CenturyLink vs. Xfinity: Which Is Better for Your Home's Internet Connection?

Sarah Tew/CNET

CenturyLink vs. Xfinity: Which is better for your home?

If you're trying to pick between the two, the most important thing you need to understand is what is available at your address. CenturyLink's DSL plans feature slower speeds and a lot less bang for your buck. Meanwhile, with Comcast Xfinity, you'll connect via cable hookup regardless of where you live -- but plans, prices and contract terms vary from region to region. But, for the most part, Xfinity's cable internet is more reliable. CenturyLink may be cheaper, but Xfinity has more plan options and faster speeds, making it better in terms of long-term value. That said, if it's available at your address, go with Xfinity.

CenturyLink's DSL home internet plans are available to just over a 12th of the US population. Meanwhile, Comcast Xfinity's cable internet services are an option for more than a third of the country. Setting aside satellite internet, which is available pretty much everywhere, CenturyLink and Xfinity are two of the five largest internet providers in the country, and they compete for home internet service in more than half of all US states. While coverage overlaps in many areas, each provider has a different kind of service.

We're here to help you make sense of it all. Keep reading for the details on each provider's offerings, including plans, prices, terms, speeds, and customer satisfaction ratings.

Our take - CenturyLink provides broadband service in 17 states nationwide. While speeds aren't the fastest, some addresses may see download speeds of up to 100 megabits per second. CenturyLink features competitive value in its DSL plans. With a fixed rate of $55 monthly for all plans, its DSL service comes down to an average cost per Mbps of $1. You won't find that kind of value in DSL service from Kinetic by Windstream, AT&T and Frontier.

Read full review

Or call to learn more: (888) 271-7232

Our take - Xfinity Internet is the leading cable internet service provider in the US, offering services to 39 states. This cable giant features more plan choices than any other ISP. In terms of speed, it's much faster than CenturyLink's DSL internet. While such a range of options is nice, customers should also be sure to sweat the small stuff -- some plans have data caps and contracts, others don't -- and there's often a steep jump from the promo price to the regular rates.

Read full review

Or call to learn more: (844) 366-5598

CenturyLink vs. Xfinity coverage compared

CenturyLink's DSL network (pink) and Xfinity's cable internet (purple) coverage overlap in the West, Midwest, and South regions.

FCC

As mentioned above, both providers offer internet service throughout significant swaths of the US, with Comcast Xfinity available in 39 states and CenturyLink in 17. Coverage between the two overlaps in a majority of those states, including parts of Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah.

Metro regions with the most significant overlap between the two providers include Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Denver, Minneapolis, Portland, Salem, Salt Lake City, Tallahassee and Tucson. If you live near one of those cities, then the odds are good that both CenturyLink and Comcast are available in your area -- be sure to plug in your address to see if you are serviceable.

CenturyLink's got DSL, while Xfinity is mainly cable internet

CenturyLink connects its customers using a digital subscriber line, or DSL, a relatively slow mode of the internet that passes traffic through telephone lines. According to the latest data from the Federal Communications Commission, the parent company, Lumen Technologies, offers DSL service to 8% of the population through CenturyLink, while the rest of its footprint is dedicated to a separate fiber network through Quantum Fiber.

With Comcast Xfinity, you'll connect to the internet primarily using a coaxial cable hookup, which over 34% of the country has. Cable connections like those can hit download speeds that are on par with what fiber's capable of -- but the downside is that it's an asymmetrical connection. That means that your upload speeds will be much slower, which might factor in if you're videoconferencing or uploading large files to the web. Xfinity is mainly a cable provider, as its fiber network is very limited, providing only 0.0636% of unit coverage.

CenturyLink vs. Xfinity: Plans, speeds and pricing

Things get a little bit complicated with each provider's plans. Let's start with CenturyLink, which offers two fiber plans and various DSL plans.

A few things in that list of plans jump out at me. First and foremost, all plans feature a fixed monthly rate of $55. In addition, CenturyLink keeps it simple by offering no data caps or contracts. Even better, you can skip the $15 modem or router charge by using a CenturyLink-compatible device. You can also purchase the modem and router device for an upfront charge of $200, which could save you money long-term.

It's worth noting that CenturyLink doesn't use promo pricing at all, which means that you won't find any one-year discounts designed to tempt you into signing up, but it also means your bill won't arbitrarily rise after 12 months. CenturyLink plans are priced competitively, to begin with, so the straightforward approach to your monthly charge is honestly pretty refreshing here, especially given that none of CenturyLink's plans come with a data cap or a contract.

CenturyLink offers three-speed tiers, but this is not to be confused with the actual speeds you can expect at your address. That's because DSL speeds are distance-sensitive—the closer your home is to whatever infrastructure you'll be connecting with, the faster your connection will be. So, the specific plans available to you will reflect what's technically possible at your address. Whatever speeds and plans are available, expect to pay $55 per month for CenturyLink DSL home internet.

Got it? Good. Now here's the rundown on Comcast Xfinity.

Xfinity Internet plans (West region)

Xfinity Internet plans (Central region)

Xfinity Internet plans (Northeast region)

As the trio of charts would indicate, Comcast Xfinity offers different plans for each of the three regions it operates in: West, Central and Northeast. The speed tiers are more or less consistent across the board, but the prices are not.

"We're a regional provider and market and price our products based on individual local market dynamics," a Comcast spokesperson explained when we asked about Xfinity's variety of plans. "That's why our costs can be different on a market-by-market basis."

Regardless of region, Comcast's cable internet plans will mostly range in price from approximately $20 to $120 per month. Most customers can expect download speeds up to 1,200Mbps or 2,000Mbps for select markets. Comcast also offers a Gigabit Pro plan that uses fiber-to-the-home hookups to deliver symmetrical upload and download speeds of up to 10,000Mbps (10Gbps), but it's not available for all homes. You'll need to request a site survey to see if it's even an option at your address. Don't bank on that: According to data shared with the FCC, fiber provides only 0.636% of unit coverage in the country.

Regardless of your plan, you may have to live with a data cap of 1.2 terabytes (1,200GB) and a one to two-year service contract, too. More on that in just a bit.

CenturyLink vs. Xfinity: Terms, fees and contracts

There's more to home internet service than plans, prices and speeds. You always want to be sure to understand the fine print, too. Let's see how the two providers stack up in that department.

Comcast's xFi Gateway combines a modem and router into one Wi-Fi 6E device.

Comcast

Equipment fees

CenturyLink leases customers a combination modem and router gateway device, and the monthly fee for using it is $15. You can skip that monthly fee by using your own compatible equipment or purchasing the CenturyLink gateway outright for a one-time fee of $200.

It's a similar story with Xfinity. Comcast charges $15 monthly to rent its modem-and-router device, the xFi Gateway (and $20 monthly for faster plans). If you have your own compatible modem and router, you can use those and skip the equipment fee altogether.

Comcast also sells plug-in xFi Pods designed to amplify the gateway's range. They cost $119 each, or two for $199, which is pretty pricey for a range extender. I'd recommend looking into other, less expensive range extenders or investing in a good mesh router first.

Installation

Comcast charges $40 for professional, in-home installation... but you can skip the technician visit and opt for free self-installation. If you go that route, Comcast will ship you a Getting Started kit with your equipment, and you'll need to follow the instructions in the Xfinity app to get everything up and running on your own.

With CenturyLink, the fees are a bit higher and trickier to avoid. Professional installation ranges from $99 to $125 depending on your region and plan, and while you can skip that fee by opting for self-installation, that option isn't available at all addresses. You can also expect to pay a one-time broadband activation fee of $20 when you first start your service.

Data caps

I sure did. Specifically, that'd be the 1.2TB data cap enforced by Comcast across all Xfinity internet plans (except the Northeast). Use more data than that in a given month, and you'll incur a $10 charge for every 50GB block of excess data, up to a maximum fee of $100. If you're worried that you'll break the cap more often than not, you can opt for unlimited data for an additional $30 per month.

Data caps are no fun, but 1.2TB is an ample amount of data. According to the latest data from OpenVault's Q3 2024 report, the average American home's data usage was up to about 590GB per month, so most homes shouldn't have too much trouble staying under Comcast's cap.

As for CenturyLink, the company doesn't enforce a data cap at all, so you can surf, stream and download to your heart's content without fear of incurring extra charges.

Contracts

With specific Xfinity plans, you'll need to agree to a service contract of either one or two years. The term agreements vary from region to region, so make sure to understand the specific options available in your area. For instance, the 400Mbps Fast plan comes with a one-year contract in Comcast's Central region but not in the Northeast or West.

Canceling your Xfinity service before your contract ends will result in an early termination fee. With a one-year contract, the cost is $110, but it goes down by $10 each month. Similarly, the early termination fee for a two-year contract is $230, which drops by $10 after each month of service.

Meanwhile, CenturyLink doesn't enforce contracts at all. Between that and the lack of data caps, it's the more appealing provider as far as terms are concerned.

Enlarge Image

Xfinity topped CenturyLink in terms of customer satisfaction among non-fiber ISPs. CenturyLink placed in the bottom five for two consecutive years.

American Customer Satisfaction Index

Customer satisfaction numbers favor Xfinity

Give Xfinity the edge here. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which tracks customer satisfaction, Comcast Xfinity earned a rating of 67 out of 100 in 2024 among non-fiber ISPs. That's not great for something like a history exam, but it's relatively on par among ISPs, which generally rank pretty low for customer satisfaction. On the other hand, CenturyLink earned the same score as the previous year, 62 out of 100, which is 6 points below the industry average.

J.D. Power runs studies on ISP customer satisfaction, as well. Its 2024 report seems to echo the ACSI's findings. Comcast Xfinity averaged an overall score of 539 out of 1,000 across four separate regions. The company finished second in the East, West and North Central and above the region average overall. Meanwhile, CenturyLink earned scores of 528 and 511 in the North Central and the West, respectively. Its best score was in the North Central, which was above the region's average of 521.

Watch this: Millions lack broadband at a time when they must have it. Now what?

14:41

Bottom line: Xfinity is the winner

Your address is likely serviceable for both providers, seeing that coverage overlaps in many areas. But which is the winner out of the two? While CenturyLink may be the cheaper option, Xfinity is the stronger alternative, even with the data cap you'll need to contend with. With cable, you'll enjoy download speeds that are much, much faster than DSL, and that means you're getting a lot more value for your internet dollar. Just be mindful of those contracts and price increases after a year. If fiber is available at your address either from Lumen's fiber service, Quantum Fiber, or any other provider, then you'll be wise to switch.

CenturyLink vs. Xfinity FAQs