New mobile 'by the gig ' rates

The $12 plan is just perfect for many. However, think “the many” are not many enough. 

@user_5ltf3s​ Xfinity has decided that those of us who had the $12 4G plan will now be required to pay for 5G service. 

Heck, if you are requiring customers to pay for a service that is beyond their phones capabilities, they should give those customers phones to match the payments!

Thanks for the information and your involvement. And, glad you will get some “compensation”. Would be interesting to know what percentage of Xfinity Mobile customers are like many of us “by the gig” that use well under the 1 gig. 

Correction and recompense should be provided automatically to all who were not grandfathered, in my opinion.   

I also am curious how many XM Customers use under 1 gig per month.    

@BobbySevenSevenSeven​ My husband and I share the 1G and in a normal month use ZERO. We use WIFI for everything and only turn on data if we absolutely have to.

I'm in the habit of doing the same.  I don't want the wifi in my apartment to go down for one reason or another, as often happens - and then have my mobile phone switch over automatically to data.

Regarding my comment above that under the new $20 per GB pricing plan "the charge for an additional GB of data is not incurred until the user reaches the threshold of 200MB overage," I have discovered that this may not be currently applied to existing accounts.

As it happens, my sister's two-line BtG plan reached the 1.01GB data level two days ago and was immediately assessed the fee increase from $20 to $40.  This despite XM's explanation on their How does By the Gig work? webpage that "If you go over your chosen 1 GB and you've reached 1.2 GB of usage, you'll be charged $40 instead of $20."

I reported this discrepancy today to XM telephone support (and will amend my FCC complaint to include this new wrinkle).  The XM CSR confirmed the confusion, promised to report it to technical support and issued a $15 credit to the account for the inconvenience. 

It could be that XM is restricting the new higher overage threshold to new or 5th generation plans despite having imposed the increased $20 per GB fee universally; but that would be particularly insidious IMHO.  Rather, I suspect it is just another instance of a SNAFU in their historically and notoriously glitchy billing system.  We shall see, but in the meantime, caveat emptor.

@XfinityVictor​ update report: I went to my local comcast store in California, the service person Juan said that he talked to the  manager and the conclusion:  I can not change the "xfinity mobile" to Now. The only way for me to do is to cancel "xfinity mobile" and port out to a competitor and then port back to "xfinity Now". I asked that since there are many other cheaper prepaid competitors, why should I move to "xfinity now", he said "it is up to you"! 

@AnthonySea13 I recommend that you log in to your account, select Change Plan, and See offers. They might have a plan you could switch to and save money. I would check every few months. You might be surprised at what you find. Just sayin...

Exactly!  I cut down to the lowest cable package and a lower speed tier just about two years ago - and now am facing increases I cannot afford for those.   The increased 1G mobile fee is another slap in the face.    I asked about lower cost plans for cable and internet back in mid-May, on a call regarding ongoing cable TV pixelation and image freezing, and though the Agent was reasonably pleasant, I was not happy when - after I mentioned my needing to soon cut back on services to save money - she went on to suggest I upgrade to their Xfinity wifiCOMPLETE - which would cost me even more!        That left a bad taste in my mouth.   

@DreamSayerZ​ We used to always be able to get promotions on our cable bundle that kept the increases from going up so much every year. Last July when our most recent promotion expired I called as I always do and they informed me that our top tier bundle is no longer being offered so there are ZERO promotions available. We went over what we have in our bundle and what we could give up in order to get a lower priced bundle.  The programming we could 100% do without was not anything they could/would eliminate to lower our cost which is very close to $300.  We have zero need for children's programming, foreign language, sports layer or religious layer. We are senior citizens and Cable is our entertainment so our 'must haves' are premium movie channels in addition of course to the 'normal' layer of  the  national  and  cable networks. So bottom line we are screwed.

@AnthonySea13​ Keep in mind that no one at Comcast is reading these posts.

@TerriB​ You should really consider going to internet only and check out TV streaming packages like Hulu w/Live TV, Google TV, DirecTV Stream or Fubo. You could cut that $300 bill in half! I still recommend going to the Xfinity web site and select change plan and look at what packages they have. They always change things. You have to be diligent and check. Also, do it from a PC or laptop if you can. Easier to see everything at once to compare. Using the app on a phone or tablet stinks! And yes, I remember the days when you could call and say cancel service and get a retention rep who would lower bill and get you in a new plan. But those days seem slimmer now.

Maybe enough of us threatening to “jump ship” will have some effect. However, think I agree with the chatter that Comcast is not reading these posts, nor do they care about the few of us that share one gig and rarely, if ever, go over. 

@user_mkvbd1​ 

The new By the Gig (BtG) pricing plan is $20 for each GB or fraction thereof.  The $35 fee you mention is for 3GB of shared data.  You can change your data amount at any time during the billing period and should do so if results in reduced cost.  There are three tiers:  1GB (@$20 per GB), 3GB (@$35), and 10GB (@$65). Whenever you exceed these data amounts you will be charged another $20 for each 1GB or fraction thereof.

Note also my comment above that I added today about the threshold for additional data.  It used to be 0.01GB but has now been increased to 0.20GB (IOW, your BtG data fees should not increase from $20 to $40 until you have reached at least 1.2GB.  Nonetheless, it does not appear that the billing system is applying this change across the board and may be restricting it for now to new BtG plans.

Pls note that the above comment was from me; I was unintentionally signed in under my second account.

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@user_fx24ft​ 

You can find information on the new By the Gig (BtG) plan at the following Xfinity Mobile website:  How does By the Gig work?  There are other XM web pages that also list this BtG option, such as this one (you have to scroll down on the page to see it).

Note, however, that the 3GB (@$35) and 10GB (@$65) shared data options have been eliminated for new subscribers, leaving only the $20 per GB option.  I would assume this also extends to any pre-existing users who upgrade to the 5th generation.

The first link "How does by the Gig work?" is exactly what I was looking for.  Thank you for finding that and clearing up my confusion.

@user_fx24ft​ We never received notice either.  We got an email today saying our mobile bill was ready.  When I checked the price I went to our account to see if we went over the one GB or something.  We have data turned off on both our phones to prevent us from using it.  Only use wi-fi.  But that is when I saw the price change.   Disgusting!!

@TerriB​ 

Not that it is necessarily any consolation to someone whose budget is impacted by the new BtG price increase, but one must acknowledge that XM, as an MVNO (relying on Verizon's network), is subject to Verizon's carriage fees in order to lease their network infrastructure.  When those carriage fees go up, XM must typically recover those costs by raising their subscriber fees in order to remain profitable and stay in business.  Obviously, the free service at XM's inception was a temporary come-on to generate interest and capture a viable segment of the market.  IDK whether $12 per GB could have been sustainable in the long run, but I am fairly certain that at least this most recent price hike was caused by the need to pass along increased operating costs.

For someone who has two or more lines and uses very limited data (and I am in that category), XM's BtG plan is still a very good deal provided that the coverage meets your needs.  Most other low-cost services charge extra fees for each line, which can quickly add up.  (XM allows up to 10 lines per account for the same price under the BtG plan; see details here.)

BTW, if your plan was automatically or accidentally upgraded to the current fifth generation, you can usually have a CSR downgrade you back to your previous setting.   This may depend on your particular device(s) or plan parameters.  And, FWIW, I am still waiting for XM's response to my FCC complaint on the issue of grandfathering older accounts. Stay tuned.

As far as CATV service is concerned (although it is off-topic for this thread), you should not have to pay anywhere near $300 p.m. for Comcast CATV; if this is the case, you might want to do some research and/or talk to a CSR about options for lowering your costs.  You are correct that you can not select an "a la carte" channel line-up (which has never been an option from Multi-channel Video Service Providers like Comcast), but Comcast's current "Simple & Easy" service plans do allow for quite a bit of customization through their add-on packs as well as providing multi-product and promotional discounting from bundling basic services.  Just as an example (YMMV), I signed my sister and BIL up last year for a bundle that includes Popular TV (second highest channel tier), Fast HSI (500Mbps), and Xfinity Voice VoIP, plus 12 months of HBO Max and expanded cloud storage (150 hrs.), and their total monthly bill including all taxes and fees comes to ca. $160.  What's more, as a manager on their account, I can log in and access all of their video services via the Xfinity Stream app (or web portal) even though they are in California and I am in Georgia.  IOW, there is the opportunity to share Comcast CATV costs if you have an extended family or close friends who are willing to make the necessary accommodation.  But, as I said, this discussion is OT on this thread and should be reserved for the appropriate forum.

Hope that helps.

Hello @Worked for the 'original' AT&T for 3…, thank you for taking the time to reach out on social media.  I understand your concerns, and I'd like the opportunity to check into that for you.

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@chi_guy501​ You signed them up for a new account.  When you already have an account they won't give you those deals.

No, by all reports--and according to Xfinity Mobile CSRs--the newest BtG rate increase is being applied across the board to all users.

Mint (and similar low-cost MVNOs) might be a better deal for some users, but there are some drawbacks.  For one thing, that $20 fee is per line; additional lines are charged separately (sometimes at a slightly reduced cost).  For customers who need multiple lines and who use very little data, XM's BtG plan can actually turn out to be the cheaper alternative.

@user_k79spl​ Sorry but I am a legacy user and am now paying $20 and NOT  using any data.

Confirming what others have said -- I've had 1 GB/month Xfinity Mobile service since 12/2019 for $14.xx per month, and just got a bill for $22.75, up 54% from last month.  Looking at other carriers...

@chi_guy501​ Single line user. It works for me. Data is only used when I'm off wifi. 

@TerriB​ I wish I could remember where I saw it. As usual it was written in legalese so I might have misunderstood. Anyway, I'm now with Mint and so far no problems. 5x more data at about the same monthly rate.

unmitigated  unchecked greed, file complaint with ftc