Xfinity Mobile Launches New Premium Unlimited Plan, Hides By-The-Gig Plan

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

Earlier today, T-Mobile unveiled some new plans, including upgrades to various perks and a five-year price lock. Not one to be outdone, Xfinity Mobile is also announcing a new plan today, complete with some perks that could raise eyebrows of even the most die-hard fans of the Big Three carriers. It is also “hiding” one of its plans, but more on that in a bit.

The new Xfinity Mobile plan is called Premium Unlimited. This replaces the previous Unlimited Plus plan, leaving two unlimited offers: Unlimited and Premium Unlimited. The standard Unlimited plan stays mostly the same (30GB of high-speed data monthly before deprioritization, 480p video streams, etc.), with the only notable change being the introduction of WiFi Power Boost, which offers faster Wi-Fi speeds (up to 1Gbps) on certain connections. If you’re not familiar with it, Xfinity Mobile users heavily rely on free Wi-Fi hotspots owned by Comcast and scattered all around the United States. According to Xfinity, more than 90% of customer data traffic happens on Wi-Fi, so faster speeds in this realm are welcome.

Meanwhile, the new Premium Unlimited plan includes WiFi Power Boost and offers everything the old Unlimited Plus plan did, but with a few extra perks. The first change is that you now get 100GB of high-speed data before you are potentially deprioritized on the network. Previously, you would possibly see a drop in speeds after you hit the 50GB limit each month. You also get twice as much high-speed hotspot data, with 30GB offered monthly instead of the old 15GB limit. You can still use your phone as a hotspot after you hit the 30GB limit, but you’ll see much slower speeds.

Elsewhere, Premium Unlimited subscribers can also stream at 4K when watching videos away from Wi-Fi. Previously, the Unlimited Plus plan maxed out at 720p in this area, so this is a huge jump. A new feature called Xfinity Call Guard is also included, which aims to prevent spam calls from reaching you.

Finally, and probably most notably, Premium Unlimited subscribers can upgrade their phones twice yearly through a new system called Elite Upgrade. This perk assumes you’ll be trading in your current phone and guarantees you a trade-in value of up to $830 that you can then apply to a new phone. If you’re the kind of person who likes to try new phones often, this is an exciting perk. Notably, T-Mobile offers a similar perk for its most expensive plans, but that only gets you one upgrade each year.

If you’re wondering what this all costs, there’s good news there: Premium Unlimited has the same price as Unlimited Plus, which is $50 for the first line and then $30 for each additional line. Keep in mind, however, that the biggest roadblock to using Xfinity Mobile still remains, which is that you must have Xfinity or NOW Internet in your home to sign up for any of these plans. If you sign up for home internet and a mobile plan and then cancel your home internet, your mobile lines will get an additional monthly fee tacked on until you resubscribe to home internet.

Finally, what about the by-the-gig plan? Xfinity Mobile used to promote this as an alternative to Google Fi, which also offers a plan with a low price that only charges you for data you use off Wi-Fi on a by-the-gig basis. Xfinity Mobile is still offering its by-the-gig plan, but it no longer appears on its website. In order to get it, you’ll need to call Xfinity directly or visit a brick-and-mortar store and ask for it. When we asked about this, Xfinity told us that consumers “overwhelmingly” opt for unlimited plans, so it is de-emphasizing the by-the-gig offer.