Do you really save with a bundle?

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  5G coverage king

  T-Mobile

  T-Mobile is one of the Big Three carriers in the U.S. It offers some of the best 5G coverage and a wide range of plans with solid discounts for families, veterans, seniors, and more.

  Pros

  • Strong 5G coverage and performances
  • Truly unlimited plans available
  • Prepaid and postpaid options

  Cons

  • Expensive for a single line
  • Taxes and fees are extra on Essentials plans

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  Bundle and save

  Xfinity Mobile

  Xfinity Mobile cell phone service isn’t the best value around for a single line, but starts to make a lot more sense with savings on extra lines. You can even mix and match plans to save more.

  Pros

  • Strong Verizon coverage
  • Competitive multiline pricing
  • Millions of Wi-Fi hotspots available

  Cons

  • Taxes and fees extra on all plans
  • Unlimited plan slowed to 1.5Mbps after 30GB
  • Must be an Xfinity home customer

Xfinity is one of the biggest ISPs with TV, home internet, and home phone customers across the country. If you’re a customer, you can sign up for Xfinity Mobile cell phone service, but it’s not always the best choice. Still, Xfinity Mobile keeps its choices simple with only two unlimited plans, while T-Mobile has double that with variants for those who qualify for discounts, such as members of the military.

T-Mobile also keeps its fees to a minimum whereas Xfinity Mobile is happy to tack on a Universal Connectivity Fee, Recovery Fee, and government taxes. Even with these considerations, Xfinity Mobile could be the right pick for some customers. If you already have Xfinity for your home internet, getting phone service through the same company can also simplify your monthly bills.

Mobile carrier features

T-Mobile is a more traditional postpaid carrier with all of its plans offering unlimited data. T-Mobile differentiates its plans with premium data, hotspot data, international support, and entertainment add-ons. For the most part, T-Mobile offers stronger international options than T-Mobile, with unlimited talk, text, and data in Mexico and Canada on even the cheapest Essentials plans. The pricier Go5G plans provide some international high-speed data and in-flight Wi-Fi on Alaska Airlines and American, Delta, and United flights.

Unlike Xfinity Mobile, T-Mobile has truly unlimited options, which means your data won’t be slowed no matter how much you use. The cheapest Essentials plan gets 50GB of premium data, so even if you’re a heavy user, you probably won’t notice a difference in data performance. T-Mobile also includes unlimited 3G hotspot on all plans; Go5G and higher also include some high-speed data.

Last but not least, T-Mobile has postpaid plans as well as prepaid options with T-Mobile Prepaid and T-Mobile Connect for lighter users.

Xfinity offers three plans, starting with a fairly simple 1GB plan, and then two unlimited plans with 30GB or 50GB of high-speed data. While Xfinity slows your data after these amounts, the standard unlimited plan with 30GB slows to 1.5Mbps, while the Unlimited Plus plan with 50GB slows to 5Mbps, which is still quite usable.

Xfinity Mobile’s international options are nice, with the carrier only supporting pay-as-you-go international usage with Global Travel Passes available for when you travel abroad. The price of these travel passes varies by country but comes in at $5 or $10 in most cases. If you travel frequently, Xfinity Mobile doesn’t make a ton of sense, but if you’re just taking a quick trip abroad, it’s nice that you don’t need to worry about tracking down another SIM. Luckily, talk, text, and data in Mexico and Canada are included with both unlimited plans.

Coverage and reception

T-Mobile builds its own network, so you’ll use the T-Mobile LTE and 5G network exclusively. T-Mobile’s 5G network is still the biggest in the country with most cities and towns covered, and many even available with quick mid-band 5G service. T-Mobile’s network is made up primarily of low-band and mid-band 5G spectrum, which can be used together for faster speeds with a supported phone.

On T-Mobile, you can expect strong 5G coverage across most of the country, but there are still a few more dead zones in rural areas than Verizon or AT&T have. So, check T-Mobile’s coverage map if you live or work in the country. Test driving T-Mobile’s network is also possible; the carrier offers three months of data if you have an unlocked eSIM-compatible phone.

Xfinity Mobile’s network has a bit more going on with its primary coverage provided by Verizon, and supplemental coverage provided by its own network of Xfinity Wifi hotspots hosted by those with Xfinity home or business service. These hotspots are numerous and reasonably fast with Xfinity enabling its Gig speed service on many of them where the network has been upgraded to fiber. For example, if you’re out to lunch at a restaurant, your phone will automatically link to the Xfinity Wifi connection, saving you data usage and saving Xfinity money.

Xfinity Mobile also worked with Samsung to build its own strand 5G cells, so it can offer 5G in areas it serves with a device hanging from the cable lines outside your home.

Phone compatibility

T-Mobile’s network is compatible with most phones made with at least some LTE or 5G band support. But to get the most out of its 5G network, you’ll want a phone designed for the North American market with 5G band support for n71, n66, and n41. T-Mobile uses all three of these bands for its 5G coverage. The lower-frequency band n71 offers strong coverage, while the other two bands are used for faster speed when closer to a tower.

You can use any of the best Android phones and iPhones on T-Mobile, and you should get great performance on all of them. Even some international phones like the Nothing Phone 2a work on the T-Mobile network.

Xfinity Mobile doesn’t support quite as many phones. The best phones for Xfinity still include many great Android options, as well as iPhone support. You can, for example, use a Google Pixel 8 or Samsung Galaxy S24 phone and other cheaper options from Motorola and Samsung. However, support for phones like the OnePlus 12 or OnePLus 12R is weak. While some users report the phones technically working on the network, missing features like visual voicemail make them hard to recommend for the carrier.

If you’re ready for a new phone, you can pick up one of the best phones for Xfinity Mobile directly from the carrier, so it will work with all the carrier’s features. You could even save on a new phone with a qualifying trade-in. An additional $10 per month can also be saved if you bring your own phone.

Plans

When it comes down to it, the most important aspect of any carrier is its plans. T-Mobile has many more plans, including postpaid and prepaid options. Xfinity Mobile sticks to just three plans, though its pricing can be a bit confusing with extra fees tacked on. Plus, Xfinity Mobile only makes sense for existing Xfinity customers anyway.

T-Mobile plans

T-Mobile’s plans will look familiar if you’re coming from another one of the Big Three carriers with several unlimited plans. The main differences are premium data, high-speed hotspot data, and international features.

Starting with the most basic plans, Essentials and Essentials Saver includes 50GB of premium data, unlimited 3G-speed hotspot data, and usage in Mexico and Canada. Video quality is limited to 480p, which isn’t uncommon at this price. Speaking of price, Essentials Saver starts at $50 for a single line, but if you’re bringing four lines, you’ll want to take advantage of the $100 Essentials 4 Line offer. Taxes and fees are extra on all Essentials plans.

Moving up, Go5G takes the premium data up to 100GB, offering 15GB of high-speed hotspot data. Netflix Standard with Ads, six months of Apple TV+, and videos streaming at up to 720p (if you enable it in your account settings) are included. If you’re traveling, you get 10GB of high-speed data in Mexico and Canada with unlimited talk and text and four full in-flight Wi-Fi sessions on supported airlines. There’s also 5GB of high-speed data in 11 other countries, with unlimited 256Kbps data in 215+ countries. Go5G starts at $75 per month for a single line and increases to $155 for four lines.

Go5G Plus and Go5G Next upgrade premium data to unlimited and hotspot data to 50GB. Apple TV+ and Netflix Standard with Ads are also included, which is nice, since video streaming quality is unlocked to 4K. There’s also 15GB of high-speed data in Mexico and Canada and full in-flight texting and Wi-Fi where available. The biggest difference between Go5G Plus and Go5G Next is the upgrade cycle. Go5G Plus customers are upgrade-ready every two years, while Go5G Next customers can upgrade annually.

Go5G Plus costs $90 per month, with taxes and fees included for a single line. With four lines, that costs $185 per month. If you choose Go5G Next, it’s $100 for the first line and $225 for four lines.

Note that T-Mobile has discounts available for members of the military, veterans, first responders, and seniors. Be sure to get all the discounts you deserve on T-Mobile.

If you’re looking for a T-Mobile Prepaid plan, you can start with a 10GB plan for $40 per month plus taxes and fees. There are also two unlimited plans available with 3GB or 10GB of hotspot data for $50 and $60 per month, respectively. Those bringing more lines can also get multiline savings on all these plans.

T-Mobile Connect is a leftover promise from when T-Mobile purchased Sprint, but for lighter users, Connect’s three small plans could be a good pick. With 5GB, 8GB, or 12GB of data, these simple plans stick to the basics with unlimited talk and text. Taxes and fees are extra.

Xfinity Mobile plans

Xfinity Mobile has three plans, starting with the cheapest By the Gig plan. This plan offers 1GB of data for $20 per month, plus taxes and fees. Talk and text are unlimited, and you don’t get usage in Mexico and Canada, but for a light user, this could still be a good plan, especially if you stick mostly to Xfinity Wifi hotspots for data. However, if you need more than that 1GB, the value falls away, with additional data coming in at an uncompetitive $20 per 1GB.

Things start looking up with the base unlimited plan. This plan costs $40 per month before taxes and fees and comes with 30GB of high-speed data. After that, speeds are slowed to 1.5Mbps download, which is enough for some streaming data and SD-quality video, while you wait for the month to end. Still, for most users, 30GB of data is plenty, making this unlimited plan one of Xfinity Mobile’s best values, especially since additional lines are only $20 each. You also get unlimited 3G-speed hotspot data.

Unlimited Plus increases high-speed data to 50GB, speeds are only reduced to 5Mbps if data is exceeded. Hotspot data is upgraded to 15GB high-speed with unlimited 3G-speed data after that. The first line costs $50, with additional lines costing $30 each, plus taxes and fees. Both unlimited plans come with usage in Mexico and Canada as well.

It’s worth mentioning that these taxes and fees aren’t all from the government. The Universal Connectivity Fee ($3.99 per line) and the Regulatory Recover Fee ($1.56 per line) recover the fees Comcast has to pay for your phone line. Recovery fees aren’t exclusive to Xfinity, but aren’t a welcome addition when a carrier stacks them on top of the plan price.

As a reminder, you must be an existing Xfinity Internet customer to sign up for Xfinity Mobile, or there will be an extra $25 charge. At that point, you may as well choose from another of the best value data plans.

Which should you buy?

When it comes to value for money, T-Mobile comes out ahead for all non-Xfinity customers, and even if you already have Xfinity, it’s worth thinking twice before choosing Xfinity Mobile. For example, T-Mobile’s Essentials plan costs about the same as Xfinity Mobile’s base unlimited plan and gets totally unlimited data with 50GB of it at premium speed. On its Go5G plans, T-Mobile keeps its pricing simple with taxes and fees included, making it easier to budget before signing up.

If you’re a heavy user and don’t want to worry about tracking how much data you use, T-Mobile stands out as the better value. And for those looking for a Home Internet bundle, you can sign up for T-Mobile 5G Home Internet for less than your combined Xfinity plan. It must be mentioned, however, that 5G home internet is generally slower than cable, so your mileage will vary.

Plus, you can use Xfinity Wifi hotspots with any carrier if you’re an Xfinity Internet customer.

While Xfinity Mobile isn’t the best value for everyone, it can still be a solid option. Its base unlimited plan is a good value, with 30GB of high-speed data and a low price for each additional line. It includes a Mexico and Canada travel pass, unlimited hotspot data, and strong nationwide coverage. If you bring multiple family members, Xfinity Mobile can make sense and reduce the number of bills you must keep track of.