Xfinity Mobile Plan Details
Xfinity Mobile Unlimited Plans for Power Users
Cost
The more lines you add with Xfinity Mobile, the cheaper your cost per line will be. To limit the variables and make this useful, I’m going to calculate monthly fees based on a family of two. Xfinity Mobile’s Unlimited Plus 2 Lines plan would come out to $80 per month. (If you’re on your own, you’d pay $45 per month for the Unlimited Intro plan.)
This is about $40 more per month than a senior-friendly T-Mobile 55+ plan for one line with unlimited data. (Xfinity will start to throttle, or slow, your speeds at 20 GB.) But if you’re a heavy user, Xfinity Mobile will probably be the handier traveling companion due to its 19 million Wi-Fi hotspots. This means that even if you hit your monthly data cap, you can keep using your phone on the go. T-Mobile plans are unlimited, but they do not offer public hotspots like Xfinity.
Plan Features
If you’re shopping for an unlimited prepaid plan, you probably do a lot of uploading (photo and video), streaming, and emailing on the go. Generally speaking, if you use your phone to pass the time at the park or download the occasional grandkid pic, you wouldn’t need Xfinity Mobile’s unlimited plan.
Senior Saving Tip: Wi-Fi calling routes your phone calls through a Wi-Fi network rather than your carrier’s cellular network. While you won’t save anything on local calls, if you’re calling abroad (or calling back home from abroad), this will save you money. Just like with Skype, you won’t pay a cent for international calls made via Wi-Fi.
Xfinity Mobile’s Unlimited plans come with unlimited talk and text, but so do a lot of the plans from the competition. Where Xfinity Mobile stands out is with its 19 million Wi-Fi hotspots across the country, which stretch their plans further. Xfinity Mobile Unlimited plans also allow Wi-Fi calling, so you won’t rack up roaming charges if you’re calling abroad.
Xfinity Mobile By The Gig Plans for Lighter Users
Cost
If you’re a family of two without a huge data habit, I’d recommend focusing on Xfinity Mobile’s By the Gig plans. The savings here could be substantial. Here’s what I mean.
If you can get by on 10 GB of data per month split over two lines — and you probably can — you’d be looking at a monthly bill of $60. Not only are you saving $20 per month over an Xfinity Unlimited plan, you’re paying even less than you would with T-Mobile’s seniors-only 55+ Magenta plan! And, don’t forget, you can save another $10 per month if you bundle in your internet and TV. Pretty sweet.
How does that stack up to other pay-by-the-gig plans? You can find cheaper options. Tello, a budget, no-contract carrier, advertises 4 GB packages with unlimited talk and text for $19 per month per line. Doing the math, two Tello lines would come out to just under $40 per month. Bump the data up to 6 GB and you’d be looking at $48 per month. However, neither of those plans comes with Xfinity’s free Wi-Fi hotspots or massive nationwide coverage.
Google Fi’s à la carte plans cost $18 per line for two lines for unlimited talk and text. For every gigabyte of data you add, you pay $10 more. So unless you’re really light users, you’d start paying more with Google Fi than you would with an Xfinity Mobile package by your second gigabyte.
Plan Features
Xfinity Mobile’s By the Gig plans offer pretty much the same service as their Unlimited counterparts. The only substantial differences are that personal hotspot speeds aren’t throttled (unless you want them to be, to save data) and you get high-definition streaming (up to 720p on phones).
FYI: Standard-definition video streaming may be a blessing in disguise, as you’ll save battery life when compared to streaming in high definition.
Also keep in mind that if you have two or more users, you can divvy up your data between users however you want with Xfinity Mobile. That flexibility extends to upgrading or downgrading your plan. If you find that you’re not using all of your data consistently, you can downgrade to a package with less data and save even more.