In This Post: After 2 months of service, here’s our full Xfinity review featuring our xFi Gateway with gig internet, and Voice Remote, too!
**This post is sponsored by Xfinity. Thank you for considering supporting the businesses that help me keep my business alive. All opinions are my own.**
Two months ago, we installed our own internet and posted a full Xfinity self-install kit review and video shortly after. Today, my husband, Shaun, and I are diving into a full Xfinity internet review along with sharing our thoughts on our X1 cable box for TV and the award-winning Xfinity Voice Remote.
While I am working with Xfinity to bring this review to you, I actually pitched the idea to them! You’ll quickly be able to tell how impressed we are with Xfinity and our excitement is fully genuine. Finding a reliable internet provider has been such a pain point in our lives for years and we’re over the moon that this is one less thing we have to worry about. We just bought a house and are renovating it ourselves (hence the paint samples on the wall and removed baseboards), so we have enough on our plate already!
Here’s what you need to know if you’re thinking about signing up for Xfinity.
Our In-Store Experience
Our experience started with a trip to the Xfinity store. We couldn’t decide what options would best fit our needs, and per usual, we had lots of questions.
Every safety measure in place
From Allyn: I was nervous to stop at the store with the pandemic as I’ve been avoiding all in-person experiences. When we arrived, everyone was in masks and 6 feet a part. There were only a few people in the store and they still asked us to wait in the car until it was our turn. We only had to wait a brief few minutes, but I was grateful and appreciative of all of the measures they were taking to keep customers safe.
Patient, transparent associates
From Shaun: I personally dread going into any store and having to speak with an associate. Past experiences and my overall personality typically make it an unnecessarily stressful experience. Our experience at the Xfinity store was truly the furthest thing from that, however! Everyone was super friendly, the perfect amount of helpful, and not pushy whatsoever. I would feel 100% comfortable going back into an Xfinity store again without stressing about the experience beforehand.
How did the Xfinity self-install process go?
We were surprised to walk out of the Xfinity store with Getting Started kits to set up our internet and TV ourselves. We filmed that process and it really was as easy as they made it out to be! Our Xfinity self-install kit review shares more information on what’s in each kit and covers what to expect if you’re installing your own internet.
Xfinity xFi Gateway Review
For optimal speed, we went with Xfinity’s gigabit internet, which comes on the new white xFi gateway.
From Allyn: I work from home, and 90% of the tasks I need to do for my part-time job and full-time business involve the internet. Life gets exponentially more difficult for me with unreliable internet, which, truthfully, is something I’ve experienced in any home I’ve ever lived in… until now. Going two months without any internet issues feels like such a treat! With so much on my plate currently, I’m grateful we’ve never had to call support about anything (although I do continuously hear that their customer service is amazing). Most days, I’m working from one laptop while streaming something from another one for background noise all while Shaun is using the internet, too. I can’t say that I understand what gig internet means, but I am very happy we have it! I upload and download lots of large photo and video files all the time. It’s so nice that this only takes minutes now instead of hours.
From Shaun: Like many other people these days, I enjoy playing video games from time to time. While I admittedly prefer games that are single player games, I do still enjoy jumping in on some online games with my younger brother occasionally. With the way that we have to temporarily have our house set up, our Gigabit router is at almost the furthest point away that it could be from where I have my video game systems set up. However, much to my surprise, I haven’t noticed any loss of speeds, despite the distance of the router! This really blew me away, because I’ve encountered issues when previous routers were much, much closer to my systems. I’ve experienced no lag during online gaming, and the games I purchase download consistently at incredibly fast speeds. I truly couldn’t be happier with the all-around performance of our Gigabit internet up to this point. For the price and the performance, I would absolutely recommend it to anyone!
TV with Xfinity
Xfinity offers two main options when it comes to TV – X1 and Flex Streaming.
But first, what is Xfinity Flex?
Xfinity Flex comes up a lot in reviews and content about Comcast. We were confused, so let’s clear it up for you, too! X1 is for you if you want to be able to watch cable while Flex is specifically for streaming. Flex is actually free with Xfinity Internet. The X1 box has all the features of Flex with the addition of cable. So, we’re getting 100s of channels, Peacock Premium, a central hub for all of our music/streaming apps, and tons of free movies On Demand.
How many cable boxes do you need?
You actually don’t have to have a box for every TV, which saves a lot of money. You need at least one box. Once you have that set up, you can access everything on the Xfinity app as long as the TVs in your other rooms are smart TVs that have the ability to download the Xfinity app. However, you do have to have a box of the TV if you want to use the Voice Remote.
Xfinity X1 Review
From Shaun: I don’t watch a ton of live television, but I like having the option to when I want to. We could have chosen a TV package that had less channels, but for the price of the one we got, we would’ve been silly to do that (which still ended up being less expensive than what we were paying previously with another provider). We have basically every channel that Xfinity offers, and I couldn’t be happier with the options. I mostly watch sports and wrestling while they’re happening live, and I’ve yet to find a game or event that I haven’t been able to watch. On top of that, the HD screen optimization that the X1 cable box automatically performed looks amazing. We’ve had HD cable boxes in the past, but this one seriously blows them out of the water. I’ve never enjoyed the crispness and clarity of sports and wrestling as much as I have with the X1 cable box.
From Allyn: I’m most impressed with the Xfinity interface. It’s so snappy and I never have to wait for anything to load. Plus, the recommendations are always fresh and ever-changing. Every day there’s a recap of what shows were new the night before so I know exactly what to catch up on. I also love browsing the “What to Watch” page. This is filled with suggestions that are hand picked from real editors, so I know these recommendations come from someone who actually sat down and sifted through the content to find something worth watching.
The only thing I would change is that Xfinity currently doesn’t offer a Disney+ app. However, I hear they’re working on it, and they are partnering with new services to add new apps all the time! Currently, we have one of Shaun’s Xboxes connected to the TV to watch Disney+ as a work around, but I can’t wait for the day I can pull up my nieces favorites with the Voice Remote.
Xfinity Voice Remote Review
From Allyn: Speaking of the Voice Remote, I didn’t expect to love it as much as I do, haha. It saves so much time to be able to just tell it what I want to watch rather than typing and scrolling. Plus, it’s perfect on the days I’m watching my niece and only have one hand available. We have our X1 box in the living room temporarily and we are planning to move it to the bedroom. I’m going to miss having the Voice Remote in the living room when we switch it!
From Shaun: Before I go on about the Voice Remote, I want to stress that the Xfinity interface is extremely easy to navigate without the Voice Remote. With that being said, I never thought I would use the Voice Remote as much as I have. It’s just so easy and convenient to use that I can’t help but use it all the time. Whether it be a movie, a show, a live sports event, or an app integrated into the Xfinity interface, whatever you speak into the Voice Remote, it takes you there lightning fast. It also does a fantastic job of understanding what you’re saying, which is a problem I frequently encounter with other voice command devices.
Plan & Pricing
With our Xfinity plan, we’re getting more for less money than with our previous provider. One of the features we didn’t even touch on in this review is DVR, because we got so used to not having it with our previous (more expensive) provider that we’ve hardly explored it. Shaun did briefly test it out, and it worked exactly the way he hoped. Any programs you record on your X1 cable box are also accessible through the Xfinity app on other TVs! The amount of features, coupled with the incredible price point, has absolutely exceeded any expectations we had before installing our Xfinity services. We look forward to saving even more when we’re able to bundle with Xfinity Mobile, too.
Is Xfinity a good choice?
Our vote is, yes! As with any service, we know that issues might come up in the future, but we’re confident that we’ll continue to have a headache-free experience. We’ve been so happy thus far and truly feel like Xfinity has it together when it comes to providing internet and TV. It’s clear that Xfinity cares about making our lives easier and has really tried to make everything as simple as possible!
