Comcast Xfinity Upload Speed: What To Expect When Subscribing

As a network enthusiast, I want the best upload speeds. I condensed the upload speeds throughout various regions to help you choose the best cable plan. Just beware, Xfinity’s upload speed is slow.

I’ll cover plans throughout different regions to help you learn more about Xfinity’s upload speeds. I’ll also go over what you can do with those speeds. And how they compare to competitors.

Let’s dive in.

Upload Speeds for Xfinity Internet Plans

Each region offers different plans. Thus, you’ll have different upload speeds and plan names. I’ll cover each plan’s upload speeds and their new customer promotion prices throughout this section.

These prices also include the discounts from enabling paperless and automatic billing. You won’t get the $5–10 discount until 30 days after activating these features.

Keep in mind that almost all Xfinity cable plans have a 1.2 terabyte (TB) data cap. Plans not within this limit include Gigabit Pro, Unlimited Internet (obviously), and their prepaid internet. Once you pass this limit, you’ll need to feed Comcast more money.

I’ll cover more details about this in a bit.

Central Division

Here are the upload speeds for Xfinity internet packages in their Central Division:

Tier	Download Speed (Mbps)	Upload Speed (Mbps)	Price*: New Customer Promo. (Rounded)
Connect	50	10	$25
Connect More	100	10	$40
Fast	300	10	$50
Superfast	600	20	$50
Ultrafast	900	20	$60
Gigabit Extra	1,200	35	$70
Gigabit Pro	6,000	6,000	$300

When reading through these various regions’ upload speeds, you’ll notice a trend. They’re all asymmetrical (except Gigabit Pro).

That means they don’t have the same upload and download speeds.

You’ll do fine for households that don’t require much upload speed. But if you’re home with many streamers, you’re SOL.

Let’s see what the Western Division offers.

Western Division

Now for the upload speeds for the Western Division:

Tier	Download Speed (Mbps)	Upload Speed (Mbps)	Price*: New Customer Promo. (Rounded)
Connect	50	10	$20
Connect More	100	10	$40
Fast	300	10	$50
Superfast	600	20	$60
Ultrafast	900	20	$70
Gigabit	1,200	35	$80
Gigabit Pro	6,000	6,000	$300

Northeast Division

And finally, upload speeds for the Northeast Division:

Tier	Download Speed (Mbps)	Upload Speed (Mbps)	Price*: New Customer Promo. (Rounded)
Performance Starter	50	10	$65
Performance	100	10	$84
Performance Pro	300	10	$30
Blast!	600	20	$60
Extreme Pro	900	20	$70
Gigabit	1,200	35	$80
Gigabit Pro	6,000	6,000	$300

Why does Xfinity charge more for internet services in the northeast division than in other regions? Well. It seems like Comcast doesn’t want to suffer ANY minor losses.

Some of their ‘reasoning’ comes from expenses like [1]:

• Local taxes
• Regulatory cost recovery
• Franchise fee

Couldn’t they just take a loss and make their pricing easier? Nope. They’d rather make their pricing structure complex to get every penny from us.

Aside from my opinion. Is there any hope of scoring affordable pricing in this region? Yes.

But you’ll need to become an expert negotiator. Before subscribing to Comcast, or before your cable plan ends, contact their customer service. In my experience, you’ll have the best chances of getting a discount by going into an Xfinity store.

You can always try to negotiate over the phone or through Xfinity Assistant, though.

Remain calm, though. The second you scream at customer service becomes the moment you lose negotiations.

Internet Essentials

Here are the upload speeds for Xfinity’s Internet Essentials and Internet Essentials Pro plans [2]: 

Tier	Upload Speed (Mbps)	Price
Internet Essentials	10	$25
Internet Essentials Pro	*15	$40

Anyone can’t qualify for the Internet Essential plan.

To qualify for Xfinity Internet Essentials, you’ll need to participate in or have received one of the below programs [2]:

• Received a Federal Pell Grant this year
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• Survivors or Veterans Pension Benefits
• Federal Public Housing Assistance
• Medicaid
• Supplemental Security Income
• Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
• Free and reduced-price school lunch program
• School breakfast program
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

You can also use the Internet Essentials plan if you live in qualifying Tribal Lands and are a part of one of these programs:

• You can also qualify if you meet one of the requirements living outside of Tribal Lands
• Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Tribal TANF)
• Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance
• Tribal Head Start
• Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations

You’ll only need to meet one of the requirements to qualify.

But you’ll need to prove that you receive these benefits. The link above will show you what documents you’ll need. For instance, with TANF, you’ll need to upload your eligibility letter to the application.

Both the Internet Essentials and Internet Essentials Pro plans offer a reasonable upload speed. As you’ll see later in this post, these upload speeds exceed the numbers you’ll need.

If they meet your needs, see if you qualify. I wish I had known about these programs before I became unqualified.

Don’t make the same mistake as me.

Prepaid Internet

Xfinity’s prepaid internet gives you 10 Mbps upload speeds. What is their prepaid internet service, though?

Think of it like a prepaid cell phone. You pay ahead of time for a set amount of services within a block of time.

With Xfinity’s prepaid internet, you’ll pay $45 per 30 days of internet you use. You can use up to 1 terabyte (TB) of data before they charge you for overage fees. And with the overage charges, you’ll pay $10 per 50 megabytes (MB) of data you use.

But they do offer an unlimited plan.

What Can You Do With Xfinity’s Upload Speeds?

What can you do with Xfinity’s upload speeds? A lot. Here’s a chart of recommended (not minimum) upload speed requirements by task [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]:

Task	Recommended Upload Speed (Mbps)
Zoom	Group calling 1080p: 3.8 1:1 calling 1080p: 3.8
Skype	Video calling 1080p: 1.5 Group video calling: 0.512
*Twitch Streaming	Video streaming: 2.5–4 (without buffer) Audio: 1.6
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)	1 concurrent call: 5
Gaming	Casual: 1 Competitive: 10 Online gaming + streaming: 9.24 (with buffer)
Ring Security Cameras	2
Facebook Live Streaming	10

*Some websites recommend having a 35–40% buffer to account for speed fluctuations [10].

These speeds only account for one device. If you have multiple devices doing stuff on the internet simultaneously, you’ll need more upload speed.

I can’t find credible sources that specify how much upload speed you’ll need for more than one device. If you have at least one competitive gamer or Facebook streamer in your home, I recommend going for AT LEAST 10 Mbps upload speeds.

Then you need to consider whether you’re using all of your upload speed. Let me explain. If you run Wi-Fi all the time, you’re likely not going to the most out of your speed.

Wi-Fi’s susceptible to interference from other wireless frequencies and physical obstacles. You’ll want to use an Ethernet cable (if your device has a LAN port) to optimize your signal. If you want to improve your Wi-Fi, I recommend upgrading your router.

Before subscribing to an internet plan, figure out your data usage. Or, just go for the Gigabit Pro plan, and you’ll have all the download and upload speeds you could need.

Here are a couple of examples. Competitive gaming uses the most data in the table I made. So in this example, one user will game online. While another person will game casually online while streaming on Twitch.

You’ll need AT LEAST 19.24 Mbps of upload speeds. You’d need the Ultrafast/Extreme Pro plan or higher to do stuff online without suffering in performance. And that’s if your internet speed isn’t suffering from bottlenecks.

If you have even more devices that require a lot of upload speed, you may have to upgrade to Gigabit Pro. Gigabit offers pretty bad upload speeds (considering it’s a fiber optic plan).

Areas Xfinity Supports

Xfinity doesn’t support every state in the US. Here’s everywhere you can access their services: 

Alabama	Arizona	Arkansas	California
Colorado	Connecticut	Delaware	Florida
Georgia	Idaho	Illinois	Indiana
Kansas	Kentucky	Louisiana	Maine
Maryland	Massachusetts	Michigan	Minnesota
Mississippi	Missouri	New Hampshire	New Jersey
Nevada	New Mexico	New York	North Carolina
Ohio	Oregon	Pennsylvania	South Carolina
Tennessee	Texas	Utah	Vermont
Virginia	Washington	West Virginia	Wisconsin

Xfinity could change the locations they support at any time. So these charts may not be accurate. Moreover, Xfinity may not offer internet to all cities within each state.

So, when signing up, I recommend going on their website and checking. They’ll only give you a ‘tool’ where you enter an address to find your price.

How Does Xfinity Internet Upload Speed Compared With the Competition?

Before deciding who you’ll choose as a provider, let’s see how Xfinity compares to some noteworthy competitors. Keep in mind that not all their competitors support every region.

So you may find yourself in an area that doesn’t support any other ISP on this list.

Also, note that these only include their new customer discounts. These prices will significantly change depending on your internet service provider, terms, and promotions.

Same with the above charts, I included Xfinity’s automatic and paperless billing discounts. These prices DON’T include installation and shipping fees along with taxes.

Only use this chart as a reference. Investigate each provider’s current plans, their prices AFTER your promotional period, and additional discounts.

50 Mbps download speed plans [11]:

	Upload Speed (Mbps)	Price w/o tax (Promotional Period)	Data Cap
AT&T (Internet 50)	10	$55	1 TB
Xfinity (Performance Starter/Connect)	10	$20–65	1.2 TB
CenturyLink (40 Mbps)	5	$50	NA

No one dominated this chart. You’ll love CenturyLink if you use A LOT of data. But they have poor upload speeds.

I’d say Xfinity comes ahead of AT&T.

However:

If you’re in Xfinity’s Northeastern Division, you’ll want to go with AT&T if you don’t use much data.

100 Mbps download speed plans

	Upload Speed (Mbps)	Price (Promotional Period)	Data Cap
AT&T (Internet 100)	20	$55	NA
Xfinity (Performance/Connect More)	10	$40–84	1.2 TB
CenturyLink	30	$50–65	NA
Optimum	5	$29.99	NA

CenturyLink reigns victorious in this table. Reasonable price and speeds. And no data cap.

Xfinity didn’t do so well. Once you reach this tier, AT&T removes its data cap, which gives it more value. And if you’re on a budget, Optimum offers the most affordable price (with no data cap).

I guess Xfinity (outside of northeast areas) offers a “decent” value. Only $10 more than Optimum and gives you a whole five extra megabits of speed.

Fiber optic plans (1 Gbps download speeds):

	Upload Speed (Mbps)	Price (Promotional Period)	Data Cap
*AT&T (Internet 1000)	940	$80	NA
Xfinity (Gigabit)	35	$80	1.2 TB
CenturyLink	940	$50–65	NA
Optimum (Fiber)	940	$79.99	NA

*AT&T only has fiber optic internet in 21 states [12].

Xfinity’s asymmetric internet speeds shot itself in the foot. You pay as much as AT&T, but you only have 35 Mbps upload speed and a 1.2 TB data cap. THEY DO have 1,200 Mbps download speeds.

Significantly more than their competitors. But otherwise, I’d rather choose anyone else with this plan.

Conclusion

As with any company, Xfinity can (and likely will) change its price at the drop of a hat. They may also change their upload speeds.

Use this guide as a reference, not a definite answer. If you decide to use Comcast as your internet service provider, follow the link I presented in the section ‘Areas Xfinity Supports.’ Enter your address and view your area’s pricing.

Before you go, always check for discounts. Or negotiate. But don’t demand OR expect a discount.

If you’re on one of the above plans and notice your speeds don’t match it, you’ll need to make adjustments. We created a guide to help you fix slow Xfinity internet. Check it out when you get a chance.