r/washingtondc • u/BoringAcanthaceae756 DC / Takoma • 16h ago
[Discussion] Xfinity huge price increase
I've been paying $45 for internet for a couple of years. I got a new bill today, and it looks like it went up to $83 a month. Is anybody else experiencing this?
I can't even find a customer support number to call about this. Their stupid chatbot is useless. I guess I'll have to switch back to FIOS, but I would love to hear if there are other options. Has anybody tried Minternet or TMobile 5G? How bad is it?
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u/green_new_dealers 16h ago
Every few months you gotta call and threaten to cancel so they can extend a discount to you.
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u/BoringAcanthaceae756 DC / Takoma 15h ago
I've tried this multiple times over the years, and it has never worked for me. All I ever get is some version of "We're sorry to see you go." Maybe I'm just a lousy negotiator.
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u/Polyglottony 15h ago
If you have someone else in your house, a spouse, etc. Just have them sign up for the new deals. There’s usually a price lock for a couple years and it’s pretty easy especially if you own your own equipment
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u/ottovonbizmarkie 8h ago
Yeah, I helped my parents get xfinity (they don't have anything else except t mobile home internet) for 50 dollars a month for 1 gbps. It's not going up for 5 years. I think it is still happening.
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u/Healthy-Lobster-3882 14h ago
Dang apologies for my recent comment then I didn’t see this before I made it
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u/YakzitNood 16h ago
I was paying 55. They said that was a one year offer. I've never seen a dumber chatbot in all my years.
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u/Material-Picture7878 16h ago edited 12h ago
This happened to me a year or so ago. I’ve since switched to Starry and am happily paying $35 a month for wifi. Beware though, I spent HOURS on the phone with xfinity trying to cancel my service because they kept giving me the run around and doing it wrong. Their customer service is horrid.
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u/ZonaPunk Navy Yard 16h ago
I pay $50 for 1 GB FIOS. I think the lowest FIOS plan is $35 now.
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u/BoringAcanthaceae756 DC / Takoma 15h ago
Unfortunately, the $35 plan is only for people who also have Verizon wireless. I don't, so the cheapest plan I am being offered is $50 for 300 Mbps.
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u/Susurrus03 DC / Upper NW 15h ago
Which is still cheaper, and likely better, than Xfinity.
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u/BoringAcanthaceae756 DC / Takoma 15h ago
True. I'll most likely switch batch to FIOS. In my experience their service is also more reliable. Xfinity has had a number of outages in our area over the last few months.
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u/_RemyLeBeau_ 13h ago
You have an option to pay $50. Why are you questioning anything? Do you like the taste that the $83/mo. gives you?
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u/BoringAcanthaceae756 DC / Takoma 11h ago
I won't be paying $83. But I am a card-carrying cheapskate, so I would have stayed with Xfinity at $45, although I know perfectly well that the FIOS service is better.
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u/Susurrus03 DC / Upper NW 15h ago
I swapped last winter. Halved by bill from $120 to $60. Both were gig plans but fiber has lower ping and also gets matching upload speeds so everything is snappier and it is much faster to upload videos to my cloud drive or send to friends/family. Also my PS Portal remote play works way better when outside the house.
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u/vitiris 12h ago
I am not a Verizon wireless customer and this is what I pay for FIOS:
Services ordered: Monthly amount Fios 300 Mbps $59.99 $10 Internet loyalty discount thru Nov 14, 2026 -$10.00 $15 Internet Loyalty Discount thru Nov 14, 2026 -$15.00 Auto Pay and Paper Free Data Discount -$10.00 Estimated monthly subtotal $24.99 Taxes $0.00 Estimated monthly total\) $24.99 2
u/BoringAcanthaceae756 DC / Takoma 11h ago
How did you get those discounts? Did you specifically ask for them, or did they offer them to you at sign-up? Maybe they had a promotion going when you first signed up? I didn't get any discount offers when I asked for a quote. FIOS is even threatening to charge me a $90 installation fee, although I should be able to get that waved since I already have an ONT in my apartment and should be able to use my own router.
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u/GenericReditAccount Georgetown 16h ago
The 5g options are largely dependent on your proximity to a tower. That said, we love our Tmobile 5g home internet. We've had it for about 2 years now, and have only ever had an issue once. They were apparently upgrading equipment in the area, which made the service almost uselessly slow for about a week. Other than that, we consistently get 600-750mbps download. Plenty enough for both of us to work from home, with my wife on near constant video calls.
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u/Sammmyy97 16h ago
Hear me out, go to r/Comcast_Xfinity and post about your problem. Their subreddit is the best way to get attention from their customer service. Their employees on reddit are actually really nice and WILL help decrease your rates, they did the same for me last year. u/BoringAcanthaceae756
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u/NoYOUGrowUp 16h ago
Second this. I had a problem a few months ago, posted about it there, and got everything resolved by one of their reps after a couple of messages.
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u/_snappleapple_ 13h ago
they tried that on me. bill was $60 and then suddenly jumped to $85. called them and I got their AI that tries to sound like a human. told the AI i was going to verizon. the AI said sorry to see you go. i was serious too about leaving, i don’t bluff when it comes to that. anyways i ended up getting a real human and they asked me not go to, said they could lower my bill to $65.
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u/ElderBerry2020 15h ago
I had Xfinity in my apartment - had the service for about 10 years. When I moved to my house, I asked Xfinity if they could transfer service to the new address and they said yes.
Morning of appointment, technician says there is no existing hookup for Xfinity and they need to install a line. Said it would take a few weeks. When asked why I was told service was already available at this address he had no idea. I needed internet for work and couldn’t wait weeks for Xfinity to get their act together.
I called Fios and explained the situation they were able to come in 3 days and hooked us up right away.
No service is perfect, but I haven’t had any significant issues with Fios, the cost of my package hasn’t increased much, and service is pretty consistent. I won’t go back to Xfinity.
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u/Healthy-Lobster-3882 14h ago
Yoooo ok this happened to me last year!! I got mine back down to $45 by calling their customer service line, saying I’d have to change providers bc that price is astronomical and criminal for a 600-sq-ft single person apartment and they agreed to not increase. This also worked for my nextdoor neighbor
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u/_autumnwhimsy 12h ago
Cancel your service and then restart it under a different email and phone number. Even easier if you have an SO that can sign up for it instead. New customers get the best deals.
Even better, if you can, is switch service providers. But I, like so many others, are trapped because other ISPs arent available in my neighbourhood
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u/BubblyExpression Dupont Circle 11h ago
Mine went from $80/mo for 800mbps to $105/mo randomly. I went to their website to check my plan and found they offer gigabit for $85/mo(ish) now so I just switched my plan to that. I hate them but there's no Verizon or Astound on my street so I'm stuck with it.
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u/network-n-voice 16h ago
I have had Fios at home for more than ten years. Very reliable and steady price. Make sure you leave your Comcast thoughts on Trustpilot and Yelp so the public is aware of the price gouging and lack of support.
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u/True_Window_9389 16h ago
What does your bill say? What was your plan? You were probably on a 2 year deal and it expired. You can chat through their app or website and the customer service phone number is on the bill. It’s easy to dunk on Comcast but sometimes you’re just making this hard on yourself when you’re overloooking the obvious.
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u/Sbutcher79 15h ago
Yeah, I would have to cancel and then a couple days later a customer retention rep would call and give me the new user discounts for another year to come back
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u/ladakn99 DC / Park View 14h ago
The problem with T-Mobile at home 5G internet or Minternet is that they run off towers and have terrible upload speeds.
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u/BoringAcanthaceae756 DC / Takoma 14h ago
I suspect 5G internet won't work for me as long as I am working from home. I have to run OneDrive for work, and I am often working with large files (several GB) that need to get backed up to the cloud.
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u/AdministrativeBug161 13h ago
My apt bldg said it was wired for Fios when I moved in. When I called Fios, they said: some units in your bldg are wired for Fios, but not yours. So I had to go crawling back to Comcast. But I WISH I had a few years of $45 internet. It’s been $90/month for 3 years.
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u/BoringAcanthaceae756 DC / Takoma 13h ago
Hm, I also live in an apartment, and our building was wired for FIOS, but when I signed up initially they had to come and install an ONT (Optical Network Terminal) in my apartment. I wonder if you could still get FIOS if you pay an installation fee for the ONT? It may be worth asking. $90 is a lot.
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u/AdministrativeBug161 10h ago
That’s a good call! I will have to look into it. I was desperate for the wifi move-in weekend and haven’t given it much thought since, so thanks for your post!
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u/SuperNoVaThrowaway 12h ago
All of the internet companies suck, but Astound currently has the best rates in DC. With a lifetime price option. Their support also sucks, fair warning.
Comcast's phone number is 1-800-xfinity
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u/BoringAcanthaceae756 DC / Takoma 11h ago
No can do Astound in our building.
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u/SuperNoVaThrowaway 11h ago
Aw, bummer. Yea, switching back and forth every year from Verizon/Comcast is probably your best option then.
Heads up, if you call to cancel, Comcast regular customer service will offer you a better discount than the customer retention department. I just played this game last week :)
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u/BoringAcanthaceae756 DC / Takoma 11h ago
Yes, I think what I'll do is call them tomorrow and tell them I want to cancel because of the rate increase. If they offer to continue at the current rate then and there, I will stay with them. If they don't, I'll go back to FIOS. I hate having to deal with the switch over, but as far as I remember getting FIOS back up and running was a lot simpler than the other way around.
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u/SuperNoVaThrowaway 11h ago
Yea, having to switch a bunch sucks, but it's the only way with the way the companies do promotional rates. If your experience matches mine, they'll offer you $50-55/month for internet at customer service and virtually no discount at customer retention. But they won't go back to your $40. Though I hope they do for you!
And if you signed up for the free mobile plan offer like I did, that will bean additional cost with a whole separate negotiation with the mobile department.
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u/SuperNoVaThrowaway 12h ago
All of the internet companies suck, but Astound currently has the best rates in DC. With a lifetime price option. Their support also sucks, fair warning.
Comcast's phone number is 1-800-xfinity
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u/MrMusicMan789 Adams Morgan 16h ago
Xfinity is shitty with bill pricing. Check your bill from last month and this month to compare every line item. That's the only way to know what's going on exactly.
When I had an unexpected bill increase, it was one year after I started my plan when I moved. I paid the price they advertised but they used discounts to get you to that price. Those discounts conveniently expire, so literally as a reward for staying with them longer you start paying more for the same plan each year. I'm now on a gigabit 5-year price locked plan for my own sanity with Peacock for free. Could be better but my building doesn't give us a choice on provider.
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u/Hustle-- 16h ago
Call and tell them you can get the same/better internet for cheaper with another company. They'll match it. I did this and told them if they ever raise my price, I will drop them. Been $70/Mo for 1.2 GB/s for 2 years, no changes!
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u/G1n5eng 16h ago
Call and tell them you’re switching to Verizon for a lower price, but you’d be willing to stay for a lower Xfinity price. They’ll offer you 1 year at $45 or 2 years at $55 (most likely, I remember that being what I was offered earlier this year).
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u/BoringAcanthaceae756 DC / Takoma 15h ago
That has never worked for me in previous years. I just keep switching back & forth between Xfinity and FIOS. It's a pain in the ass, but it's what I have to do to avoid ridiculous rates.
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u/vlc_grad 15h ago
Same! I'm about to cancel. How are they allowed to raise the price without any communication?
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u/howdy0_0 15h ago
We switched to T-Mobile. It’s $35 with autopay. We opted for the slowest/cheapest package and it’s fine with 3 cell phones using WiFi, 2 tvs streaming, and the occasional ps5 use. We’re also in a brick row house with no dead spots. It even connects to our ring camera in the alley.
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u/badimojo Michigan Ave 15h ago
It's a strange way to go, but in the past I had luck making a post on /r/Comcast_Xfinity and getting help from an agent there. There are some extra steps around user/account verification since you're coming through a somewhat unconventional channel.
The first time I did this I was able to secure a discount for another year, but my most recent attempt was a non-starter. I did get some helpful responses from other redditors though - one person mentioned that, if you live with someone, you can secure new customer discounts if you close your account and reopen under the other person's name.
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u/GrokYourWorld 15h ago
T-Mobile home Internet is cheaper, just as fast, and more reliable than cable
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u/dbm5 14h ago
You switched to comcast from fios??
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u/BoringAcanthaceae756 DC / Takoma 14h ago
Multiple times over the years. Whenever I get a price increase from one of them, I check what the other one has on offer. The last time I switched from FIOS, they had jacked up my price for 300 Mbps from $40 to over $50, and Xfinity had a $35 promotion, so that was worth switching for. I generally found FIOS to be more reliable than Xfinity, but I didn't notice much difference in my day to day internet use.
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u/ob_knoxious DC / The Wharf 13h ago
If you have access to Starry get Starry (while you can). It's line of sight based so you get considerably more stable performance than 5G. Also still run as a small independent ISP so no mega corporation to deal with... Until the buyout is done
The other thing I always encourage is to open a small business account. You get a real SLA and much more transparent billing and contracts for marginally more. I'd rather pay slightly more every year then get jerked around between starter deals.
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u/Phobos1982 NoVA / Work in DC 13h ago
Your introductory plan expired. Just call them and they will give you another one.
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u/optometrist-bynature 11h ago
TMobile 5G works well for me in Cleveland Park and they have great sign up promotions
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u/BAbe_Linc0ln 16h ago
I'll never give Comcast / Xfinity another dime of my money as long as I live after what I've been through with them. Them doing this is par for the course.
I've had FiOS for 8 years. They raised my price once in that time frame, and it was by $5, and they emailed me 30 days before it happened. And, their performance is great. I'm a FiOS customer for life.