Moving ahead of two upcoming major handset launches, Comcast on Thursday reported it has completed its nationwide rollout of its Xfinity Mobile offering.
According to the operator, its wireless service product is now available across all of Comcast’s sales channels in all of its markets. The announcement marks the end of a market-by-market retail expansion that began with Xfinity Mobile’s launch in mid-May, Comcast said.
“We created a unique mobile experience that’s simple and saves customers money by connecting to our nationwide Wi-Fi network, and allows them to only pay for the data they use,” Xfinity Mobile President Greg Butz commented. “Now that we’re available across all of our distribution platforms, including our retail locations in all of our markets, we look forward to introducing even more customers to Xfinity Mobile.”
The news comes just ahead of two high-profile device launches from Samsung and Apple scheduled for the coming weeks, solidifying Comcast’s retail presence to capture switchers around those events. But while retail is traditionally important in wireless – with nearly 80 percent of mobile devices purchased at a retail location – Comcast reports its online sales channels are handling a significant portion of its wireless sign ups. The operator said more than half of customers are making the switch through its online channel.
Xfinity Mobile offers service through a network of more than 18 million WiFi hotspots, with cellular fallback on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. So far, Comcast reported that nearly 70 percent of customers are connecting to Xfinity WiFi when they’re in transit.
But that’s not the only unique approach taken by the service. Xfinity Mobile users have access to an unlimited plan – the new standard in wireless – but also have the ability to choose a “By the Gig” option that charges customers $12 per GB of data used.
Comcast Cable CEO David Watson said on the operator’s earnings call last month that “most” customers were taking the “By the Gig” option. While that remains true for the “majority” of customers, Comcast now reports nearly a quarter of users have one line of “By the Gig” coupled with one line of unlimited. Additionally, some customers who started on the “By the Gig” plan are switching to the unlimited plan, the operator noted.
“Xfinity Mobile was designed to be intuitive and easy-to-manage, and customers are taking advantage, with many opting to ‘switch and save’ on their data plan by changing from ‘By the Gig’ to ‘Unlimited’ data options during their billing cycle, at no charge – a feature that is unique to Xfinity Mobile,” Comcast observed in a press release.
Given Xfinity Mobile’s pricing, the move from “By the Gig” to unlimited makes sense for customers who use 4 GB of data or more. The operator offers unlimited for $45 per month per line for up to five lines.
