Comcast Xfinity Home Security review (2024)

Xfinity Home Security: What you need to know

Xfinity is the brand name for Comcast’s cable systems, which provides internet access, cable TV and phone services. Xfinity Home Security is the company’s home monitoring service, which is available to all, not just existing Xfinity internet or TV subscribers.

Xfinity Home Security splits the cost of the service, which you rent on a monthly basis, and the cost of the hardware, which you buy outright. Fortunately, you don’t have to pay for hardware upfront, as you can split the cost into monthly payments to make it easier to manage.

There used to be a single monitoring package, but Xfinity has recently introduced a second package that also includes video recording from its cameras. This makes pricing a bit easier to understand then it was before, letting you see up-front exactly what you’re paying for.

All packages include 24/7 alarm monitoring and smoke detection, although you have to buy the smoke detectors separately as they’re not available in any of the standard hardware packages.

Going beyond the basic, the Xfinity Home Security system also integrates with a wide range of other smart devices, including smart plugs and thermostats, letting you control everything from a single app.

The Xfinity Home Security package has to be professionally installed, and the contracts are comparatively expensive. If you’re looking for something cheaper, Simplisafe or Brinks could be better choices.

Packages: How much does Xfinity Home Security cost?

Xfinity Home Security now has two monthly packages, with one covering the basic security monitoring services and the other adding on additional cloud recording and video recognition if you also buy cameras. As such, it’s worth making sure that you buy the correct package for the hardware that you want.

Once you’ve chosen the security plan, you can choose the hardware that you want. Xfinity may be able to take over existing security equipment that you have in your home, using it to protect you while reducing hardware costs.

This is best discussed over the phone, making sure that you get an upfront cost for any installation costs this will incur. Typically, installation costs are $99, although some people have managed to get this waved, so it’s worth having the discussion.

Xfinity Home Security plans:

• Home Security Plan: $39.95 | 48-month contract
• Home Security Plus Plan: $49.95 | 48-month contract

Xfinity Home Security Hardware:

• Base Home System: Equipment starts at $360 ($15 a month for 24 months)
• Complete Home System: Equipment starts at $480 ($20 a month for 24 months)
• Ultimate Home System: Equipment starts at $600 ($25 a month for 24 months)

Both a hardware package and security plan are required to run the system, and we’ll explain the differences between each to help you make the right choice. All hardware can be bought outright, although you can spread the cost over two years interest-free.

Xfinity Home Security Plan

The basic Home Security Plan is the minimum you’ll need to run Xfinity Home Security, but it is still a comprehensive package. It includes 24/7 monitoring of your home, complete with emergency service dispatch for home alarm and fire alarm alerts.

Via the smartphone app, you also get real-time alerts and can set and disable your alarm system remotely. Full smart home integration is provided, letting you link and control compatible devices.

Xfinity also enables the cellular backup option on your system, so you’ll continue to get alerts even if your internet connection goes down.

HD video viewing is supported from any cameras that you have, and you can even view video footage on your TV if you have an Xfinity X1 set-top box. However, you don’t get any cloud video recording.

Xfinity Home Security Plan Plus

Xfinity's Home Security Plan Plus gives you everything that the Home Security Plan gives you, but boosts camera control. For starters, you get 24/7 video recording for up to four Xfinity security cameras.

You also get to enable motion-activated recording, and the cloud system can be configured to use AI that can recognize people, pets or vehicles. If you’re going to buy a few cameras, then this plan makes more sense than the basic one.

Xfinity Base Home System

The Base Home System gives you enough hardware to get started for a smaller home. You get the touchscreen controller for managing the system, plus three door/window sensors and a single pet-friendly motion sensor (this ignores pets up to 85 pounds).

Complete Home System

With the Complete Home System you get all of the Base Home System components, but an additional two door/window sensors and a wireless keypad, giving you more options for arming/disarming the alarm system. This package is better for larger homes.

Ultimate Home System

If you’ve got a very large home, the Ultimate Home System package is the one for you. This gives you 10 door/window sensors, a single pet-friendly motion sensor, a wireless keypad, two HD indoor/outdoor Xfinity cameras and the touchscreen controller.

Xfinity Home Equipment

If you want to expand any of the packages you’ve bought, you can buy additional hardware to add on. The standard options are pet-friendly motion detectors ($40), wireless keypads ($40), and door/window sensors ($20).

You can also add a smoke detector if you also want Xfinity to listen out for fire alerts ($70), and additional HD indoor/outdoor cameras ($120). For smart-home control, Xfinity offers the Zen Thermostat ($120) and a smart plug, the Outlet controller ($50).

Xfinity Home Security: Warranty and cancellation

All Xfinity Home Security plans are sold on a 48-month contract initially, turning into a rolling contract at the end of the plan. You get three days to cancel without a fee, which hardly gives you any time to try out the services. Look for a home monitoring service with a longer get-out period if you want to have longer to get used to a system.

After three days, if you cancel during the initial term, you are liable for an amount equal to $1,100 less $100 for every three full calendar months of service. That can make the system expensive to cancel in the early days but this fee is more competitive than some other services. Once you’re out of the initial contract term, there’s no cancellation fee unless you subscribe to a new service that has a minimum contract period.

Xfinity provides a limited 30-day warranty for any equipment professionally installed into your system. The warranty renews every 30-days while you have a home monitoring plan in place, and expires for good at the end of the initial contract period (two years).

Xfinity Home app

The Xfinity Home app is used to monitor and control your alarm system and is available for Android and iOS smartphones. As well as providing live alerts, the app lets you view the status of your sensors, including seeing which windows or doors are open.

As with other security apps, Xfinity Home lets you view live footage from your cameras. If you’ve got the more expensive monitoring package, you can also view recorded footage, too.

Xfinity also integrates with a large number of other smart home devices, including Philips Hue light bulbs, August smart locks, and Ecobee thermostats. You can check out the full list of Xfinity compatible devices.

There are some notable exceptions, including a lack of support for Nest thermostats, bar for those who have set up their devices with a Nest account before August 19 2019. This is due to the Works with Nest program being discontinued and replaced with Works with Google Assistant.

We’d hope that Nest Thermostats will come back online again when Xfinity creates a compatible Works with Google Assistant connection.

As well as being able to control compatible devices through the app, Xfinity Home has some powerful home automation rules. For example, if your door is left open for more than five minutes, you can set a camera to record.

You can use doors opening to turn on lights, too. It’s a powerful system and one that helps you run your home automatically, controlling disparate devices from different manufacturers.

How does Xfinity Home Security alert you when an alarm is raised?

If an alarm is raised due to a door/window sensor or motion sensor being triggered, you’ll get an alert through on your phone. From here, you can view any streams from your video camera and then either cancel the alarm, at which point you may need to confirm your passcode verbally to the Xfinity monitoring center.

If the alarm is real, you have to follow the next steps where Xfinity will call your chosen contacts to confirm the alarm. If the alarm is confirmed, or there’s no response, the emergency services are dispatched automatically to your property.

Xfinity also lets you manually set off a panic alarm from the Touchscreen Controller. Once activated, the alarm sounds and your chosen contacts will be called to confirm the alarm and then the police will be contacted.

Comcast Xfinity Home Security user reviews

Getting real-life experience with Xfinity Home Security is an important way to understand if the system is for you or not. We have to point out that people are more likely to make a complaint when something goes wrong, and are less likely to post good reviews if everything is working as expected. In this section, we’ve looked at user reviews from well-established user reviews platforms.

The 2018 J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction for home security systems placed Xfinity Home Security at the bottom of the group, giving it two out of five, and a customer satisfaction index ranking of 821, which is slightly below the industry average of 834.

Consumer Affairs gives Xfinity a score of just under two out of five based on 55 ratings in the last year. However, many of the negative reviews talked about the quality of the internet connection, which you don’t need to buy from Xfinity. There were several complaints about billing, though. The positive reviews talked about the quality of the app and smart home integrations and the speed of response.

It’s a similar story with TrustPilot, which has a score of two out of five for the company, although this rating includes all services that Xfinity provides, not just the home monitoring system. In fact, the complaints are all aimed at the internet, phone and TV services.

Xfinity Home Security: Other things to consider

You own all the equipment you buy with Xfinity Home Security, which means you can move the system with you if you move house. However, the system does have to be professionally installed, and you have to let Xfinity know you’re moving.

The terms and conditions state you have to pay the applicable installation fee at the new location, $99 at the time of reviewing. You should be able to continue your existing service contract without having to renew, though.

Xfinity Home Security: Verdict

With the level of smart home integration on offer, Xfinity Home Security is more than just an alarm monitoring system, and it can run your entire home. That makes it very powerful and it will appeal to anyone with a lot of smart home products in their house.

A simplified approach to its monitoring plans makes Xfinity Home Security easy to understand and it’s nice to see that alarm and smoke monitoring are included in all packages. However, while the pricing structure may be simple to understand, the pricing is high and even the basic package is more expensive than the others as it includes video monitoring as standard. If you don't want video monitoring then there are much cheaper options out there.

Xfinity has generally poor ratings for customer service across its product range, too, which will put some people off its monitoring service. Brinks’ home security offerings are cheaper and the company topped the J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction survey for home security systems, too.

Xfinity home security comes into its own when chosen as a bundle with cable, home phone and internet services. Opt for a triple- or quad-play and you could be paying much less for your home security monitoring needs than if you sign up to a standalone provider.