The price wars ratcheted up a notch when Xfinity Mobile today introduced new pricing for two and three lines of unlimited – $30 per line – that it says can save customers up to 50% over AT&T, 45% over Verizon and 25% over T-Mobile for two lines, with even more savings promised as lines are added.
Pricing for Xfinity Mobile’s “Unlimited” plans are now $45/line for one line and $30/line for two, three and four lines, and $20/line for additional lines. They’re available nationwide for new or existing customers beginning today.
“Xfinity Mobile was built to save people money and with our new unlimited pricing there’s never been a better time to make the switch. Ask our customers, it’s the best kept secret in wireless,” said Sophia Ahmad, EVP and CMO at Comcast Cable, in a statement.
For the average family of four, Xfinity's new pricing is the same as before, and Xfinity has been advertising the $30 price point for a while now, said Jeff Moore, principal at Wave7 Research, which tracks pricing at both prepaid and postpaid service providers. It's the $20/line fee after the first four that's new here, he said.
That said, the $30 price point is working for them, with record customer additions, and the $20 rate for unlimited is highly affordable, he said. Adding another family member, like a grandparent, and others will add up to savings.
It also raises the question about how many people tend to include friends rather than family in order to get the better rates as more lines are added. These could sort of be considered "artificial” families, but some service providers encourage people to add both friends and family, or "framily” members.
However, in those situations, “everyone has to do their part and make their payments on time and that can be difficult,” Moore said. It’s a lot simpler when the parent makes the payment for the family and everyone is paid for. “That holds together better” than the virtual family plans, he said.
Low price leaders
Comcast, which uses Verizon’s network for mobile services in a MVNO arrangement, is among those deemed most likely to succeed in wireless should the economy land in a recession.
In an August 20 report for investors, analysts at New Street Research said they’re not economists and therefore not forecasting a recession. However, a recession would make them incrementally more positive on T-Mobile and cable company stocks as the economic weakness would probably drive more customers to those operators.
T-Mobile has been considered the “value” leader for years, offering lower prices than AT&T or Verizon. Now that it’s got a lead in 5G network coverage and performance, the analysts think T-Mobile would gain even more subscribers as households become more price sensitive.
The rise of cable
Compared to years of not a lot to show for themselves in the mobile sector, the cable companies are picking up momentum. In the second quarter, Comcast, Charter Communications and Altice USA collectively snagged 694,000 mobile subscribers. That figure marked a 26.2% jump from the 550,000 net adds the cable operators added in the second quarter of 2021.
According to New Street’s report, T-Mobile has the lowest advertised price, along with Charter and Altice.
“Cable offers a compelling value too, though this is eroded somewhat depending on the value ascribed to device subsidies and ancillary services,” the New Street analysts wrote. “Cable offers compelling value to households wanting to bundle mobile and fixed. The bundle may be slightly more expensive than T-Mobile’s, but it includes a far better broadband product.”
With its Home Internet fixed wireless access (FWA) service offering, T-Mobile is going up against cable companies in what’s traditionally been their home turf. The “un-carrier” just announced a new rate plan, Home Internet Lite, for people who want a $50/month bucket of data, but it’s capped at 100 gigabytes. T-Mobile doesn’t have the capacity to offer unlimited data to everyone, but it can offer them a limited version of the plan.
Editor's Note: Story updated with additional commentary from Wave7 Research.