Xfinity Mobile finished on top in the full-service wireless mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) category in the 2019-2020 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) rankings for wireless carriers.
Xfinity Mobile is three years old and reports having 2 million customers. The company scored a 79 in the ACSI rating system, which in addition to being the highest among full-service MVNOs was also the second-highest among all wireless carriers in three categories studied, including mobile network operators, full-service MVNOs and value MVNOs. Consumer Cellular, which was included in the value MVNO category, had the highest satisfaction overall at 83.
Xfinity Mobile also received the highest rating overall for the quality of its app.
Xfinity Mobile Satisfaction
Comcast has pointed to the options of letting subscribers buy data by the gigabyte or as an unlimited service as distinguishing features that drove the popularity of the service.
The By the Gig Shared Data plan was introduced last summer. A rationale for the service – and perhaps a reason that it aids the services’ customer service rating – is that most customers don’t need an unlimited plan. CTIA’s 2019 annual report found that average consumers use 6.6 GB of data per month. This makes the savings and flexibility of the by-the-gig option attractive.
It was not a great year for wireless customer satisfaction. The ACSI press release about Xfinity mobile satisfaction said that the wireless sector’s overall customer satisfaction declined 1.3% to 74 during the year. Xfinity Mobile’s 79 scores put it 4 points above the full-service MVNO category average of 75. The category fell 2.6% during the year.
Earlier this month, Comcast said that the Xfinity Mobile 5G service will run on the Verizon network through an MNVO agreement. It will be available in parts of 34 markets. Where it is not, Xfinity Mobile will us Verizon LTE or Comcast WiFi.
Joan Engebretson contributed information to this report.
I see problems with the list of MVNOs surveyed, particularly in the “Value” category. Three of the five “Value” entries are Tracfone brands. Two of the five are Lifeline services, one also being a Tracfone brand. Ting and Ultra/Mint are notably absent.
The report neglects to define the differentiation between “full-service” and “value” MVNOs: Xfinity isn’t a first-party MVNO and Consumer Cellular has retail space. So, I have no idea what dubious criteria they used.
If the “Full-Service” and ‘Value” categories were combined, Xfinity would have been beaten by Consumer Cellular. Ting has a similar customer-service focus as Consumer Cellular, their scores would likely be similar, pushing Xfinity to third.
In the end, I suspect that this report was carefully crafted to bestow two awards for the same category, to the benefit of Xfinity and Consumer Cellular.