile plan may be right for you.
