What Is Xfinity Mobile, and Is It Worth It?

[puya.vahabi]

At the beginning was great, until they suddenly de-activated my sim card for no reason and without any notification. This seems to be a general issue, they suddenly de-activate the sim card, and are not able to fix it even in one month. You can not port your number to another carrier neither use another sim card in the same phone, if you bought the phone with them.

My opinion, xfinity mobile is too new, they don't know how to handle quickly issues, and is too risky, if you have a problem they will not solve it. to be avoided as the main phone.

 

[robert.mudry]

I've been using Xfinity for about four months now. I discovered that by turning off updates etc. I can go all month without exceeding the 100 MB free data limit. So all I have to pay is the monthly charge for my Samsung phone. Can't get any cheaper the free!!

 

[jclinansmith]

My own experience has been nothing but positive so far. Customer service and phone service are great. No dropped calls either. I have only been rolling on Xfinity for about 30 days now. I live out in the boonies and have no issue. I work from home so a gig is enough for me month to month. I just cut my phone bill down by over 70% making this switch from Verizon. Fabulous!

 

[tbenton]

Got the service Jan 2018 and love it. I find their customer service easy to reach (unlike general Comcast/Xfinity cust svc) and very helpful

Just want to clear something up. You get 100M to share for free and the $12 doesn't kick in until your data usage gets to 1G. We rarely use data so FREE is good! We did have to buy phones from them but we were ready to get new ones anyway.

 

[jimwelsh48]

Xfinity mobile will not price match TMobile's 55+ unlimited 30$ a month plan, which includes all fees and taxes.

 

[observer2121]

I purchased an iPhone (cash up front) and set up Xfinity service last January. My monthly bill has averaged about $6.00 per month, based on usage. A couple months, when I was traveling out of town, the bill was $14-$15, but most months, when I'm mostly home (I work from home-and am semi-retired) where my Xfinity WiFi is active, my bills have run for $3.50 to $4.50 each month. The screen (where the "bars" of signal strength is shown) reports if you're on Xfinity WiFi, Verizon LTE or some other variant of service. I have not had any dropped calls and the service has been reliable (as is my cable/internet broadband service). Traveling to some major cities (recently to the east coast) the service was also as good as it is locally. Road trips "to the coast" etc. the service can be spotty, especially in the low-density rural areas and away from major (high-volume) highways. I tend to stay at state park campgrounds ... and frequently experience "no bars" in those locations. But I encounter service sufficiently to keep up with email, etc.

I previously had a prepaid Tracfone (as standby/emergency) service. It required prepayment, and by purchasing a year at a time I got about 1500 minutes and 12 months service for $120 ($10 per month). The last Tracfone I had was a bottom-line Android LG model (that is, online ratings were at the bottom of the list). I could not use the data function because that was an "extra charge". I also had Verizon data only ($20 per month) for my iPad 2 (that's now effectively obsolete). So for data and voice, that was $30 per month for the combined services.

Before that, (roughly 2007-9), I had a Verizon "flip phone" (voice only) and an "air card" for data service for my computer, while we traveled for 2 to 4 months at a time in a large RV. I no longer recall exactly what I paid for that service, but it was close to $100 per month. Verizon service is generally good, but RV travels, showed that there were MANY holes in the service, most notably outside of large metro areas and especially when away from heavily traveled interstate highways. (And Verizon in Texas was often "no bars.")

I am fully satisfied with the Xfinity Mobile service. For me, the price of the service is very reasonable since I don't use a lot of data, especially away from home (where the WiFi makes it "free"). That said, as a Comcast customer (in two different states) I can observe that their customer support, in general, really stinks.

 

[scott.raines]

We have had this service for about 3 months now. In general I would say it has been worth it. We switched to the Comcast internet service as well to get the mobile service. We stand to save about $400-$600 per year depending on how much data we use. Right now we are tracking to use only 1GB per month shared which works out to around $18 after taxes, etc. We also have travelled internationally with this service and had very few issues. With Sprint it was barely worth using overseas. Right now there is an issue with text messaging to ATT phones which is annoying but confident they can resolve the issue as it was working previously.

 

[willjs62]

The price range quoted is incorrect. The lowest possible cost is FREE if you use less than 100MB of data on the "By the Gig" plan. If you go over 100MB (which I rarely do), then you pay $12. So basically, my cell phone service is FREE except the cost to buy the phone.

Yes, it has problems, especially the voicemail. I had to switch to a different FREE voicemail provider because the Verizon voicemail wasn't reliably answering my calls. Also, I never seem to have very good connectivity at home. It's often just 1 bar, and frequently calls are disconnected. I'm willing to tolerate these issues because I don't talk on the phone that much (though I do have calls every day), and it's nice to have a smartphone. And it's FREE.

 

[denisemh]

The biggest reason to be cautious is that this is Comcast. I'm a budget shopper with Comcast internet so this should have been perfect. But... I got the LG Stylo 4 and activated it but couldn't get any reception at home. Xfinity tells me to go get a new SIM card. OK but no help. I call again looking for answers...is it the phone? do they have a more expensive model with a better antenna I ask because after all my plunky Samsung tracfone can pick up Verizon better than this. No she can't advise me and actually tells me that I can rebuild my house so that I get better reception. Really though - outdoors is no better. What she should have advised was that I turn on wifi calling - a feature I had not known about and available on the LG. No mention though so I send it back.

Just yesterday I get the charge from Xfinity - $134. for 'damage' to the phone. It was scratched and the stylus was missing they say. Not. This is the pristine phone that I never used because it wouldn't work. And how do I prove otherwise? At their suggestion I have filed a claim with the carrier and my credit card after a tortured hour and a half on the phone with them. What kind of business model is this that screws their own customers?

 

[rs025986]

Not all family members need to be on the same plan: 2 youngster unlimited and 2 parents by the gig would be $102-$114+ tax, not $180 as mentioned above. A vast majority o adults 25-49 use 1-2 gigs per month and the data usage only goes down after that. If you need a laptop to access the internet, you can tether your cell phone to your laptop (making your cellphone a mobile hotspot) without having a separate cell phone charge for your laptop (recommend unlimited $45 in this case). Other than those clarifications, great info!

 

[George Knighton]

Since I'm here anyway, let me warn you about something a little strange about Xfinity Mobile's customer service. If you have to do anything major or you have to identify yourself for billing purposes, there's a "PIN" associated with your account. That PIN is the last four numbers of the credit card that you used when you set up the service.

Even if you change billing, the PIN remains the last four of that original credit card. I've never heard of such a thing before, so you should be forewarned that it's necessary on occasion, and you should make a note of it somewhere.