According to the latest speed tests from Ookla, customers of the two biggest cable mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) in the U.S. – Charter’s Spectrum Mobile (NASDAQ: CHTR) and Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile (NASDAQ: CMCSA) – are both enjoying an impressive upward trajectory in their overall network performance.
In their respective service areas over the past two years, Spectrum Mobile and Xfinity Mobile users’ download speeds increased by more than 100 Mbps. The performance lift is largely thanks to WiFi offloading capabilities through Spectrum Mobile’s Speed Boost and Xfinity Mobile’s WiFi Boost.
The speed tests showed Charter began augmenting speeds for its Spectrum Mobile customers leveraging their home Charter WiFi in spring 2022. Likewise, Comcast was aggressive in tapping into its installed base of customer hotspots, and in 2023, Charter and Comcast offered their combined footprints to each other’s MVNO customers. That is, Charter’s Spectrum Mobile customers have access to the network of Comcast WiFi hotspots within the Comcast service area – and visa-versa for Xfinity Mobile customers in the Charter service area. In April 2024, Comcast’s WiFi Boost began offering speeds up to 1 Gbps.
Comcast said it operates more than 23 million WiFi hotspots in its footprint while Charter says it has “access” to about 25 million WiFi hotspots in its network and those of its partners. Both cable companies say that between their own WiFi hotspots and those of their partners, with minimal overlap, they provide near-nationwide (population) coverage.
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