Xfinity Internet Review: Plans, Pricing, Speeds and Availability Compared

Xfinity Internet review

Comcast’s Xfinity is available to over a third of US households across 39 states, firmly establishing the company as the most extensive nationwide cable internet service provider. Previously, plans, pricing and service details differed by region. But this month, Xfinity introduced a new price guarantee that removes some of the uncertainty from your future bills. You can still expect a range of speed tiers and reasonable introductory pricing in all Xfinity markets.

Xfinity may be the nation’s largest cable ISP, but does that automatically make it the best? It’s easy to be impressed by the variety of internet speed plans, but my eyes glazed over a bit as I dug into the details. Plus, Xfinity will change its prices and speed offerings from region to region and sometimes from address to address, making it difficult to know exactly what to expect. Is there such a thing as too many options?

With Xfinity, some plans require you to sign a one- or two-year contract, but not all do. Beyond that, you’ll need to contend with a 1.2TB data cap each month (again, not on all plans, but with some), and you can expect the price of your plan to increase over time, sometimes by more than 50% of the initial charge.

Headaches like high nonpromotional prices and hidden fees are par for the course with ISPs, making it difficult to tell if you’re getting a good deal on your home’s internet connection. It’s worth understanding what you might get, especially if you need speed and fiber isn’t an option for your area or address. Let’s look more intently at Xfinity’s plan, prices and service terms.

Xfinity Internet plans and prices

Before this April, Xfinity presented different internet plans, depending on where you lived in the country. That’s changed. It’s now a bit easier to digest what Xfinity offers. Speeds and prices in the chart below reflect the discount from the automatic payment enrollment. If you choose to forgo the paperless billing discount, you must add $10 monthly.

Xfinity Internet one-year term

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Xfinity Internet five-year term

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Breaking down Xfinity Internet’s value per Mbps

An Xfinity spokesperson shared with CNET that one of the big headlines with the launch of the five-year price guarantee is “we also now have unified offers across all divisions.” If you’ve been keeping score with CNET’s reviews — and we sincerely hope you have — you might remember we used to have some consternation about the varying rates and plans across Xfinity’s footprint. That’s no longer the case (or at least until this latest promotion ends, which runs through mid-June).

That said, what remains with Xfinity’s plans is the sometimes stark contrast between the enticing promo price and a more costly regular rate. Most ISPs try to lure customers with competitive introductory prices that eventually balloon into a high monthly fee. Xfinity is no exception. But these new rates do help give greater clarity to your monthly bill.

Price jumps aside, Xfinity’s regular rates — the amount you’ll pay each month after the cost goes up — aren’t all that unreasonable compared to other cable providers. For instance, the cost per Mbps of the regular rate across all plans after the promotional price is just under 13 cents, which is right about in the middle of what you can expect to pay for cable internet service. It may be more expensive than Spectrum’s nine cents-per-Mbps standard cost but cheaper than Cox’s average 26 cents-per-Mbps for its nonpromotional rates. 

What internet connection type is Xfinity Internet?

One detail you may have noticed in the plan tables is the discrepancy between the download and upload speeds. This is because Xfinity Internet relies almost solely on hybrid fiber-coaxial cable connections to service subscribers’ homes. HFC offers speeds much faster than those typically offered by DSL, satellite and fixed wireless networks. Still, due to the asymmetrical nature of the connection, your download speeds will always be much higher than your upload speeds. That’s the main reason cable falls short of the performance of fiber-to-the-home networks.

Most of us pay closer attention to download speeds because they affect our ability to watch movies, listen to new music or stream our favorite shows without that nagging buffering. As more of us work from home, our ability to upload files is becoming more critical. For example, Zoom recommends approximately 2-4Mbps of upload speed for single-screen usage of its platform. If you have two remote workers or students on separate Zoom calls simultaneously or on an important work call while the kids are gaming online, you could run into issues quickly on some of these plans.

Most of its footprint uses HFC, but Xfinity offers one FTTH option with its top-speed plan, Gigabit Pro. That plan is available only in select homes equipped for it, so you’ll need to request a site survey to ensure that serviceability is possible. Our Comcast sources also tell us that Xfinity focuses on using existing cable connections to achieve the symmetrical speeds we commonly associate with fiber rather than chasing after additional fiber deployments.

To that end, Xfinity is rolling out faster upload speeds to about a third of its national footprint. Customers should begin to see upload speeds that might not yet rival those of a fiber internet connection but are higher than those of other cable ISPs we’ve seen.

Who can get Xfinity Internet?

Xfinity home internet plans are available in 39 states and Washington, D.C. Here’s the full lineup:

Do you live in one of these states and are trying to determine whether you’re eligible for Xfinity service? You can check your address using the internet serviceability tool at the bottom or top of this page.

Additional monthly fees

It’s always a good idea to take some time to read the fine print. If you’re planning out your budget, you want to ensure you’ve allotted the proper amount for your internet service. After all, there’s much more to your internet bill than the starting monthly fee. 

Regarding monthly fees, all the rates we show assume a $10-per-month discount for enrolling in automatic payments and paperless billing. If you choose not to go that route, you can expect an additional $10 monthly charge. Also, as mentioned above, your monthly rate will convert to a higher regular rate after your promo rate ends — which can happen either 12 months or five years after starting service, depending on your chosen plan. 

Once your promotional period ends (either 12 months or five years down the road), you’ll be charged $15 per month for Xfinity’s modem-router combo. It features free security measures, parental controls over your home’s Wi-Fi and full tech support.

Finally, Xfinity allows you to use your own modem and router, but your equipment must be compatible with its service. Even if it is, you won’t get the same technical support or device upgrades.

Xfinity Internet’s one-time installation fee

If you would like a technician to activate your service and verify all your home connections, you’ll incur a charge of $100. Xfinity does let you bypass this additional cost by selecting self-install, meaning it’ll ship you a Getting Started kit, and you can activate the service on your own using the Xfinity app. Most markets will see no charge for self-installation.

Xfinity Internet data-usage policy

The good news? You get unlimited data right out of the gate. However, you may also have to deal with a data cap down the road. Previously, Xfinity enforced a monthly data cap set at 1.2TB (1,200GB) on most plans. The current offer includes unlimited data on all plans, but it’s unclear if the previous data cap returns after your one- or five-year promotional rate.

What does 1.2TB of data get you? If you want to binge all four seasons of Stranger Things in glorious 4K, you can expect to use up to 7GB per hour of viewing time. The latest report from OpenVault notes that the average monthly household bandwidth usage is approximately 590GB, so most customers should be able to stay under Xfinity’s monthly data limit.

Xfinity Internet deals and promos

We’ve talked about the not-so-hidden additional fees you might expect to incur when signing up for internet service. You will also find freebies or enticing extras when you sign up for broadband with Xfinity. 

First, since Comcast Xfinity offers multiple services, you can potentially get another $10 to $30 a month off your internet bill for two years if you have an active, qualifying Xfinity Mobile line.

Next up, because Xfinity also offers TV, home security, voice and mobile services, several bundle deals can help you knock $10 or more a month off your regular bill. Like the tables above, the bundle deals vary by region. Still, all customers should have the option of nearly 10 types of bundles, ranging from Double Play options (internet plus another service) to premium bundle packages that include internet, TV and streaming, phone and home security.

Speaking of bundles, Comcast also announced last year a streaming bundle called Xfinity StreamSaver. It allows Xfinity Internet customers to sign up for a combo of Peacock Premium, Netflix Standard (with ads) and Apple TV Plus for $15 monthly. That’s a savings of over 30% for the three streaming services. Meanwhile, customers who sign up for gigabit speeds or higher will automatically receive two years of Peacock Premium for free.

Finally, you’ll have access to over 20 million Xfinity hotspots nationwide. That means you’ll have free Wi-Fi connectivity on the go.

Xfinity Internet boasts decent customer satisfaction scores

Over the last few years, Comcast Xfinity has done relatively well in customer satisfaction metrics. When you look at the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index numbers, Xfinity dropped just below the industry average, scoring 67 out of 100 points. That’s a 1% drop from last year, putting it behind T-Mobile Home Internet, Verizon 5G Home Internet, AT&T, Cox and Spectrum.

Hopping over to the J.D. Power 2024 US Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Study, Xfinity consistently ranked in the top third for overall customer satisfaction. The study uses a 1,000-point scale and breaks the country into four geographic regions: West, South, North Central and East. Xfinity did well overall, with an average score of 539 points across all regions. That was good enough for second place in the East (behind Verizon), second in the North Central (behind AT&T), second in the West (behind AT&T) and third in the South (behind Google Fiber and Frontier).

Final thoughts on Xfinity Internet

Comcast Xfinity is the largest cable internet provider in the country, with relatively strong customer service scores and gigabit service available across the entire coverage map. Addresses equipped with a fiber-to-the-home connection might even be able to sign up for speeds of 10,000Mbps, one of the faster residential internet plans you’ll find. Unless a dedicated fiber provider offers service in your area, the odds are good that Xfinity is your fastest option.

Just watch out for the company’s price hikes after your promo period. Although most providers will raise your bill after the first year, Xfinity’s increases can be particularly steep. If all of that sounds workable, Xfinity is well worth consideration.

Xfinity Internet FAQs