Xfinity claiming 2X faster WiFi than Google Fiber
Hi, my name is Paul, I’m a computer technician and I’m stuck using Comcast/XFinity. I’ve worked at seven sites with XFinity branded Technicolor routers, and I have one in my house. It should be noted I’ve had to disable WiFi on nearly every one of them due it it not working particularly well. Based on my experiences when I saw the claim that XFinity delivered 2X the WiFi performance of Google Fiber I thought “Hrmm, that sounds like a load of horse shit.”
So here’s the advertisement, it’s coming across Facebook as we speak:
You can click the image, it’ll take you to a comparison page where they claim that XFinity will deliver 725Mbps WiFi vs Google Fiber’s 306Mbit per second. Huh, wow, a service that generally tops out at 50Mb can deliver 725Mbps vs a service that tops out at 1000Mb and can deliver 306Mb.
I’m using the average speed as 50mbit as that’s what average is here, but according to a quick search the average Xfinity package is 25Mb.
If you’re not catching the problem right off, that’s what Xfinity is hoping. In these situations you’re always limited to the slowest portion of the connection is the best you’re going to receive. In XFinity’s claim, the maximum internet speed you’re going to get is about 50 Mbit. This means Xfinity will serve you internet via WiFi at 50 Mbit at max.
If they had better internet speeds, they could serve you 725Mbps, but 25-50Mbps is what you’re going to get.
Now, Google Fiber, equal or less expensive (at over a year, those are introductory prices on the Xfinity page,) tops out at 1000Mbit, costs $70 a month, and can deliver 306Mbit of that 1000Mbit.
The actual comparison is 50Mbit vs 306Mbit, in which case using Xfinity’s own advertising they’re saying Google Fiber spanks them by 6X on in-home WiFi. Google Fiber is 12X better if you’re paying for a 25Mbit XFinity package.
Now, should you need to copy multiple terabytes of data via WiFi between two devices in the same network (you don’t need to, really,) you might want to dispute my findings, but for any realistic use of the service they’re making claims that don’t play out in reality.
XFinity is advertising having an 8-lane WiFi highway you can drive a Pinto at 25mph whereas Google has a three lane highway you can drive at 306mph. Sure in the XFinity scenario you can park next to another car and run back and forth to the next cars at 725Mph, but that’s not getting you anywhere.
