Xfinity Signs Up More Than 7 Million Mobile Customers

Xfinity Mobile and Comcast Business have signed up more than 7 million mobile phone customers in the service’s first seven years.

That’s impressive, but Xfinity isn’t the only internet provider in the mobile phone game. In the second quarter of 2024, Spectrum’s parent organization announced it is providing service to 8.8 million mobile lines. Meanwhile, competitor Verizon announced last week it plans to buy Frontier’s fiber internet network for $20 billion within the next 18 months. And just last month, T-Mobile announced plans to acquire fiber internet provider Metronet.

It’s all part of a trend toward what the industry is calling “convergence,” where providers offer mobile phone service, internet service, and video service under one umbrella.

We also see evidence of the trend in data collected by HighSpeedInternet.com, which found that customers were buying mobile phone service from their internet providers more often than they used to.

Xfinity pushes faster speeds across its service offerings

For Xfinity and Comcast Business, both subsidiaries of Comcast, the mobile and internet convergence is already happening. According to Monday’s release, nearly 90% of Xfinity Mobile and Comcast Business Mobile data happens over Wi-Fi.

If they have the latest iPhones, Xfinity mobile customers can get speeds of up to 1Gbps on hotspots and connections that have the latest Xfinity gateways in what the company calls a “WiFi Boost,” according to the release. That’s true even if their internet plans are slower than a gig.

Xfinity’s WiFi Boost offering dovetails nicely with Xfinity’s internet infrastructure improvements.

In the second quarter of 2024, the company announced it had successfully rolled out mid-split technology to 42% of its footprint. The upgrade means faster upload speeds, which are typically just a fraction of download speeds with cable internet.

These faster upload speeds are key for competing with fiber internet companies like Verizon and Frontier, which offer symmetrical upload and download speeds using fiber-optic cables laid all the way to customer homes and businesses.

It’s not clear yet whether the changes will pay off for Xfinity.

The company added 322,000 mobile customers in the second quarter of 2024, achieving a 12% market penetration rate, according to the release.

Xfinity built out internet connections for an additional 302,000 homes and businesses in the second quarter but lost a combined 120,000 residential and business domestic customers, according to quarterly filings.

In the same quarter, T-Mobile added 777,00 postpaid mobile phone customers and 406,000 5G Home Internet customers.

Mobile and internet packages from Verizon, Xfinity and T-Mobile

With Xfinity Mobile, you can get one free mobile plan for a year when you add an unlimited mobile plan to your Xfinity internet package.

With Verizon, you can get a mobile plan for as little as $35 per month if you already have a Verizon Fios internet plan. If you already have a Verizon mobile plan, you can get Fios internet starting at $35 per month.*

With T-Mobile, 5G customers can get $20 off their 5G home internet plan with certain mobile phone plans. They can also get a free upgrade to Home Internet Plus.

Telecoms want your streaming business too

Big telecom companies want more than just your mobile phone and internet business. They want your streaming dollars too. Already, Xfinity offers new customers a free trial of Peacock for three months, and then it charges the full $7.99 per month if you forget to cancel.

You can also get either the Xfinity StreamSaver™, which includes Netflix Standard with ads, Apple TV+ and Peacock Premium for $15 per month. The company still offers traditional TV service too.

In June of 2024, Verizon introduced the myHome offering in June of 2024, which lets you add a variety of streaming and connected home service to your internet plan. You can get the Disney Bundle (Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+) or bundle with Netflix & Max (With Ads) for a total $20 monthly price, or buy the bundles separately for $10 each.

You can also choose to add live TV with either Fios TV or YouTube TV, as long as your internet connection is fast enough to support streaming.

We don’t yet have data on internet providers and streaming packages, but our 2023 customer survey found that bundling for traditional TV service is quickly dropping in popularity.

Disclaimers