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Visitor

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6 Messages

Saturday, November 6th, 2021 2:25 PM

Closed

Cellular data unusable during Xfinity cable Internet outage

A couple weeks ago we had an Xfinity cable internet outage in our neighborhood that lasted about 12 hours. During the outage Xfinity cellular data was virtually unusable--couldn't send iMessages (did not test strictly SMS messages--will have to try during the  next outage, which happen 2-3 times a year), email, couldn't browse websites (browser tried but eventually gave error that it couldn't reach the server), or use other apps. So basically without any internet because I'm "all in" with Xfinity--mobile and cable. Thankfully, I didn't have any extremely urgent work or life matters that required Internet.

During the outage, I contacted Xfinity mobile support and eventually my voice call got elevated to the next level and the rep began a chat session and opened a ticket with the cellular tower provider in our neighborhood (Verizon--chat is the only way they can communicate with the tech support of the provider so it's a slow process). The rep asked for my email address and said the ticket could take up to 72 hours so Xfinity mobile support would contact me with the resolution (stupidly I didn't get the ticket number).

Cellular data came back fine when the Xfinity cable Internet outage ended.

Several days late (more than 72 hours) I hadn't heard from support so I initiated a Xfinity mobile support chat. Chat didn't know anything about the ticket so I had to start from scratch and eventually ended that in frustration (even after communicating with an unhelpful supervisor for a while) and called voice. They also didn't know anything about the ticket, but to their credit tried very hard to get info and eventually said they found that the ticket had been resolved by the tech support of the tower provider (I assume it was "resolved" because the Xfinity cable internet outage ended). Why doesn't Xfinity mobile support chat have visibility to notes and logs from Xfinity mobile voice support?

To make a long story short, I assume the Xfinity mobile cellular data unusability was a result of other Xfinity cable Internet customers, who are not Xfinity mobile customers, taking all the bandwidth by using their unlimited LTE and 5G cellular data with their providers (like Verizon) for all their Internet tasks, including I assume streaming, and being prioritized over the Xfinity mobile users (because of the contract between Xfinity and the tower owner, I assume Verizon, that prioritizes Verizon customers' cellular data).

This issue is exacerbated because I assume there is only one tower usable from my house in our neighborhood. 

It is an issue because it's pretty important to be able to use cellular data at your home in a wifi/internet outage situation. Xfinity mobile certainly doesn't disclose to or warn potential customers or switchers that this may be the case in a situation like I've described above. Of course, during the outage we left our neighborhood to do some shopping and cellular data was fine when we were outside the Xfinity cable internet outage area.

Would appreciate some higher levels of Xfinity mobile support weighing in on this very important issue affecting whether customers should switch to Xfinity mobile.

Official Employee

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3.3K Messages

3 years ago

Hello and thank you for taking the time to reach out to us here on our Xfinity Forums. I'm truly sorry to hear of this experience and would love to help you further. Please send us a direct message to "Xfinity Support" with your full name, address and best contact number and email.

 

To send a direct message you may need to:
Click "Sign In"
Click the "direct message" icon
Click the "New message" (pencil and paper) icon
Type "Xfinity Support" in the "To:" line and select "Xfinity Support" from the drop-down list which appears. The "Xfinity Support" graphic replaces the "To:" line
Type your message in the text area near the bottom of the window
Press Enter to send it

Problem Solver

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772 Messages

3 years ago

Here are some things you could have done that might have helped:

  1. Enable WiFi Assist
  2. Enable Cellular Data on the Apps you may have turned off

Here is why this may not have helped that much:

  1. All Verizon and XM users would have been competing for the Verizon cellular data
  2. All other provider cellular towers would also have been competing for their cellular data
  3. The backhaul systems for all nearby cellular towers would then be competing for all of the above to connect to the internet. 

Visitor

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6 Messages

@DaveO3 Thanks for your response!

1. Not sure how to enable wifi Assist and how that would have helped. Is that where I would have potentially connected to an Xfinity hotspot in my neighborhood that was not using Xfinity Cable Internet to access the Internet?

2. As I explained, cellular data was not working at all in apps for which it was enabled so how could it have helped to turn on cellular data for other apps?

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