Xfinity vs. Verizon Fios: Home internet coverage compared – CNET [CNET]

A good home internet plan is borderline essential these days, so if you’re shopping around for a new one, you’ve got a lot to think about. Beyond understanding how the different technologies at play might affect your network performance and determining how much speed you actually need, you might consider looking into the available discounts for low-income households or bundling your home internet with other services.

Outside of that, you’ll want some familiarity with the internet service providers competing for your business, too. Among them, two of the largest are Comcast Xfinity, which is available to roughly one-third of American households, and Verizon Fios, available to a little over one-sixth of the country. If you live in the Northeast, you might even have access to both.

If that’s the case, you’ve come to the right post. Below, we’ll take a look at how the two providers stack up, from speeds and price tiers to coverage maps and customer satisfaction.

Verizon Fios vs. Xfinity: Technology and speeds

From fiber to satellite, dial-up to DSL, there are lots of different ways for ISPs to get internet connectivity into people’s homes. While a lot of internet providers employ a mix of methods as needed to get as many people online as possible, most focus on one main technology for a majority of customers. For instance, Comcast’s Xfinity internet service specializes in cable internet, which carries your web traffic along the same copper coaxial wiring that delivers cable TV into people’s homes. That’s no surprise — along with being an internet juggernaut, Comcast is one of the biggest cable TV providers in the US. 

According to the Federal Communications Commission’s most recent data (an admittedly flawed and outdated database, even according to FCC commissioners), cable internet accounts for 99.98% of Xfinity’s subscriber footprint, with download speeds of up to 1,000 megabits per second (1 gigabit) available to about 97% of those customers. Comcast notes that those figures are from December 2020, and adds that speeds and availability percentages are both a little higher these days.

“As of January 2021, Comcast upgraded its Xfinity Gigabit Internet speed to provide 1.2Gbps (1,200Mbps) in its Northeast Division,” a Comcast spokesperson told us earlier this year. “The company will roll out this speed increase across the rest of its footprint throughout 2021. Xfinity Gigabit Internet is available to 99-plus% of its footprint.”

Per the FCC, faster fiber hookups account for the other 0.02% of Xfinity subscribers, though Comcast says that this number is on the rise, as well. In November, the company announced top speeds as high as 3Gbps for customers across the nation, fast enough to qualify as the fastest residential internet plans in the country. 

Upload speeds are another story

While Xfinity offers fast downloads, upload speeds with those 1.2Gbps cable plans typically top out at around 35Mbps, which is roughly the bare minimum for HD video conferencing. Lower-tier plans offer even less. For instance, if you subscribe to Xfinity’s Blast plan with download speeds of 300Mbps, your accompanying upload speeds will be capped at just 10Mbps. And no, Comcast isn’t close to clear about this shortcoming on its website, or in any of its advertising for Xfinity service.

Faster upload speeds do seem to be in the works, but it’s unclear when a majority of Xfinity customers should expect to benefit from them.

“Over the years, we have consistently increased both upstream and downstream speeds,” a Comcast spokesperson says, while also pointing to an in-house report showing that downstream traffic was roughly 14 times higher than upstream traffic in 2020. 

“We continue to evaluate usage, but nothing to announce about increases to our upstream speeds at this time,” the spokesperson added.

Without any cable infrastructure whatsoever, Verizon is much more dependent on fiber deployments, with max download speeds of 940Mbps available for 62% of its customers as of December 2020. Fiber is much better than cable at handling uploads, too, so Verizon Fios customers can expect high upload speeds that match their download speeds, or that come close. For instance, that top-tier 940Mbps plan comes with upload speeds of up to 880Mbps.

Outside of Fios fiber-optic service, the rest of the customer base gets its internet from Verizon via DSL, which the FCC lists as available to 87% of subscribers at much slower download speeds ranging from 1.1 to 10Mbps. 

Verizon also notes its growing 5G and LTE home internet service, which leverages the company’s cellular towers to beam internet connections directly into peoples’ homes. In December, 5G Home service expanded to include Dayton, Ohio and Jacksonville, Florida, which brings the total number of US markets to 62. 

“Our expansion of 5G Home … will continue throughout the year,” a Verizon spokesperson said.

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