Xfinity Mobile has become one of the largest mobile phone carriers available to cable TV subscribers. It has the same excellent mobile coverage as Verizon, with very competitive pricing. This has led many to wonder: is Xfinity Mobile owned by Verizon Wireless?
Xfinity Mobile is not owned by Verizon. Xfinity Mobile is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that Comcast owns.
Navigating Xfinity Mobile and other MVNOs like it can be very confusing. Oftentimes mobile providers and MVNOs can seem interconnected and almost like parent companies. Read on to find out the link behind Xfinity Mobile, Verizon, and some of the distinctions between them.
Who Owns Xfinity Mobile?
Xfinity Mobile is owned by Comcast, the largest cable TV provider in the entire country. In 2017, Xfinity Mobile was launched by Comcast as a service for their customers. The fees and service can only be taken advantage of by current Comcast customers. You need to continue to be a Comcast customer to continue your Xfinity Mobile service. These mobile plans are typically more flexible and much more affordable than other mobile carriers.
Comcast is thought to have created Xfinity Mobile as a business move in response to the AT&T acquisition of DirecTV.
Since the creation of Xfinity Mobile, it has become the fastest-growing MVNO from a cable company. This is impressive as it includes some stiff competition from companies such as Charter Communications, among others. This is largely due to the availability, size, and success of the parent company, Comcast.
Xfinity Uses the Same Towers
As other MVNOs do, Xfinity Mobile enter into a business agreement with a mobile network provider. An MVNO can do business with one or many companies. This is why some MVNOs can offer coverage of the AT&T and Verizon networks (depending on the phone). In the case of Xfinity Mobile, the business deal is strictly with Verizon Wireless.
Xfinity Mobile pays Verizon to use its services and cell towers. This means that phones on Xfinity Mobile will get the same coverage as Verizon Wireless. This seems like a deal too good to be true if you are a Comcast customer. This comes with a large caveat, however.
Most mobile companies (such as Verizon) will downgrade the bandwidth of any MVNO. This is what is known as data deprioritization. This is to give a priority to Verizon customers for call quality and data speed. As a result, sometimes internet and app use will be slower on Xfinity Mobile versus Verizon.
Xfinity Mobile Users Have Their Own Perks
A perk of using Xfinity Mobile is directly linked to being owned by Comcast. If a phone on an Xfinity Mobile plan is within range of a Comcast Wi-Fi hotspot, then the phone can automatically connect to that hotspot.
This can be particularly advantageous to customers that are in a Verizon dead zone (which is rare) but have a plethora of Comcast hotspots. It also is very useful to boost your speed to combat Verizon’s deprioritization of Xfinity Mobile data. Another great advantage of using the Comcast hotspots is that it won’t count against your data usage!
A few other minor perks exist for Xfinity Mobile customers that don’t exist for Verizon customers. The mobile plans have a pay-by-the-gig feature. This will allow you to pay by the gig for data and, as a result, is much more flexible than Verizon with data usage. The price point for Xfinity Mobile is also significantly more affordable than Verizon plans. This is due to Comcast’s business model, ensuring that their service is only for their current customers, which in turn secures existing contracts.
Will Verizon Ever Buy Xfinity Mobile?
This is a fair question, as Comcast’s foray into mobile phones has been wildly successful. At some point in the near future, it could be conceivable that Xfinity Mobile could grow in subscriptions so much that the idea of buying the carrier becomes enticing.
Verizon purchased the largest MVNO in the US in 2021, Tracfone for approximately 7 billion dollars. It would not be all surprising, however, if Verizon wanted to buy Xfinity Mobile in the future, both as Xfinity Mobile and Verizon keep growing in their respective markets. Verizon is the leading telecommunications company in the world, after all.
However, if such an acquisition ever went forward, it’s very probable that the Comcast Wi-Fi hotspot perk would go away. This is because the perk is tied to Comcast’s intellectual property.
Conclusion
Although Verizon does not own Xfinity Mobile, their plans still feature the most reliable mobile network in the country. Whether it is a Xfinity Mobile phone with its unique set of features and perks for their customers or a plan directly from Verizon with its numerous perks, you can count on one thing. You are getting a great plan with fantastic mobile coverage.
