Owned by cable giant Comcast and operating on Verizon’s airwaves, Xfinity Mobile aims to take on the “big three” US wireless service providers (Verizon included) with its aggressive new unlimited plan pricing.
While the monthly cost of a single line of unlimited talk, text, 4G LTE, and 5G data is set to go unchanged, at a very reasonable $45, each additional line on a family account with up to four members will let you save big compared to the MVNO’s previous options, as well as the competition.
A no-brainer deal…
On top of everything, you can also rely on a huge network of “more than 20 million” Wi-Fi hotspots across the country if you want to save even more money and go with a “By-the-Gig” plan starting at $15 a month.
The nice thing about Xfinity Mobile’s plans is that you’re free to mix and match Unlimited and By-the-Gig lines on the same account to pay, for instance, $45 for an unlimited line and $30 for a second line capped at 3 gigs of data.
Speaking of caps, it’s important to point out that unlimited plans come with a standard-definition LTE streaming (480p) restriction on “all devices”, as well as a 600 kbps limit for personal hotspots. In contrast, By-the-Gig users can enjoy HD streaming (720p on phones and 1080p on tablets), as well as squeeze 4G LTE speeds from their “personal hotspots.”
…If you can live with certain “unlimited” limitations
More importantly, Comcast will mercilessly throttle your “unlimited” speeds after using 20 gigs of data per line per month, which explains (at least in part) why the company can afford to be so generous compared to its (much) bigger rivals all of a sudden.
By the way, the wireless service is still exclusively available for new and existing Xfinity Internet customers, which highlights the fact this is not meant to provide true, nationwide, and large-scale competition for the top three US mobile network operators.
With all of that in mind and other perks and benefits like no term contracts or credit check on your first two lines, no activation or phone access line fees, and Peacock Premium included at no extra charge, it probably wouldn’t hurt to at least think about joining the MVNO if you’re on a tight budget or no longer want to deal with the major cellular companies for some reason.
