Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile hybrid wireless offering is now live across the operator’s entire nationwide retail footprint, the company says.
According to Comcast, Xfinity Mobile is available across all of the operator’s sales channels in all of its markets. The announcement marks the end of a market-by-market retail expansion that began with Xfinity Mobile’s launch in mid-May, Comcast says.
“We created a unique mobile experience that’s simple and saves customers money by connecting to our nationwide Wi-Fi network, and allows them to only pay for the data they use,” Xfinity Mobile President Greg Butz comments. “Now that we’re available across all of our distribution platforms, including our retail locations in all of our markets, we look forward to introducing even more customers to Xfinity Mobile.”
The news comes just ahead of two high-profile handset launches from Samsung and Apple scheduled for the coming weeks, solidifying Comcast’s retail presence to capture wireless switchers around those events. But while retail is traditionally important in wireless – with nearly 80 percent of mobile devices purchased at a retail location – Comcast reports its online sales channels are handling a significant portion of wireless sign ups. The operator indicates more than half of customers are making the switch through its online channel.
Xfinity Mobile offers service through a network of more than 18 million WiFi hotspots, with cellular fallback on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. So far, Comcast reports that nearly 70 percent of customers are connecting to Xfinity WiFi when they’re in transit.
Comcast is one of two cable operators – the other being Charter Communications – that have a cellular MVNO agreement with Verizon. Charter has yet to launch its wireless offering, but has said it is also looking at a hybrid model. Earlier this year, Charter and Comcast inked a deal to work together on all things wireless. More on that here.
Xfinity Mobile users have access to an unlimited plan – the new standard in wireless – but also have the ability to choose a “By the Gig” option that charges customers $12 per GB of data used.
Comcast Cable CEO David Watson said on the operator’s earnings call last month that “most” customers were taking the “By the Gig” option. While that remains true for the “majority” of customers, Comcast now says nearly a quarter of users have one line of “By the Gig” coupled with one line of unlimited. Additionally, some customers who started on the “By the Gig” plan are switching to the unlimited plan, the operator notes.
“Xfinity Mobile was designed to be intuitive and easy-to-manage, and customers are taking advantage, with many opting to ‘switch and save’ on their data plan by changing from ‘By the Gig’ to ‘Unlimited’ data options during their billing cycle, at no charge – a feature that is unique to Xfinity Mobile,” Comcast observes in a press release.
Given Xfinity Mobile’s pricing, the move from “By the Gig” to unlimited makes sense for customers who use 4 GB of data or more. The operator offers unlimited for $45 per month per line for up to five lines.