Xfinity crummy practices and 2024 price hikes

[neatfeatguy]

Spoiler

This is more of a rant, sorry. Anyone else feel the frustration with Xfinity?

It was late last November or maybe early December that Xfinity sent out emails to their customers with this information - sadly I didn't keep it. It read something like this:

Automatic payments and paperless billing discount​

When you sign up for automatic payments and paperless billing and are eligible, you’ll receive up to a $10 discount on your monthly Xfinity bill. The discount will begin within 45 days. Depending on the timing, the discount may not always appear on your next statement but will appear on your following bill.
The amount of the discount is determined by your automatic payment method:

• $10 for payments made directly from a checking or savings bank account
• $5 for payments made from a credit or debit card
  

If you have multiple accounts, each account must have an eligible plan to get the discount and have automatic payment and paperless billing established.

Automatic payments and paperless billing discount

The automatic payment and paperless billing discount is a monthly statement credit offered to new and existing eligible customers when enrolled in automatic payments and paperless billing.

www.xfinity.com

There was a little more in the email, but there was no mention of a price increase. I never saw any other communication from Xfinity, but I was a bit leery that they were just giving customers a $5-10 a month price reduction with automatic payment options setup. Kind of like how last time Xfinity offered "free speed boost" to all customers and then about 2 months later they raised their prices about 10%. How many people still pay by check for things these days? I personally write 2-3 checks a year, depending on how I want to pay for a couple of things such as car tabs or if I don't have cash handy to pay for the kids' tae kwon do testing. I'd venture to guess that 60% of Xfinity customers are on auto pay, if not more, so most customers will see a lower price increase and those that aren't enrolled get a significantly larger stick up the rear.

January comes around and I see my new bill for Xfinity and my price has gone up $6. $6 isn't a big deal. If I were a coffee drinker that'd be 1-2 cups of coffee a month, so, not a big cost but still something noticeable. I'm enrolled in autopay from my checking account, so why did my bill go up if I was supposed to see $10 reduction? Shouldn't my bill have decreased down to $52 based on the fact the only info I received from Xfinity was I'd see $10 savings?

Well, shit. Xfinity didn't just raise their prices by $6, they actually jacked the price up $16 for my mid(ish) level internet plan and then tossed me a bone by saying, "Look! We save you $10 a month with by being enrolled in automatic payments direct to your bank account!"

Here are my pros and cons with Xfinity:
Pros:
* stable internet, rarely an outage and if there is one they repair it fast

Cons:
* high cost for services once your contract expires
* bad customer service - do your best to never have to talk to them
* data caps on all internet services that aren't either:
a) with their xFi Complete package (this means you're renting their equipment and paying fees)
b) you pay an extra $30 a month to be added to their "unlimited data cap service"
* hidden price increases with a thinly veiled explanation about them coupled with "save $ with automatic payment methods" where you're not actually saving money
* abhorrently low upload speeds on all internet plans that range from 5mbps on the low end to 35mbps once you start paying for 1G+ service on the high end

3 years ago my internet bill for 200mbps/5mbps (download/upload) was about $45. Now it is $68 (would actually be $78, but I'm lucky enough to be saving $10 a month being auto enrolled in payments). There really wasn't any other offering in that same price range for service that I currently hand 3 years ago. I would either pay an extra $20 more a month changing over to something else to get similar service so I continued to stick with Xfinity. However, CenturyLink (now Quantum Fiber) has come through in the past 12 months with their fiber and offering up to 500mbps/500mbps (upload/download) and unlimited data for $50. Or the $75 plan that offers up to 940mbps/940mbps.

TL;DR
Long story/rant, short - I'm done with Xfinity. They've priced me out of a low-mid internet service without anything beneficial having been given to me to keep me as a customer. If I wanted their unlimited data cap I would have to pay to rent their equipment, pushing my bill up nearly $30 or I'd have to pay to have unlimited data cap added to my existing plan and that would be $30, thus pushing my total bill to nearly $100 a month for shitty download/upload speeds. Nope, I'm done. I'm setting up a connection appointment for Quantum Fiber to get me setup.

One last thing - anyone currently use Quantum Fiber (was Century Link) and have any pros/cons with them?

 

[R-T-B]

The notice was all over their account management page here. If you'd not logged into that portal you probably missed it. Really should have been a letter or email tbh, but you know, I doubt they really want the end user to be aware of this sadly, so minimum effort and all.

 

[Durvelle27]

They told me months ago that the prices were going up.

I got an email and a letter

 

[Dr. Dro]

It's ironic because if i'm not mistaken, Xfinity is one of the ISPs that proactively take steps to block and even send legal threats to their customers on behalf of third parties if they're using the service to "perform copyright infringement". That alone would be enough of a deal breaker (and why net neutrality laws are pretty much necessary - to get this data traffic snooping out once and for all), but in addition to that, you get prioritized bandwidth to some services at the expense of others, and price hikes.

Land of the free indeed.

 

[AsRock]

One of many reasons we dumped them after 6 years of bullshit and lies to boot. We were paying around $60 a month(without a special offer ) and had to phone in and bitch at them to do any thing, and because you phoned them don't count on getting any discount as they just might think meh fuck it.

So a few years ago we told them stick it were the sun don't shine if you cannot match Verizon which today they still cannot do, they wanted $60 for a 200Mb\10Mb. Were Verizon offer us $40 a month for a 300Mb\300Mb and yes we get it to any time of the day.


So we though Meh Fck'em

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I got a letter, an email, and a text message about the price increase. I thanked them by switching to fiber which is 25 cheaper than what I was paying xfinity and 40 cheaper than what they were going to increase my monthly bill to. 1400/300 with Xfinity 1300/1300 with AT&T fiber.


I've never had any issues with their actual service though pretty rock solid for the better part of the last 15 years.

 

[Totally]

It's ironic because if i'm not mistaken, Xfinity is one of the ISPs that proactively take steps to block and even send legal threats to their customers on behalf of third parties if they're using the service to "perform copyright infringement". That alone would be enough of a deal breaker (and why net neutrality laws are pretty much necessary - to get this data traffic snooping out once and for all), but in addition to that, you get prioritized bandwidth to some services at the expense of others, and price hikes.

They all do, on ATT here and they send a notice for simply visiting a site and downloading just the torrent file.

 

[Halo3Addict]

I feel your pain. Recently moved to an area that is only serviced by Xfinity and it's just terrible. Their upload speeds are pathetic. While the entry prices are good (2-year contract), once that contract expires, prices jump about 200% for the same service. It's criminal.

EDIT: I also never give companies direct access to my bank account. Currently, I believe I have a debit card attached to my account (created via privacy.com) and auto-pay setup to get the discount, but I send money via my bank. I make a habit of paying off bills and going through my financials at the end of every month.

 

[R-T-B]

They told me months ago that the prices were going up.

I got an email and a letter

hmmm, strange, I only got the online notice.

 

[A&P211]

Why are the uploads speeds so slow, I have faster uploads with my 4g cellphone.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Spoiler

This is more of a rant, sorry. Anyone else feel the frustration with Xfinity?

It was late last November or maybe early December that Xfinity sent out emails to their customers with this information - sadly I didn't keep it. It read something like this:

Automatic payments and paperless billing discount

The automatic payment and paperless billing discount is a monthly statement credit offered to new and existing eligible customers when enrolled in automatic payments and paperless billing.

www.xfinity.com

There was a little more in the email, but there was no mention of a price increase. I never saw any other communication from Xfinity, but I was a bit leery that they were just giving customers a $5-10 a month price reduction with automatic payment options setup. Kind of like how last time Xfinity offered "free speed boost" to all customers and then about 2 months later they raised their prices about 10%. How many people still pay by check for things these days? I personally write 2-3 checks a year, depending on how I want to pay for a couple of things such as car tabs or if I don't have cash handy to pay for the kids' tae kwon do testing. I'd venture to guess that 60% of Xfinity customers are on auto pay, if not more, so most customers will see a lower price increase and those that aren't enrolled get a significantly larger stick up the rear.

January comes around and I see my new bill for Xfinity and my price has gone up $6. $6 isn't a big deal. If I were a coffee drinker that'd be 1-2 cups of coffee a month, so, not a big cost but still something noticeable. I'm enrolled in autopay from my checking account, so why did my bill go up if I was supposed to see $10 reduction? Shouldn't my bill have decreased down to $52 based on the fact the only info I received from Xfinity was I'd see $10 savings?

Well, shit. Xfinity didn't just raise their prices by $6, they actually jacked the price up $16 for my mid(ish) level internet plan and then tossed me a bone by saying, "Look! We save you $10 a month with by being enrolled in automatic payments direct to your bank account!"

Here are my pros and cons with Xfinity:
Pros:
* stable internet, rarely an outage and if there is one they repair it fast

Cons:
* high cost for services once your contract expires
* bad customer service - do your best to never have to talk to them
* data caps on all internet services that aren't either:
a) with their xFi Complete package (this means you're renting their equipment and paying fees)
b) you pay an extra $30 a month to be added to their "unlimited data cap service"
* hidden price increases with a thinly veiled explanation about them coupled with "save $ with automatic payment methods" where you're not actually saving money
* abhorrently low upload speeds on all internet plans that range from 5mbps on the low end to 35mbps once you start paying for 1G+ service on the high end

3 years ago my internet bill for 200mbps/5mbps (download/upload) was about $45. Now it is $68 (would actually be $78, but I'm lucky enough to be saving $10 a month being auto enrolled in payments). There really wasn't any other offering in that same price range for service that I currently hand 3 years ago. I would either pay an extra $20 more a month changing over to something else to get similar service so I continued to stick with Xfinity. However, CenturyLink (now Quantum Fiber) has come through in the past 12 months with their fiber and offering up to 500mbps/500mbps (upload/download) and unlimited data for $50. Or the $75 plan that offers up to 940mbps/940mbps.

TL;DR
Long story/rant, short - I'm done with Xfinity. They've priced me out of a low-mid internet service without anything beneficial having been given to me to keep me as a customer. If I wanted their unlimited data cap I would have to pay to rent their equipment, pushing my bill up nearly $30 or I'd have to pay to have unlimited data cap added to my existing plan and that would be $30, thus pushing my total bill to nearly $100 a month for shitty download/upload speeds. Nope, I'm done. I'm setting up a connection appointment for Quantum Fiber to get me setup.

One last thing - anyone currently use Quantum Fiber (was Century Link) and have any pros/cons with them?

Try something else. ANYTHING is better than Comcast, and I do mean ANYTHING. There's always Skylink or failing that hotspotting your cell phone.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Why are the uploads speeds so slow, I have faster uploads with my 4g cellphone.

Because they suck ass. By the end of the month I'm switching. Got a day off from work and I'm coordinating a new install/setup with Quantum Fiber for that day.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
I'll get on board with they all suck and are raising prices.

AT&T though is the freaking devil !

Xfinity well I have their cell service and it's a lot cheaper than anyone else's with unlimited data/... which is only around 75.00 and they use verizon towers and verizon is way overpriced.

 

[R-T-B]

Why are the uploads speeds so slow, I have faster uploads with my 4g cellphone.

DOCSIS and industry stagnation.

Supposedly DOCSIS4 will finally improve things there but really xfinity is just resisting fiber for no good reason.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Supposedly DOCSIS4 will finally improve things there but really xfinity is just resisting fiber for no good reason.

Let's be fair, they have a good reason. Replacing the existing copper wire base lines and equipment will be very, EXTREMELY, expensive. It can't be done all at once, rather, it has to be done in phases.

 

[ThrashZone]

DOCSIS and industry stagnation.

Supposedly DOCSIS4 will finally improve things there but really xfinity is just resisting fiber for no good reason.

Hi,
Unlike at&t before with their pissy slow dsl internet, xfinity has had gigabyte speed for a long long time so they didn't need fiber and likely still don't for a while
Think they're working mostly on 5..g plus next gen cell so they might break away from verizon network ?

Why are the uploads speeds so slow, I have faster uploads with my 4g cellphone.

Hi,
They'll bump it up a little if you ask them to.
I've never had any issues with xfinity phone or chat support.

 

[lexluthermiester]

so they didn't need fiber and likely still don't for a while

Not true. The reason they have bandwidth limits and charges for overages is because of the limits of copper cabling. Fiber limit are 100's of times beyond those limits. They've needed to go fiber for at least a decade.

 

[R-T-B]

Let's be fair, they have a good reason. Replacing the existing copper wire base lines and equipment will be very, EXTREMELY, expensive. It can't be done all at once, rather, it has to be done in phases.

I'd be more sympathetic if they hadn't taken massive government subsidies to implement fiber, and done pretty much nothing with them over a decade.

 

[Durvelle27]

DOCSIS and industry stagnation.

Supposedly DOCSIS4 will finally improve things there but really xfinity is just resisting fiber for no good reason.

Xfinity actually uses fiber in some areas just not all areas

but Docis 4.0 suppose to drop this year

Not true. The reason they have bandwidth limits and charges for overages is because of the limits of copper cabling. Fiber limit are 100's of times beyond those limits. They've needed to go fiber for at least a decade.

Copper really doesn’t have any limits

 

[lexluthermiester]

I'd be more sympathetic if they hadn't taken massive government subsidies to implement fiber, and done pretty much nothing with them over a decade.

While I'm with you on that point, saying they've done nothing is a bit of a stretch. I think the scale of expense for converting over to fiber and the backlash local communities and governments have given is not being properly understood. Still, I agree that they haven't devoted enough to the task.

Copper really doesn’t have any limits

Physics disagrees with that statement.

 

[Durvelle27]

While I'm with you on that point, saying they've done nothing is a bit of a stretch. I think the scale of expense for converting over to fiber and the backlash local communities and governments have given is not being properly understood. Still, I agree that they haven't devoted enough to the task.


Physics disagrees with that statement.

And what does physics show because I’m seen 2GB down and up over copper with Xfinity back when I was an employee. The limit for them has always been DOCIS.

 

[lexluthermiester]

And what does physics show because I’m seen 2GB down and up over copper with Xfinity back when I was an employee. The limit for them has always been DOCIS.

Copper has a specific limit to how much electrical data can be transmitted through it. Fiber cables have a limit as well with photons, but that limit is immensely larger(orders of magnitude) as photon signalling is and can be far more discrete.

 

[ThrashZone]

Not true. The reason they have bandwidth limits and charges for overages is because of the limits of copper cabling. Fiber limit are 100's of times beyond those limits. They've needed to go fiber for at least a decade.

Hi,
You still have a use case issue
Most are not able to afford these high speed plans from any provider.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Well, Comcast was good to me in 2016 and 2017, when I was in Bellows Falls, Vermont.

In 2018, I moved back to Springfield, Vermont, which is where VTel is based. So back to FTTH I go!

 

[R-T-B]

And what does physics show because I’m seen 2GB down and up over copper with Xfinity back when I was an employee. The limit for them has always been DOCIS.

Ping times primarily given modern advances. They will never compare even with the mirracle bandwidth theyve been able to shove into it.