While CenturyLink offers unlimited data and doesn’t jack up your price or make you sign a contract, Xfinity Wi-Fi download speeds are faster and more reliable. Plus, Xfinity’s promotional prices might start out as a better deal compared to CenturyLink. But which ISP is best for you? Read on to find out more about CenturyLink’s versus Xfinity’s prices, internet speeds, data caps, and more. Hometown pride aside, your location is important because it affects which Xfinity prices you see and which CenturyLink speeds you get. Weird, huh? Yeah, we thought so too. Here’s how that cookie crumbles:
Xfinity prices change based on which region of the US you live in: West, Central, or Northeast. But the speeds it offers remain the same, with a few changes here and there. CenturyLink speeds change based on where you live—but CenturyLink will pair you up with the fastest speed you can get in your area up to 100 Mbps for the same monthly price. (Excluding its 940 Mbps fiber plan.)
Got all that? Great, now we’re ready to dive head-first into the cookie jar. What doesn’t match between the two ISPs is which speed each one offers. CenturyLink connects you to the web at 15 to 100 Mbps or at 940 Mbps, but Xfinity has a bunch of speeds in between to choose from. We’d say that makes plans like Xfinity’s Fast and Superfast plans a better choice for families of streamers or gamers. With CenturyLink, your starting price should stay the same as long as you don’t change internet plans or move to a new location. You’ll also need to sign up for paperless billing, but honestly, not many of us rely on snail-mailed bills these days. And we haven’t even touched on data caps yet. Most of Xfinity’s internet plans come with a 1.2 TB data cap. Sure, most of us won’t use that much data in a month, but why worry about it when CenturyLink offers unlimited data? For large families and anyone who wants their internet to pack the biggest punch possible, we also think CenturyLink’s Fiber Internet plan is a steal. (If it’s available to you.) It rings up at a lower monthly price than Xfinity’s gig speed plan—and is even a better deal than Verizon Fios’s and AT&T Fiber’s gig plans. But hey, don’t let Xfinity’s top-tier 3,000 Mbps plan sweep you off your feet. It’s far more likely you’ll get to choose its 1,000 Mbps plan. Besides, you’ll need to fork over about $300 for those 3,000 Mbps speeds. Comcast Xfinity ranked seventh overall and fourth out of all the large ISPs in our analysis of the fastest ISPs in the US. CenturyLink, on the other hand, ranked 28th overall. Also, we should note that our top-ranked ISP earned a score of 75.6, so Xfinity’s score of 46.6 is actually pretty good. And both Xfinity and CenturyLink are at a disadvantage compared to fiber internet providers since we also measured average upload speeds. Cable and DSL internet don’t have fast upload speeds, but fiber does. (Though Xfinity and CenturyLink both have fiber plans.) One thing’s for sure, though, you’ll save money with most of Xfinity’s bundles versus paying for your internet and TV service separately. If you’re curious about whether Xfinity offers your favorite channels or not, check out our full-length Xfinity TV review. Yup, when it comes to bundling internet with TV, good ol’ CenturyLink is going big instead of going home. Since it cut its CenturyLink Prism TV service a few years back, DIRECTV has been CenturyLink’s TV provider of choice. Sadly, you won’t find many savings around here. Unlike AT&T, which also bundles internet with DIRECTV, CenturyLink’s bundle prices come out to the same price as paying for TV and internet separately. (Sad trombone.) Find out why we love DIRECTV so much—even with the price jump—in our DIRECTV review. Unfortunately, both Xfinity’s and CenturyLink’s reputations don’t make us feel better about the whole customer service deal. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), both ISPs scored lower than the industry average of 62 out of 100.2 (But both did improve by one point.) . . . Seriously, though, there’s no point in getting angry or frustrated. Here are some more tips for navigating what feels like trench warfare with customer service: The good news is, Xfinity is a clear choice if you’re looking for reliably fast internet with lots of download speed options and don’t mind a higher price. And CenturyLink is almost irresistible for anyone who’d rather save some money on internet than get the fastest speeds.
Pricing: CenturyLink. Both Xfinity and CenturyLink have reasonable prices for the speeds each one offers—but only CenturyLink promises to never bump your price up. Speed: Xfinity. Xfinity offers up more download speed options—and tends to be good on its word when it comes to delivering those speeds. TV + internet bundles: Depending on what you want out of your internet and TV bundle, both Xfinity and CenturyLink can be the pick of the pack. Xfinity has fewer bundle options but will probably save you some cash, while CenturyLink focuses less on savings and more on the deliciousness that is DIRECTV. Customer service: Neither. Both ISPs have a lot of work to do when it comes to improving customer service. Neither one scored higher than the internet industry average ACSI score—though they did both improve by one point over last year’s scores.
Get all the details to help you decide which ISP is best in our Xfinity internet review and our CenturyLink review.
