Xfinity Pace Check Outcomes: How Did Comcast’s Dwelling Web Service Do?

Our web connections are more and more changing into the lifeblood of our households. Whether or not you are working from residence, taking additional on-line programs, streaming The Final of Us or overhauling your home with all of the greatest sensible residence gadgets, your web service supplier is nearly as necessary as your fuel, water and electrical energy suppliers. What’s probably the greatest methods to make sure your ISP delivers on its guarantees? Run a pace take a look at.

A pace take a look at offers you a snapshot of the megabits-per-second obtain and add speeds you are getting out of your supplier. There are a number of good web pace assessments on the market you possibly can use. Should you’re a Comcast Xfinity buyer, specifically, Xfinity boasts its personal pace take a look at, out there at Speedtest.Xfinity.com. However as I delve extra particularly into Xfinity pace take a look at outcomes, this web page will largely mirror knowledge from Speedtest.net. It is the instrument from Ookla, which quarterly publishes the outcomes gathered from tens of millions of buyer makes use of of its pace take a look at. 

The place did Xfinity pace take a look at outcomes place it among the many high US web suppliers?

For the primary quarter of 2023, Xfinity fell from the highest spot among the many nation’s greatest ISPs. It landed simply in need of Spectrum, which held the pole place halfway by means of 2022.

Quickest web suppliers within the US

Supplier Median obtain pace
Spectrum 235Mbps
Xfinity 233Mbps
Cox 219Mbps
Optimum 196Mbps
Frontier 190Mbps
Verizon 186Mbps
AT&T Web 180Mbps

So as to qualify as one of many nation’s high web suppliers, an ISP should seem in 3% or extra of the full take a look at knowledge taken through the three-month interval. For instance, EPB, a supplier in Chattanooga, Tennessee, boasts the nation’s quickest residential web plan at 25 gigabits per second. However because it’s solely out there in that portion of the nation, it will not present up on the nationwide checklist (although it actually registered within the state of Tennessee).

Additionally of notice, that 3% threshold is predicated on the information taken from assessments run by prospects throughout the nation, not merely whether or not a supplier covers 3% of the nation. T-Cellular Dwelling Web, for instance, is now out there to 89% of the nation, based on the Federal Communications Fee’s National Broadband Map. Nevertheless, its buyer base, which has grown to over 3 million subscribers, was not fairly massive sufficient for it to crack into consideration on that high checklist.

Chart showing the difference between median and mean

Ookla pace take a look at information would not use its dataset’s common (or imply) however the median, aiming to higher characterize the standard buyer’s expertise.

Ookla

Does that imply each Xfinity buyer will get 233Mbps?

Although Xfinity pace take a look at outcomes with Ookla garnered it a median obtain pace score of 233Mbps, that does not equate to each Xfinity subscriber getting at the least 233Mbps. Nevertheless it does present that almost all Xfinity prospects could have a constant web expertise. In reality, Ookla has a “Consistency” rating — which reveals the proportion of outcomes that registered above broadband pace (25Mbps obtain and 3Mbps add) — and Xfinity landed close to the highest of that chart additionally with a 91.7% score.

That will also be mixed with the FCC’s recent findings that over 90% of members skilled precise median obtain speeds that had been at the least 95% of the ISP’s marketed obtain pace. That is actually one other good approach to decide consistency for the client. However what are the marketed speeds supplied by Xfinity?

Out there web speeds from Xfinity

Most ISPs supply three to 5 pace tiers, however Xfinity is exclusive in that it boasts seven to eight completely different web pace choices, relying in your location. That is fairly a bit extra alternative for patrons than one usually encounters.

Xfinity pace tiers

Plan Max speeds
Join 75Mbps obtain, 10Mbps add
Join Extra 200Mbps obtain, 10Mbps add
Quick 400Mbps obtain, 10Mbps add
Superfast 800Mbps obtain, 20Mbps add
Gigabit 1,000Mbps obtain, 20Mbps add
Gigabit Additional 1,200Mbps obtain, 35Mbps add
Gigabit X2 2,000Mbps obtain, 50Mbps add
Gigabit Professional 6,000Mbps obtain, 6,000Mbps add

Brian L. Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast, said during a January earnings call that Gigabit Plus prospects comprise roughly one-third of Xfinity broadband subscribers. That is a bit greater than OpenVault’s latest data for web prospects throughout the US, which has gigabit (and above) consumption at 15%. General, based on OpenVault, most prospects (55%) go for a plan of 200-400Mbps. The remainder of the information reveals 10% go along with 100-200Mbps, 8% are within the 50-100Mbps class, 7% select 500-900Mbps and 5% are on plans underneath 50Mbps.

For Xfinity, all plans are a hybrid fiber-coaxial cable connection, so prospects’ obtain speeds shall be a lot quicker than their add speeds. The one exception is the Gigabit Professional plan, which is a 100% fiber connection. Whereas it is theoretically out there all through Xfinity’s nationwide footprint, FCC numbers point out it is solely out there to roughly 4% of Xfinity’s buyer base.

US states the place Xfinity was the highest ISP

State Median obtain pace
Arizona 237Mbps
Colorado 245Mbps
Delaware 237Mbps
Kentucky 245Mbps
Massachusetts 227Mbps
Michigan 237Mbps
New Hampshire 240Mbps
New Mexico 233Mbps
Oregon 236Mbps
Pennsylvania 231Mbps
Washington 237Mbps

Comcast’s Xfinity web service is on the market in 39 states and the District of Columbia, so that offers it an honest probability at grabbing the highest spot in plenty of states. It had the slowest exhibiting in Massachusetts at 227Mbps and its quickest obtain pace at 245Mbps in each Colorado and Kentucky.

US cities the place Xfinity was the highest ISP

Metropolis Median obtain pace
Albuquerque, New Mexico 238Mbps
Aurora, Colorado 260Mbps
Baltimore, Maryland 209Mbps
Colorado Springs, Colorado 255Mbps
Denver, Colorado 232Mbps
Fort Wayne, Indiana 203Mbps
Fremont, California 207Mbps
Fresno, California 248Mbps
Memphis, Tennessee 185Mbps
Miami, Florida 202Mbps
Portland, Oregon 218Mbps
Sacramento, California 233Mbps
San Jose, California 237Mbps
Seattle, Washington 217Mbps
St. Paul, Minnesota 215Mbps
Stockton, California 244Mbps
Tucson, Arizon 245Mbps

As for metropolis speeds, the Ookla knowledge takes into consideration solely the highest 100 most populous cities within the nation. On that checklist, Xfinity was the quickest supplier in 17 cities, which once more put it in second place to Spectrum, which grabbed the highest spot in 18 US cities. Memphis, Tennessee, introduced up the rear for Xfinity, with a median obtain pace of 185Mbps (that additionally put it on the very backside of the checklist of the highest 100 US cities). Xfinity scored its quickest median obtain pace in Aurora, Colorado, with 260Mbps.

Xfinity pace take a look at: Remaining ideas

Should you’ve learn any of CNET’s residence web protection, you’ve got heard us say that fiber web trumps cable web in nearly each approach. That is actually true. However most fiber ISPs with a big nationwide footprint — AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier, Optimum and Verizon — do not completely supply fiber web plans. Their protection areas additionally embrace a mixture of slower connection varieties like digital subscriber line. The pace take a look at leads to these areas shall be considerably decrease than the fiber numbers, thus making the suppliers’ whole numbers decrease. However Xfinity, and different cable web suppliers that do not have to cope with DSL dragging down their numbers, will see a way more constant efficiency throughout the nation. In that approach, cable trumps the fiber-DSL combo.

Xfinity Pace Check FAQs

Why ought to I trouble to run an Xfinity pace take a look at?

Should you really feel like your web connection is performing poorly, working a pace take a look at is likely one of the quickest methods to see when you’re getting the pace your ISP marketed. If you’re getting the web pace you are paying for, then maybe your struggles imply you might want to improve to a quicker plan. But when your pace take a look at outcomes present speeds beneath what it is best to obtain, then additional investigation is warranted. It might be a problem along with your supplier (particularly when you ran the take a look at whereas linked through ethernet cable), or you could have uncovered some issues along with your Wi-Fi connection.

How briskly is Xfinity’s least expensive plan?

Xfinity is exclusive in that it gives at the least seven completely different pace tiers. On high of that, it has completely different pricing for these plans relying on the realm of the nation during which you are situated. In some areas of the nation, the most affordable plan is a 400Mbps plan; in others, the most affordable is its 75Mbps possibility. Lastly, Xfinity additionally gives a low-income possibility, Web Necessities, for eligible prospects. That plan is 50-100Mbps.

What is an effective pace for Xfinity?

Throughout a latest earnings name, Comcast executives famous that just about one-third of its buyer base subscribes to its 1,200Mbps plan. That stated, Xfinity pace take a look at knowledge from Ookla reveals that Xfinity’s median obtain pace is 233Mbps, and up to date knowledge from OpenVault reveals that almost all US subscribers (roughly 55%) obtain 200-400Mbps. In the end, a “good pace” depends upon the wants of your family. The extra customers (and linked gadgets) you could have, the larger your want for the next web pace tier.