Xfinity Increases Internet Pricing (2024)

Starting in January 2024, Xfinity (Comcast) will be raising their prices again. The 200 Mbps internet plan that I use will be increasing by 24%. Right now, I'm paying $62 per month, and I own the modem and router. If you have Xfinity for cable, phone, or internet, you can expect a similar increase for the services that you use. This has become an annual occurrence with Xfinity. They sent me an email a few weeks ago that said they were giving me a $5 discount for using autopay with a credit card. You can get a $10 discount if you use a bank account instead of a credit card. But I figure the fewer companies that have direct access to my bank account the better. Especially Xfinity who was hacked again in October 2023.

Xfinity is offering a free subscription to Peacock Premium if you have Platinum status. Normally that would cost $5.99 per month. I signed up for the offer because I'm basically paying for it anyway. With the $5 autopay discount my new monthly bill is $71 per month. That is too much for 200 Mbps with a 1.2 TB data cap and my own equipment. The only option to reduce my monthly bill is to apply for the Affordable Connectivity Program. This is a government program for eligible families to receive a benefit of up to $30 per month applied to the cost of their internet service.  To qualify the household income needs to be at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. For a 1-person household, the limit is $30,120. For a 2-person household, the limit is $40,880. I just found out that the program will stop accepting new applications and enrollments on February 7, 2024. Funding is expected to last through April 2024, running out completely in May, barring further Congressional appropriations. If the program ends, nearly 23 million households across the country are at risk of losing internet access.

On December 21st, Xfinity sent me an email saying that I had used 75% of my data for the month. Anyone without unlimited data has a data usage cap of 1.2TB (1200 GB). If you exceed the limit, Xfinity will bill you $10 for every 50GB over the limit. Normally, I don't come close to exceeding the limit. I did download a 90GB game on the Xbox, but that shouldn't have caused the data warning. We do stream a lot of movies on the Amazon Fire TV device, so I started to look at that for clues. In the settings menu under "Data Usage Monitoring" you can find "Monthly Top Data Usage". 

The top two data hogs were the FireTV player and the FireTV system. Data usage was 10x the previous month's data usage while other apps were in a normal range. I recently noticed that the FireTV device was auto playing video in the featured contest section on the home screen. Since the FireTV device is on whenever the TV is on, I thought that this had to be what was causing all of the data usage. In the settings menu under "Featured Content" you can turn off video and audio autoplay. This puts a still image in the featured content area instead of streaming video. The change should help lower the amount of data used by the FireTV player.

Fire TV Stick 4K Review

Back in 2019, I was informed that my Roku 2 HD model 3000x would no longer receive software updates. I took advantage of a discount offer and upgraded to the Roku Express+. Fast forward to the end of 2022 and I was starting to become disappointed with the performance of the Express+. The internet connection would always show a poor signal, streaming video would become out of sync, and the device would warn about overheating. I have been a Roku user for quite a while at this point and was kind of in limbo about what to do next. I knew there were other options, but I wasn't sure about changing to a different streaming device.

Fortunately, someone made that decision easier by giving us an Amazon Firestick 4K device for Christmas. It may not be fair to compare a Roku device from 2019 to a Firestick from 2022, but here are the specifications of both:

Firetv Stick 4K (Model AFTMM)

• MediaTek Quad-Core 1.7 GHz
• 1.5 GB DDR4 RAM
• 8 GB Storage
• Wi-Fi 5: 802.11 b/g/n/ac
• 4K 3840 × 2160 @ 60fps
• Alexa Compatible

Roku Express+ (Model 3910X)

• ARM Cortex A53 Two-Core 900 MHz
• 512 MB RAM
• 256 MB Storage
• 802.11bgn single-band wireless
• 1080p HD with up-scaling from 720p
• No Voice controls

The specs show that the Firetv is far superior to the Roku Express in all aspects. I decided to install the Firetv in place of the Roku on our Samsung 55" UHD 4K Flat Smart TV. The installation was fairly easy except for the warning message about insufficient power from the USB port on the TV. I took a look at the power adapter, and it said 5V@1 Amp. I made sure the USB port on the TV was the same and ignored the warning message. The menu system on the Firetv feels a lot like Amazon Prime. It took about 4 hours to adjust the settings and install all of our streaming apps. By then I was starting to get used to the menu system. The main thing is that the Firetv was able to make a good connection with our 5 GHz wifi band. With the improved performance, it is more enjoyable watching streaming content. For the month of December, we used about 700 GB of data. The 100 mbps limit I set on the router is working and there is no noticeable impact to streaming quality. 

Xfinity Increases Internet Pricing (2023)

 

Well, it didn't take long for Xfinity to announce a 2023 price increase on Internet. Just one month after bumping the speed up on their Internet service, they are raising the price. Here are the new 2023 plans:

• Connect:             (75 Mbps) Old $60 - New $61
• Connect More: (200 Mbps) Old $70 - New $73
• Fast:                 (400 Mbps) Old $80 - New $83
• Superfast:         (800 Mbps) Old $90 - New $93
• Gigabit:          (1000 Mbps) Old $100 - New $103
• Gigabit Extra: (1200 Mbps) Old $110 - New $113

Performance Select (My plan) isn't on the list anymore. Since the speed is now 200 Mbps, I guess they now call it "Connect More". They seem to change the plan names every year, depending on who is in charge of their marketing department. My December 2022 statement says that the price of my plan will increase by $4, from $58 to $62. That is $11 less than the new price for the "Connect More" plan.

Another confusing thing is when you try to change your plan, the Xfinity website shows discounts for new customers. For example, the "Connect" plan has a price of $24.99 and the "Connect More" plan has a price of $39.99. The details say: "Offer ends 12/21/2022. Limited time offer. Restrictions apply. Not available in all areas. New residential customers only." Why am I being show this if I am an existing customer? The discounts last for 24 months, then increases to the full price. $62 for 200 Mbps is a good deal if that is now the price for 75 Mbps. But it wouldn't surprise me if my bill went to $73 at some point.

Just as I suspected, last month was a challenge to stay under the 1200 GB download limit. We had to reduce our video streaming time during the last few days of our billing cycle. With the 200 Mbps speed, streaming apps are using HD quality because they no longer have a slow speed to deal with. I may have to restrict the speed on the router for the smart TV. That would hopefully allow other devices to use the higher speed and we wouldn't have to worry about the monthly download limit as much.

Even the discount for paperless billing and auto-pay is changing from $10 to $5. I checked my account settings and noticed that I don't have those settings activated. I had been getting both an email and a paper copy of the bill, but I plan on changing to paperless and auto-pay for next month's bill. Hopefully, I can get the $5 discount which would bring my monthly bill down to $57. 

Xfinity Increases Internet Speeds

 A few weeks ago, I received a text message from Xfinity (Comcast) which said that they had doubled my Internet speed from 100 Mbps to 200 Mbps. It has been 3 years since I made a post about upgrading to the 100 Mbps speed and how I had to adjust the settings on my Linksys EA6350 AC1200+ Dual-Band router. The speed increase was a nice surprise. It also got me thinking about all of the devices on my home network and what type of connection speeds they were getting.

My router supports the following connection protocals:

• 802.11G - 54 Mbps @ 2.4 GHz
• 802.11N - 450 Mbps @ 2.4 or 5 GHz
• 802.11AC - 1200 Mbps @ 5 GHz

In the real world you might get half of these advertised speeds. It depends on a lot of factors, such as distance and router configuration. There are 9 devices in my home that connect to the router. Two computers, two smart TV's, two cell phones, an Ipad, the Alexa, and the Roku box. One of the computers was using an older Hawking wireless-G USB adapter. A speed test showed that this computer was only getting about 12 Mbps. I looked around and found a guy selling used Linksys AC600 USB adapters on Ebay for $11. The retail price is around $40, so that was a good deal. Most newer computers and laptops have Wifi built in, so there is less demand for USB Wifi adapters, unless you have an old computer.

 AC600 is capable of 600 Mbps instead of 1200 Mbps, which is still more than the 200 Mbps speed from Xfinity. The Hawking adapter didn't even show the 5 GHz connection option, but the Linksys AC600 had no problem connecting to it. I ran the speed test again and still got 12 Mbps download speed. I went into the router and cleared out the priority settings and set the 5 GHz channel to 802.11AC only at a channel width of 80 GHz. This time the Linksys AC600 adapter got 178 Mbps. Other devices on the network are now getting similar speeds. The best was 220 Mbps on the Ipad Pro. I don't know how the Ipad managed to get a faster speed than 200 Mbps, but I think processor speed plays a big role. I noticed that the range on the 5 GHz channel is about half that of the 2.4 GHz channel. Devices that are only 20 feet away often show a weak signal. The router is located in a lower-level laundry room on one side of the house where the cable connection is located. I would have to somehow relocate the router to the center of the house to improve 5GHz signal strength.

Xfinity has increased all of their Internet speeds. Options are now 75 Mbps, 200 Mbps, 400 Mbps, 800 Mbps, 1000 Mbps, and 1200 Mbps. My bill is $58 per month. New customers can get 200 Mbps for $39.99 per month for 24 months. I just hope they don't decide to raise prices now that they have so generously increased connection speeds. My download speed is faster, but they still have the same 1.2 TB data limit. In October we came close to the limit for the first time. Now with faster speeds, I'm afraid it will be easier to go over the data limit. If you log into your Xfinity account, you can see how much data you have used. But for some reason the link doesn't always work for me. 

Xfinity Mobile vs US Mobile

In my last blog post I compared Xfinity Mobile to the Verizon Small 2GB shared data plan which is no longer available. I expressed concerns about Xfinity's customer approval ratings, annual price increases, and the poor reviews of their mobile app. Despite this I decided to order two SIM cards from the Xfinity Mobile website. After verifying that my phone would work on their network, I had the option to choose a plan or order SIM cards and choose a plan later. I chose to order the SIM cards. The confirmation screen said that the cards would be delivered to the address they had on file for my Internet service. Two weeks passed and no SIM cards. I went back to the Xfinity Mobile website and saw that the order SIM option was no longer an option. So, I decided to chat with Xfinity Mobile help to find out what happened. After the help person verified my identity, they basically said that there was no record of a SIM card order under my name. They told me that I could place the order with them in the chat window. Next, they started asking for information which they said was to see if I qualify. Address, date of birth, social security number, as if I was applying for a credit check. I stopped at the SS number question and told them that I would go elsewhere for my mobile service.

Another week passed and no SIM cards, so I decided to go with the next option on my list: US Mobile. I created an account and ordered one SIM starter kit using coupon code FREEKIT. Even though the kit was free, I still had to enter a credit card. A few days later the kit arrived from a US Mobile address in Farmers Branch, TX. Next, I logged into my US Mobile account using my computer to decide on the best plan to purchase. US Mobile has Unlimited, Bundled Data, Pooled Data, and Custom plans. After looking at the pricing, I determined that the best option would be to create a 2GB pool with one line for now. Each line comes with unlimited talk and text for $9 and each GB of data adds $2. The final price on my one-line pool came to $13.48. Adding a line to the pool and transferring an existing number was fairly easy because I did some homework and knew what to expect. The phone I added was my girlfriends new unlocked Samsung S10e. Within a few minutes of entering the information on the US Mobile website, the number transfer and activation was complete. I inserted the dark colored SIM card which uses the Verizon network. The white card uses the T-Mobile network. I powered on the phone, and it quickly showed the US Mobile network connection.

It has only been a few days, but everything works like it did with Verizon, except that it costs 350% less. After doing a little research into US Mobile, I discovered that the company was founded in 2015 by Ahmed Khattak who was born in Pakistan. It is a private company based in New York. From the emails I received, I would guess that most of their support staff is also from Pakistan. Since all the reviews I've read about their support has been positive, I don't have a problem with this, but some people might. Their website is also easy to understand and navigate. They don't advertise as much as Mint Mobile and some of the others. I found out about US Mobile after reading reviews on websites like www.bestphoneplans.net

Xfinity vs. Verizon

After Verizon announced a $12 per month price increase on my 2GB data 4G mobile phone service in June, I decided it was time to take a look at my other options. My goal is to have the same level of service with the same or lower cost. Unfortunately, Verizon no longer has a dedicated 4G plan and is trying to force their customers into their more expensive 5G Unlimited plans. I have the Verizon Small 2GB shared data plan. Two lines on that plan was $79 per month in June. I received an email from Verizon on June 28th stating "Due to rising operational costs, you'll see an increase of $12/mo. on your current plan, which will appear on your bill as a separate charge, no sooner than 8.2.22." The bill for July was $83 due to an increase in the surcharge fee.

Previous Surcharges

• Fed Universal Service Charge: $0.32
• Regulatory Charge: $0.16
• Administrative Charge: $1.95
• WI Universal Service Fund: $.024

New Surcharges

• Fed Universal Service Charge: $0.59
• Regulatory Charge: $0.16
• Admin & Telco Recovery Charge: $3.30
• WI Universal Service Fund: $.024

You can see an increase in the admin charge. Also, since my phone number has a 715-area code, I have to pay fees and taxes as if I was still living in Wisconsin. It doesn't look like the July bill includes the charge mentioned in the Verizon email. That would mean the cell phone bill will be increasing to $95. The lowest cost mobile plans available are the Unlimited 5G for $35 per line before taxes and fees and a $25 per month prepaid plan with 5GB of data. Verizon is good at adding fees. My current plan fee after discounts is $32.20, plus a $20 access fee for each line. Every time I upgrade to a newer phone, there is a $35 upgrade fee. Xfinity isn't much better when it comes to fees. I only use them for Internet service, and I own my modem and router. I have the Performance Select Internet Plan, with a max of 100 Mbps download speed and a 1229GB monthly data limit. This plan isn't very fast, but it allows us to stream movies without going over the monthly data limit. 

Xfinity/Comcast offers mobile plans to their Internet subscription customers, and they use Verizon's mobile network. An unlimited talk/text mobile plan for 2 lines with 3GB of shared data would cost $30 per month before taxes and fees. So, instead of spending $153 per month at separate companies, I could get mobile and Internet from Xfinity for $93 per month. Although, Xfinity does bill mobile service as a separate auto-pay charge and, if you move and have to cancel your Internet subscription, they add a $25 fee to each mobile line on your account. The other option would be to get both mobile and Internet service from Verizon. That would be $145 per month. Not much savings there unless you consider the customer support factor.

I have concerns about having both services with Xfinity because of their historically low customer approval ratings and annual price increases. The Xfinity mobile app is rated 3.8 out of 5 on the Google App store. There are many 1-star reviews from people complaining about the poor quality of the app and lack of customer support. The cost savings is why most people switch to Xfinity mobile. But it also depends on the value you place on good customer support. I have looked at Mint Mobile but didn't like the fact that you have to pay up 3 or more months in advance and they are not on Verizon's network. US Mobile was another strong contender, but their app also had poor reviews. Consumer Cellular has great customer service, but their plans are not as good as Xfinity. If you are a Xfinity Internet subscriber, consider using my affiliate link if you are thinking about switching to Xfinity Mobile.

Xfinity Unlimited Data

 Xfinity (Comcast) announced a new unlimited home Internet data option today. They must have heard us complaining about the 1.2 TB data limit that they have in place. If you get their xFi Complete package, it is an additional $25 per month. If you already rent their xFi gateway, you can upgrade to xFi Complete and get unlimited data for $11/mo more. The upgrade is available for an additional $30 per month if you use your own equipment. It seems like they are trying to push people into using Xfinity's equipment by making the price $5 more if you use your own equipment. The main reason for owning your own equipment is to eliminate the monthly rental fee. Unlimited should be less expensive if you own your own equipment, not $5 more. It is their way of collecting a rental fee on your equipment!

I think it is a step in the right direction, but the additional $30 is only worth it if you exceed 1.35 TB each month. Currently, Xfinity charges $10 for each block of 50 GB over the 1.2 TB limit. It should cost less for unlimited if you own your own equipment because they don't have to provide you with equipment. I think $20 per month for unlimited would be the right price if you own your own equipment. But, Xfinity has a history of offering confusing plans that make people feel like they are being taken advantage of. They often come up with new plans that are a better deal than the one you have and don't tell you about it until you see it on their website months or years later.

Xfinity Data Cap

In an earlier post, I complained about the amount of data that the newer Xbox games needed to download before the game would install and play. This week, I received a warning email from Xfinity (Comcast) saying that I was getting close to my data limit. This is because of the half dozen games I loaded on the Xbox One X in the past week. 

You can log into your account on Xfinity and see how much data you use every month. Typically, our household (2 people) uses between 600 and 700 GB of data. That is mostly used for streaming video and browsing the web. But now, the Xbox has added 300 GB in the last 7 days on top of that. That's just downloading a few games. I haven't even tried online multiplayer games yet.

I took a look at the Xfinity Internet service plans and they all have a 1.2TB limit. My plan is the 100 Mbps download speed. Plans go all the way up to 1000 Mbps in my area. I don't need faster speed. That would just cause me to reach the data cap quicker, especially with a newer game console on our home network. I have about 275 GB left with 5 days to go before the end of the month. Our normal data usage is about 24 GB per day. So we will consume another 120 GB of data, if we don't install any more games on the Xbox this month. 

Can you imagine how much data all of the Xbox and PlayStation consoles are downloading every day. Newer games like Cyberpunk 2077 take up 70GB, Red Dead Redemption 2 (105GB), GTA 5 (94GB), and The Last of Us Part 2 (78.3GB) of HDD space. You often have to download updates to these games several times before all of the bugs are worked out. If you're on a 25Mbps connection ,the median broadband speed in the US, each game could take over 6 hours to download. And, if your Internet service has a data cap, you are most likely going to run into problems there too. 

Xfinity does give you a waiver on the overage fee for the first month that you exceed your limit. But now I will have to keep an eye on how much data we are using. It reminds me of the early days of cell phones when you had to keep track of your minutes to make sure you didn't exceed your plan. With all of the new connected devices they are coming out with, data usage is going to keep going up. 1.2TB is going to look like a small number in the not to distant future.

Sharing HD TV Antenna Using Cable Wiring

I have always had problems getting a good digital TV signal in the lower level of our home. The problem is that the antenna is just above ground level and needs to be higher to work better. I have a similar antenna connected to the TV on the upper level and it works fine. The home has wiring for cable TV in 3 rooms. One coaxial cable outlet on the lower level and two on the upper level. Since I no longer subscribe to cable TV, I thought maybe I could use the cable wiring in the home to connect to the antenna on the upper level. This would allow me to use one antenna on two TV's.

My cable router is connected directly to the line coming into the home, so all of the in-home coax was not being used. The in-home cables are connected to a splitter near the line coming into the home. All I needed to do was connect a splitter to the cable on the upper level to run the antenna signal to the lower level. The output on the upper level antenna is connected to the splitter with one line going to the TV and the other to the in-home cable network. The lower level TV is connected to the in-home cable line. To my surprise this re-purposing of the in-home coax cabling worked perfectly. The lower level TV can now get channels that previously would not come in. I thought I would share this tip for the cord cutters out there who have cables in their home that are not being used. I recommend using high quality 1 Ghz coax splitter/combiners with good cable and you should get similar results. My home is in a suburb of a large city, so a roof top antenna is not necessary for me to get 15 to 20 channels. The higher the antenna is, the better it will work.

Linksys EA6350 Speed Upgrade

Last week I was checking on my Comcast Xfinity account and decided to see if I could upgrade my Internet speed. In the past I was told that if I wanted to upgrade, I would need to get one of their package deals with TV and Internet, and that I needed to use their equipment. I had just purchased a new router and cable modem at the time. While it is true that you have to get a package to get a price break on the first 12 months of service, you can also build your own package. I discovered that you can select Internet only if that is all you need. The speed options are 25Mbps, 100Mbps, 200Mbps, 300Mbps, 600Mbps, and 1000Mbps. I chose the 100Mbps speed and since I didn't want any other options the price was $55 per month. No discount, but I am okay with that because there is no price increase after 12 months. I also chose to use my own equipment. This was important because I knew my hardware would support the higher speed and was approved to work on their network. My cable modem is the Motorola MB7420, which supports 686Mbps and DOCSIS 3.0. My router is a Linksys EA6350 AC1200+ Dual-Band WiFi Router. This is an affordable router with many advanced features.

I applied the change to my Xfinity account, received a confirmation email, and waited for the magic speed increase to happen. After a few days, I ran a speed test and found that nothing had changed. I rebooted my modem and router and ran the speed test again. Still no change. I went to the Xfinity website and ran the activation steps for my modem. I wasn't sure if this was necessary, but I figured it wouldn't hurt. Logging onto the modem showed that the configuration file had been updated to performance select, which is the 100Mbps speed level. I ran a speed test again, but still no change. Next I went to the Xfinity message boards and found that many people were having the same problem after upgrading their Internet speed.

The next step would be to connect a computer directly to the cable modem and run a speed test. Since I could see the proper config file was there, I decided to focus on the router. One poster said that they had fixed the problem by resetting their router to factory default. Another post stated that the Media Prioritization settings were the problem. I logged into my router and saw that I had Media Prioritization activated, and under settings, the downstream bandwidth was set to 4096. I entered the bandwidth setting for 100Mbps which is 102400 and turned off Media Prioritization. I figured I wouldn't need it anymore with the faster speed. When I ran the speed test from a computer that had a wireless N adapter attached, the speed was 90Mbps. Problem solved! Other devices on the network get download speeds of around 30Mbps, which is due to the slower wireless G adapters. I am sharing this because of all the people that I saw with similar problems. If you own your own equipment, your router may be preventing faster download speeds.

Unlimited Data vs. Home Data Usage

I have been searching for a mobile Internet option to replace cable Internet for a long time. My monthly data usage is somewhere between 300 and 400 GB. I wasn't sure if this was unusually high, until I recently found a broadband data usage report on telecompetitor.com that shows that my monthly data usage is about average. So, why are Verizon and other mobile carriers offering only 15 to 30 GB at 4G speed on mobile hotspots on their unlimited plans before throttling down to 600kbps? Verizon's single line unlimited, which offers a hotspot with 30 GB at 4G, costs $90 per month. The highest single device connected home plan gives you 40 GB of 4G for $150. Each additional GB over 40 is $10. This means that if I use 300 GB per month (the low end of my range), my monthly cost for mobile home Internet would be $2750. Using 400 GB would move the monthly fee to $3750.

So, why is there such a disconnect between the average home data usage and the plans being offer by mobile carriers? Is their equipment unable to handle the data traffic? I assume they ran some tests and found that at peak usage, there would be problems with maintaining 4G speed. So, instead of fixing the 4G traffic problem, they are putting all of their resources into 5G, an even higher speed data standard that will surely have similar data traffic limits as more and more people start using it. This means that mobile Internet is not providing any competition to land based and satellite Internet providers. The cable Internet providers will continue to raise their prices. There is still a long way to go before mobile becomes a cost effective home Internet option.

Roku Express Plus Confusion

I was a little disappointed when I received my Roku Express+ upgrade the other day. I noticed that the remote was missing the microphone button to activate the voice search feature. I did some checking and it turns out that the voice search option was an exclusive to the Walmart version of the Roku Express+.  The version sold elsewhere is the non-voice search version. If you look at the Roku device history on Wikipedia, it shows that the Express+, which came out in 2016, never had a voice search remote option. Alternately, you can use voice search from a mobile phone with the Roku app, if needed.

The only difference that I could find between an Express and Express+ is that the plus adds Composite video and 480i resolution. This would make it more widely compatible with older televisions. Other than the missing voice search, I think the upgrade from my old Roku 2 HD to the Express+ was a good deal for $22.54 with tax and shipping. The Express+ is much more responsive when loading channels and navigating menus. I don't see freeze ups in video apps like Pluto when a ad starts or finishes. The Roku 2 would sometimes stop mid-stream and reboot itself. I haven't run into that yet with the Express+.

The installation is much cleaner as I was able to use an open USB port on the TV to power the Express+ and the supplied 24" HDMI cable is just long enough to reach the Roku box that I attached to the bottom edge of the TV. It did take a while to download all of my 120 streaming channels from my Roku account, but it would have taken much longer to do that manually. Roku download 4 or 5 premium streaming channels that I didn't want. I just deleted them from my Home screen. I probably won't be using the four quick link buttons on the remote as they are all pay streaming services. It would be nice if there was a way to assign your own streaming channels to those buttons. Unfortunately, that is not an option right now.

Roku Ending Software Support

The other day I received an email notification from Roku saying that my Roku 2 HD model 3000x would no longer receive software updates after today (November 15, 2019). What does this mean? This is how Roku describes it: "You can continue to enjoy this classic Roku player and stream your currently available channels. However, this Roku player will no longer receive new features, updates to existing channels, or support for new channels like Apple TV and support for the Apple TV+* premium streaming service. You may also potentially lose existing channels if our partners decide to update their channel in the future."

It sounds to me like Apple had a hand in this. (I would not be surprised if Apple buys Roku at some point.). The email goes on to say, check to see if you’re eligible for an upgrade offer! I followed the link and found that I could get a Roku Express Plus for 50% off the list price. I had to do a little research to see if this was a good deal and to find out what features are on an Express+. The Express Plus isn't new, it came out in 2017. The retail price is around $30, so a 50% discount is a good deal. The latest Roku device, the Roku Ultra (2019), goes for around $100. The Express+ comes with voice command, HDMI, and Composite video output. It also works with Alexa and Google Assistant, which will be interesting to try. Roku has been discontinuing software support for some of their older products lately, so you may want to check online if you are considering buying a used Roku device.

The Slowest Cable Internet Speed

For the last 9 years I've been using the slowest Internet speed that Comcast / Xfinity has. My speed test clocks in at a blazing 3 Mbps. With basic cable TV, it is costing me $73.86 per month. I own my own cable modem/router, so I don't have to pay the $11 per month rental fee. But, I do pay a $10 monthly broadcast TV fee. This is on top of the $19.50 basic TV service, which I don't use. Why don't I use their basic TV? It comes in over a TV adapter box that only displays in standard definition. I can get the same channels with a rabbit ear antenna in HD. So why don't I drop the basic cable? They told me that if I make any changes to my current plan I will be forced into one of their new plans. The new basic plan is the X1 Starter Pro Double Play for $120 per month plus fees. The speed would increase to 175 Mbps and I would get 140+ channels instead of 30+ channels. Basically, for twice the price I get 98% faster speed and 4x more channels. Sounds like a good deal, unless your budget only allows for $74 per month for Internet service.

Hunting around for another option has not been easy. Centrylink offers a 60 Mbps DSL connection for $45 per month with a required $99 installation fee. The only problem is that Centrylink's customer satisfaction ratings are even lower than Comcast. Some of the cellular providers have unlimited data plans, but the speed is usually throttled to below 1 Mbps after 20 GB per month or during network congestion. I need at least 350 GB of data per month. I can still manage with 3 Mbps for now, but more video streaming channels are using HD, which causes data buffering to the point of being unwatchable.

5G Home Internet

Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband Wireless Home Network

That is the long title for Verizon's new 5G Home Internet offering. By now most people know that 5G is up to 20x faster than 4G LTE speeds. This makes it a viable alternative to cable Internet. As of September 2019 Verizon only has 5G Home Internet available in limited areas of Los Angeles, CA; Sacramento, CA; Houston, TX; and Indianapolis, IN. I live near Minneapolis, so I'm hoping to see my area added to the list soon. 

Why is this a big deal? I currently get my Internet service through a cable provider. I have the slowest speed they offer and my bill is around $70 per month. I checked and there are no other cost effective options available in my area. The 5G speed from Verizon is around 300 Mbps, which is 100x faster than what I have now. Here are the details:

• Free 3 months 
• No Annual Contract
• No Bill Increases
• Taxes & Fees Included
• Router Included
• Free Apple TV 4K or Google Chromecast Ultra 
• Free YouTube TV for 1 month 
• $20/mo Discount for Wireless Customers 

The thing that is not clear is how much data you get each month. From what I can see, you will need a separate data plan for 5G Home Internet. I estimate my usage would be about 4 hours of video streaming per day, which is 120 hours per month. Verizon recommends a 40 GB plan for this type of usage. Their 40 GB plan is $260 per month. This is on top of the $50 per month 5G access fee for a total of $310 per month. This is obviously going to be a deal breaker for me. I guess I'll have to wait for fiber optic to come to my neighborhood. US Internet offers a 300 Mbps plan for $50 per month with no data limits. With my luck, by the time they get to me, it will be time to move on.

Roku Mobile App

I recently discovered that Roku has an app for iOS and Android devices. You can find it on the Apple App Store or Google Play. The free Roku mobile app makes it easy to control your Roku player or Roku TV. You can search for entertainment using your keyboard or voice, connect headphones and turn up the volume for private listening, stream the Roku Channel, cast videos, music, and photos to your TV.

I have the Roku 2 model 3000x which came out in 2011. I was afraid that an 8 year old Roku would not work with the app, but I was wrong. The app found my Roku and displayed all of my custom channels. I especially like the remote feature. I usually have my phone close by when I'm watching TV and being able to control the Roku from my phone is very convenient. No more hunting for the remote. I haven't tried the voice search, virtual keyboard, or media casting features yet, but I'm sure they work great too.