Let’s find out if you’ll want to be a member of that group. (But you’re still one-of-a-kind, don’t worry.) We’re going to get into the details of Xfinity’s pricing and deals to find the right plan for your family and home. In each region, Xfinity offers at least two TV options to fit each family’s budget and channel needs. So if you just want the main popular channels, like Disney Channel, HGTV, and ESPN, there’s an inexpensive plan for you. Or if you’d like as many channels as possible because you want all of the sports and movie channels, you have that option too. Check out the channel lineups on Xfinity’s website, or take a look at the channels section in our review to choose the perfect TV package for you. Keep in mind, all of Xfinity’s plans come with a 1-year contract and your pricing will increase in year two. Scroll down past the tables to find out how much you’ll need to budget. Honestly, that’s still not too bad for a service that is trusted and widely available across the US. (Just make sure it still fits your budget with the addition of the fees Xfinity might charge you.) By comparison, our second favorite cable TV provider, Spectrum TV, doesn’t require you to sign a contract, but your bill goes up by $25–$35 during your second year. As an example of what you’ll need to prepare for with Xfinity, we’ve laid out the second-year pricing for the West region in the table below. With no contract requirement and a two-year price guarantee, this is a pretty sweet bundle. As the largest cable company in the country, it’s available in 40 states providing TV, internet, and phone services. You can make the bundle your own by choosing channel count, download speeds, and if you still love your rotary dial telephone, you can add in a phone service. If you need help choosing a download speed, our internet expert Catherine McNally goes into detail on how to choose the right Xfinity bundle for your home. Catherine says 40–100 Mbps is sufficient for 1–2 people. Grab a bundle with 75–300 Mbps if there are 3–4 people in your home, or you’ll want 500+ Mbps if you’re a family of 4 or more. Xfinity offers at least seven different bundles for you to choose from, but we’ve narrowed down our top five for each region in the tables below. Some of Xfinity’s fees are typical with most TV providers, like the DVR service and set-top boxes. But what we really don’t like is how high the broadcast and regional sports fees have become. These fees pay for your local and sports channels, and what’s the point in a TV service without those? We can’t fault Xfinity for these newly increased fees though, and they’re not the only TV company suffering to keep their prices down for its consumers. TV companies have had to increase their prices because of rising programming costs–especially for—you guessed it—broadcast TV and sports. We’ll give you a quick overview of how Xfinity TV compares to our other top cable TV providers:
Spectrum TV: Spectrum TV doesn’t require a contract like Xfinity does. Spectrum’s pricing does increase for year two similar to Xfinity, but you’ll be paying about $5–$15 more for your service with Spectrum. Verizon Fios TV: Now, Verizon Fios TV would be our number one choice if it weren’t available in less than 10 states (while Xfinity is available in 40). Verizon Fios offers up to 425 channels with an average of 35 cents per channel. Xfinity’s comes in at about 36 cents for your first year and 52 cents your second. Optimum TV: This cable TV provider is a great choice if you live in one of the three East Coast states or select cities it’s available. We like that Optimum has the option to order an inexpensive package at $30/month for 50 channels. Cox TV: One feature Cox has that no other TV provider offers is the choice to bundle home security with your TV, internet, and landline. Unfortunately though, Cox requires you to sign a 2-year contract and its pricing is on the higher end.
Another upside is that live TV streaming services don’t require you to pay any fees. Rather, they give you the option to pay $5–$10 for a bigger DVR storage or more simultaneous streams (in case you’d like to share your service with five other family members). Take a look at our top live TV streaming services.
