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Do you have Xfinity cable service? If yes, Xfinity Mobile lets you save on your cellular phone bill, with the basic plan from as low as $15. The Comcast brand is also one of the few MVNOs on the lower QCI level that brings you high-priority service. But this is something many Xfinity Mobile reviews online don’t touch on, despite being crucial.
In short, Quality of service class identifiers(or QCI values) is what determines the priority level of your mobile service during traffic congestion. Verizon, the network Xfinity Mobile use for native coverage, has two main priority levels for consumer service. It has QCI 9 and QCI 8 (QCI 7 is only available to Public Safety users, such as police accounts).
A lower QCI value usually has the carrier in question on the higher priority level of the underlying network. And this means your service, like with some Xfinity Mobile phones, will have better data speeds than the carriers on the higher QCI values.
More on that, read on my full Xfinity Mobile review below.
Xfinity Mobile Reviews: An Overview of the Cell Phone Service
| Feature | Xfinity Mobile |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Parent Company | Comcast |
| Carrier Network | Verizon |
| eSIM Support | YES |
| 5G Data Speeds | 4000+Mbps |
| 4G Data Speeds | 100+Mbps |
| Lowest Phone Plan | $15 |
| Unlimited Minutes | YES |
| Unlimited data | YES (with cap) |
| Family Discount | YES |
| Free Mexico/ Canada Call | N/A |
| WiFi Calling | YES |
| Mobile Hotspot | YES |
| Video Streaming | YES |
| Phone Unlock Period | After 60 Days |
| Extra Perks | Free unlimited Xfinity WiFi Hotspots |
Xfinity Mobile is still, in a way, a new product of Comcast Communications. It started operating in 2017, over three decades after the establishment of the Comcast cable service (now operating as Xfinity).
In my summary chart above, we can agree the Xfinity cell phone service still has many areas that need improving. But it still does have many lovely features, starting with extensive coverage through the Verizon towers.
When comparing Xfinity Mobile vs Verizon a few days ago, we concluded the two bring you service even in rural locations. And this is an area T-Mobile and its MVNOs are still struggling, in particular in the Western and Northwestern regions.
Other Pros and cons of Xfinity Mobile you should know if looking to join them include:
Pros:
- It has amazing data speeds
- Offers wonderful phone deals
- Include free domestic roaming
- Now supports smartwatch service
- You can call & text via WiFi for free
- It has unlimited access to Xfinity WiFi Hotspots
Cons:
- It throttles data on all phone plans
- Has a high risk of overage fees on By the Gig
- It performs a (soft) credit check when you apply
Xfinity Mobile Reviews: Features & Perks of the Cell Phone Service
Not Available to Everyone
Sadly, yes, Xfinity Mobile isn’t for all people. You can only qualify if you have Xfinity internet service, which we saw in the Frontier vs Xfinity review can be either on fiber or ADSL technology. And even after joining, you must maintain your cable service (internet or TV package), or else your bill attracts a $25 surcharge fee.
Another thing, it will be tricky to get Xfinity Mobile cell phone service if you have bad credit. When you apply to join, the company will perform a (soft) credit check to determine your creditworthiness- the way you manage your credits. The service is postpaid, anyways, where you pay the bill at the end of the billing cycle.
Network Coverage is Great
If we’re speaking of the cabled internet, Xfinity serves you on its infrastructure. But for cellular service, Xfinity Mobile offers services as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO)- a carrier without its own cell towers. Thus, it buys airtime bundles from a Major Carrier and resells them as its own.
As already mentioned, Verizon is the Major Carrier Xfinity Mobile has a network deal with at the moment. And as the leading LTE coverage across the US, you will always have a working phone in more places than T-Mobile or even AT&T.
For instance, when driving through areas like Grassy Range Road, Hines, Military Road Plush, and Frenchglen in Oregon, T-Mobile has zero coverage. But with Verizon and its MVNOs, such as our Xfinity Mobile, all these places have at least 4G LTE.
Free Access to Data Roaming
Even though Verizon, the network towers Xfinity Mobile use to operate, has the largest LTE coverage, there are still places you will find will zero signal bars. And by simple mechanics, NO signal bars mean you can’t use your phone for calls, texts, or data.
Fortunately, though, Xfinity Mobile has domestic roaming, whereby you can still get a signal outside the native coverage. The feature is also free to access for every customer. All you only need is to enable roaming on your device.
Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to find the specific carriers have partnered with for roaming benefits. The only thing I can verify now is that you do have access to the 21 LTEiRA partners of Verizon, such as Bluegrass Cellular, Pioneer Cellular, Chariton Valley Communication Corporation, Appalachian Wireless, etc.
When in a location with no native coverage or roaming partners, Xfinity Mobile supports WiFi calling free of charge. You only need to have a phone with WiFi calling mode (not a problem with iPhones, but in Android varies with the brand).
Tip: If traveling outside the US, Xfinity Mobile has international roaming in 200+ destinations. But unlike Verizon where you may get the function free, here you will need to purchase credits to connect. You can get the credits with the Xfinity Mobile Global Travel Pass at a flat rate of $10/ day ($5/ day in Canada/ Mexico) or pay-as-you-go at $0.10 per talk minute/ text and $0.05 per MB of data.
Data Speeds are Impressive
Although an MVNO, Xfinity Mobile has impressive data speeds. I’ve seen some people complain about their LTE phone only getting 5 – 10Mbps. But on a cool day, a good phone can hit over 100Mbps.
If lucky to have an Xfinity Mobile 5G phone, it even gets better, with the likelihood to record up to 4+Gbps (4,000+Mbps) on the Ultra-Wideband.
Nonetheless, many areas have access to the 5G low-band that offers around 100 – 200Mbps and the mid-band (C-band) at 300 – 1000Mbps).
Free Cell Phone deals
Xfinity Mobile is one of the companies that give free phones when you switch to their service. The free switcher deals, of course, aren’t as many as those of a carrier like Verizon. But even with just one or two promotions is a bit inspiring, considering not many MVNOs have this kind of offer.
Besides the freebie, Xfinity Mobile has other phone deals that give you partial discounts. The offers are often available to the latest flagship brands, whereby you can save up to $500.
Even so, the savings on the deals of Xfinity Mobile phones are usually distributed monthly to your account as bill credits.
Phone Plans & Pricing isn’t Bad
Xfinity Mobile phone plan structure isn’t bad for a family, albeit not so great for an individual. You can get the By the Gig plan from as low as $15/ month, regardless of the number of lines added. See below.
| Features | 1GB Plan | 3GB Plan | Unlimited (Intro) | Unlimited (Plus) | Unlimited (Premium) |
| 1 Line Price | $15/ mo. | $30/ mo. | $45/ mo. | $55/ mo. | $65/ mo. |
| 2 – 4 Lines Prices | $15/ mo. | $30/ mo. | $30/ line | $40/ line | $50/ line |
| 5 – 10 Lines Prices | $15/ mo. | $30/ mo | +$20 per added line | +$30 per added line | +$40 per added line |
| QCI Level | QCI 8 | QCI 8 | QCI 9 | QCI 8 | QCI 8 |
| Talk Minutes | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Text Messages | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| High-Speed Data | 1GB | 3GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Premium Data | N/A | N/A | 20GB | 30GB | 50GB |
| Unlimited 1.5Mbps Data | NO | NO | YES | YES | YES |
| Mobile Hotspot | YES | YES | 600kbps (unlimited) | 5GB of High Speed | 15GB of High Speed |
| Video Streaming | HD Quality | HD Quality | SD Quality | HD Quality | HD Quality |
Xfinity Mobile phone plans are seemingly cheap, say when you compare with its Carrier Network, Verizon. The By the Gig plan is the cheapest and has three options to choose from, including 1GB at $15, 3GB at $30, and 10GB at $60.
When you’ve got only a single line on your account, $60 for 10GB high-speed isn’t exactly a good deal. The amount is pretty much enough for either of the new Unlimited plans.
I mean, previously, Xfinity Mobile had only a single Unlimited plan with 20GB premium data. But the MVNO has recently introduced two other Unlimited plans (Unlimited Plus at $55 and Unlimited Premium at $65).
If interested, Xfinity allows you to save more when you add more lines to your account. You can save at least $15/ month on each line when on either of the three Unlimited plans. Then the By the Gig plans are more of a Shared data pool, whereby you can add as many lines as you want at no extra cost.
With more people in the shared data pool, the 10GB by the gig plan at $60 will now be good value. You can have up to ten lines at the same price.
Note: The phone plans pricing on my chart (or Xfinity website) doesn’t include taxes and other associated fees. Like most carriers, these fees (ranging between $1.82-$4)) vary with the service plan you’re using and your location/ State.
Data Throttling & Deprioritization
As mentioned earlier, Xfinity Mobile receives high-priority data on most of its plans. All the By the Gig plans, Unlimited Plus, and Unlimited Premium are under Verizon’s QCI 8, which brings you high-priority data. Thus, you will always have faster data speeds than the customers on lower priority levels (QCI 9) during network congestion.
Sadly, the Xfinity Mobile Unlimited Intro plan is under the QCI 9 (lower priority level) that offers deprioritized data. If on this service plan, this means your data speeds will drop more than the customers on QCI 8 when the towers are too busy.
As for the question of throttling, Xfinity Mobile throttles data (reduce data speed based on usage) on all unlimited plans. The Unlimited Intro drops the speed after 20GB, Unlimited Plus at 30GB, and Unlimited Premium after 50GB.
Meanwhile, the Xfinity Mobile By the Gig plans only throttles your data after reaching 20GB. Before then your plan (1GB/ 3GB/ 10GB) will attract overage charges when you go beyond your allowance by even the slightest.
Note: when you browse on Xfinity Mobile 5G Ultra-wideband or C-band, the amount of data used doesn’t count toward your monthly allowance. The problem is that it’s tricky to know which 5G you’re on, as the device signal area doesn’t have the “UW” icon like Verizon.
Free Personal Hotspot
Xfinity Mobile offers free hotspot access to all customers. The By the Gig cell phone plan offers personal hotspot access at full high speed. But you can enable the data saver mode to reduce data consumption, which includes dropping the hotspot speed to 3G speed (600kbps).
The Unlimited Intro plan comes preset with an unlimited personal hotspot at 600kbps. It’s not the fastest for high-graphic tasks like video streaming. But you should be able to browse on most regular websites, open maps, and read periodicals/ ebooks with no issues.
As for the Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Premium, your data allowance includes a high-speed personal hotspot (of 5GB and 15GB respectively). Once you’ve reached your plan limit, the hotspot speed will drop to 600kbps for the rest of the month.
Key Takeaway: Save Data on WiFi Hotspots
To save on your cellular data, you can connect your Xfinity Mobile phone to one of the million Xfinity internet WIFI hotspots distributed across the country. The public WiFi hotspots are safe to use, and the data speed is decently fast (up to 28Mbps speed).
Customer Care Still Needs Improvement…
If you have or looking to get Xfinity internet, those are the most important details you should know on their discounted cell phone service.
Indeed, the cellular service is discounted since the customers who fail to keep the fixed broadband or TV accounts get slapped with an additional $25 charge on their bills. Then, with more people to bring to your cell phone service, we’ve seen the operator has lovely multi-line discounts.
The By the Gig service plans have the best family deal since you can add up to ten lines without having to pay other fees. Your only extra charges will be when you use more data than the usual allowance for your selected plan. And this is very likely when you have more lines in your account since it’s a shared data pool, where it may be tricky to control how others browse.
Well, one last point I should mention is that the Xfinity Mobile reviews from customers on rating forums like Trustpilot aren’t very pleasing. Most of the reviews are around customer service support, whereby people are complaining of either longer wait times before they are served or unhelpful agents.
However, we saw earlier Xfinity Mobile has physical stores across the country. And for that, you can also step into one and have any of your phone issues resolved in person.
