Fidium Fiber vs. Xfinity Internet Providers Compared

New kid on the block: Fidium Fiber offers good pricing, fast fiber

Fidium Fiber is a new fiber internet service provider that launched in late 2021. Fidium Fiber is currently available in 8 states: California, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Vermont [1]. Prices are good for all Fidium Fiber plans, with their lowest-priced plan starting at 100 Mbps. Maximum gigabit speeds go up to 2000 Mbps at monthly prices that are very competitive for that level of speed. A Wi-Fi 6 gateway rental is included with the monthly fee, and Fidium Fiber requires no contracts or data caps. 

Fidium Fiber’s pricing is simple, transparent, and matches other best deals

Fidium Fiber offers prices that are good across the board, with no hidden fees. The entry-level plan currently starting at $25/month offers 100 Mbps download and upload speeds. For families on tight budgets, this is one of the most affordable first-tier plan prices you’ll find in the industry. With those symmetrical speeds, you will get very good internet performance for activities such as videoconferencing. Fidium Fiber’s faster speed plans are also good deals. At $70/month for 2000 Mbps, these are fiber prices that can compete with any other fiber pricing nationwide. Best of all, you will get transparent, simple pricing from Fidium Fiber that is much easier to understand than the complex pricing of many other ISPs. Fidium Fiber requires no contracts, no bundling, and no data caps. That means you won’t face bills with unexpected overage charges or early termination fees. You also won’t have the usual $100 installation cost for new internet, as Fidium Fiber offers free professional installation. Fidium Fiber will include the use of a modem/router with your monthly plan price.

Xfinity stands above the pack for its low initial pricing, but pay attention to the later price hikes and fees

Xfinity is the largest internet service provider in the United States, with 32 million broadband subscribers [1]. Xfinity is a subsidiary of cable giant Comcast. Company size and strength gives Xfinity the ability to offer very low promotional prices to consumers for a year or even two years. Xfinity’s promotional plans begin around $20/month. Here's the kicker: after a year or two, your promotional rate will end. At that point, your rate can go up by anywhere from $25 to $50 per month. And Xfinity pricing varies all over the country and is pretty complex in how it changes from plan to plan. By our evaluation standards, this lack of simplicity in pricing hurts Xfinity’s rating despite its great initial promotional rates. In addition, Xfinity’s lower-tier plans have data caps that apply under certain conditions. The data cap is 1.2 TB (terabytes) per month, which is enough to cover many households’ monthly usage without any trouble. However, the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society analyzed data from OpenVault to show that 14.6% of homes used more than 1 terabyte per month, and 2.4% used over 2 terabytes per month [2]. This data suggests that 1 in every 7 homes would run a risk of exceeding the Xfinity data cap. Comcast/Xfinity claims that it does not throttle internet and slow it down, however, Xfinity will charge you overage fees if you exceed your data cap [3]. Those fees can go up to a maximum of $100/month [4]. Odds are that you won’t exceed your data cap. But if you have lots of real-time gaming or heavy streaming in your household, the extra cost for data overage could really add up. With Xfinity's top tier plans, though, you will get unlimited data.

Fidium Fiber brings fiber’s speed and reliability to new service areas

Fidium Fiber offers to bring you symmetrical speeds between 100 Mbps and 2000 Mbps depending on your plan. That’s great news if you live in a town that hasn’t had fiber internet before. For example, fiber internet is often not available in rural states such as Maine and Vermont. But Fidium Fiber continues to build fiber infrastructure in those states to add more towns to its coverage area [2]. Some Fidium Fiber customers have said that they are not getting their promised speeds, but others report being very satisfied [3]. If you have any doubts, you can test your actual speed here to see what kind of performance your current internet connection is giving you.

Xfinity’s hybrid fiber/coaxial cable supplies gigabit download speeds but slower upload speeds

Though Xfinity has advanced cable technology and good speeds, their network seems to be more prone to outages than users would like [5]. That’s the major reason Xfinity gets a lower rating for performance, in addition to the intrinsic differences between cable speed and all-fiber speed. Xfinity uses technology that is mostly fiber but uses coaxial cable for a short stretch of your internet connection. This type of connection is known as hybrid fiber/coaxial cable, or HFC. An HFC internet connection is better than older cable technologies because it can supply download speeds up to gigabit speeds. HFC will give you faster, more reliable internet service than DSL, satellite internet, or fixed wireless internet. And for streaming in HD, this hybrid fiber- cable internet will certainly be able to support multiple devices. The major difference between HFC and an all-fiber internet connection is upload speeds. Your upload speed will be no faster than 35-50 Mbps. An-all fiber connection, by contrast, will give you the same upload speed as your download speed. Your upload speed will affect activities such as gaming, videoconferencing and large file uploads. The good news is that if you have an upload speed of 35 Mbps, you’re still going to be able to upload pretty quickly. For most average households, 35 Mbps is enough. But if you have four or more people in your household streaming HD, playing games, working from home, and videoconferencing simultaneously, you’re going to want all-fiber internet, or what is often called “fiber to the home” (FTTH). Xfinity does have one all-fiber connectivity option that is full FTTH. If your household’s location is eligible, Xfinity will install an FTTH connection for their Gigabit Pro plan. Gigabit Pro is up there with the fastest fiber plans on the market.

Free installation, free equipment loan with Fidium Fiber internet plans

Several fiber ISPs will offer you good promotional prices and no contracts. They may even offer no data caps, as Fidium Fiber does. But very few ISPs also offer free installation for all their plans. The free installation for Fidium Fiber is a nice touch that means you don’t have to invest up front to get Fidium Fiber. Fidium Fiber will give you free use of a Wi-Fi 6 Gateway and a whole-home Attune Wi-Fi app that will allow you to control all your devices. If you have smart home devices, the app will be especially useful. But it’s also nice to have a network management app when you want to adjust your settings without logging in to your router.

Xfinity offers two different gateways and popular Flex 4K streaming TV box

For TV fans, Xfinity internet service brings the added bonus of its free Flex 4K streaming box [6]. This convenient gadget will work much like a Roku box to consolidate your streaming apps, plus give you over 10,000 free movies and shows, free channels, and a voice remote. Xfinity TV customers are not eligible for a free Flex 4K, however. For your modem and router, you will get the xFi Gateway with its multi-gig speed capability, Wi-Fi 6E, parental controls and security protection [7]. Or you can upgrade to the xFi Complete, which includes unlimited data. Both require a rental fee after the promotional period that could be $15-25, which is part of why your price goes up. If you use your own router and modem to avoid the equipment fee, you will have to live with the 1.2 TB data cap. Installation fees will be similar to other providers at around $100 for a technician install and $15  for a self-install ($15).

Reviews are mixed for Fidium Fiber’s customer service and operations

Fidium Fiber doesn’t yet have a large enough customer base to qualify for one of the major national customer satisfaction reviews such as the J.D. Power Survey. Fidium Fiber does have over 1 million fiber passings (or potential connections for customers) thanks to its buildout. But Fidium Fiber is still a relatively small provider, reporting approximately 123,000 fiber broadband customers at the end of 2022 [4]. Even though Fidium Fiber doesn’t yet show up in major national surveys, you can still find a number of user reviews online in various forums. A casual scan shows the usual bumps in the road for a new provider without a long history of successful operations. Some customers say they do not get their service installed quickly and don’t get satisfactory responses from the company. Others say they don’t get promised speeds. But an equal number seem to feel that they are getting a better deal for their money and better performance than with their previous providers [5]. Overall, it seems likely that Fidium Fiber is providing good service to many customers, but still ironing out kinks in its operations, staffing, and support.

Xfinity Customer Service shows improvement

Xfinity has not been known for strong customer service over the years. Online reviews continue to mention some problem areas. But Xfinity has been moving up in official rankings, and for that reason, we give them 4 stars for improving their customer experience. Xfinity has customer support on its website, with 24/7 chat for help and 24/7 tech support. An online status center allows you to check for outages and troubleshoot your service. The Xfinity app will make your online customer experience more streamlined. You can also find Xfinity help communities through Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. Customer service rankings have been improving for Xfinity in recent years. In 2022, Xfinity ranked third in three of four regions in the J.D. Power Residential Internet Service Provider Customer Satisfaction Study  [8]. This ranking reflects Xfinity’s recent effort to improve their customer support. Though Xfinity’s customer support ratings from other sources are not always as high, overall, signs are getting better that you will be satisfied with your customer experience.