In the United States, over 300 million people use the internet. This is a whole lot of people and nearly 91% of the country’s entire population. While people use public hotspots and their cellular networks for internet occasionally, home networks are one of the primary means that people use to stay connected.
The consumer WiFi hardware market is estimated to be worth close to 10 billion dollars in 2026, which is unbelievable. Considering that in early 2021, 77% of US adults had home broadband, it is much easier to understand why the projections are so high. There are a whole lot of people who expect to have the internet at home, and that’s not changing anytime soon.
When it comes to making sure that you have a reliable internet connection at home, this is where mesh WiFi comes into the equation. We’ve all had issues before where the wireless signal is very weak in one part of the house, like your bedroom, but super strong in an inconvenient place like your bathroom. In cases like this, we wish that the signal could just be strong throughout the entire home, and this is exactly what mesh does for us.
Two of the significant products offering mesh WiFi capabilities to your home are the xFi Pods and the Eero products from Amazon. The question is, though, which one is better? Unfortunately, that can be hard to determine, so I’ve put this article to pit xFi Pods vs. Eero to show you which is better.
Do you have a particular question about comparing xFi Pods vs. Eero? Then use the table of contents below to jump to the most relevant section. And you can always go back by clicking on the black arrow in the right bottom corner of the page. Also, please note that some of the links in this article may be affiliate links. For more details, check the Disclosure section at the bottom of the page.
Here's what we'll cover:
What is xFi pods?
xFi Pods are WiFi extender pods from Xfinity that can be connected to your Xfinity gateway and used to increase the WiFi coverage from the router to cover more parts of your home. If you already use the internet from Xfinity, then getting one of their pods can likely make things easier as you get to stay in the same product line.
When you use these WiFi pods, you will probably only need one or two unless you live in a gigantic house. In that case, you might need a few more to cover everywhere.
What is Eero?
There are different kinds of Eero products, but it is easy to see the ones which parallel some of the xFi products they are being compared to. Eero makes WiFi routers, just like the xFi Gateway. However, the Eero routers do not come pre-attached to an internet service provider. They don’t offer internet services directly.
However, along with their routers, they also sell Eero extenders, which are parallel to the xFi Pods that are sold by Xfinity.
To put it simply, Eero is a WiFi router and extender that can be used to provide a wide radius of home broadband. They also run off WiFi 6, which is awesome.
Who makes Xfinity xFi Pods, and who makes Eero?
The Xfinity xFi Pods are made by Xfinity, which in turn, is a company that is owned by the giant corporation Comcast. Suppose you use Comcast services on the regular. In that case, it makes sense to keep building in their ecosystem with their xFi products, especially as the xFi router can easily be bought with their network subscription.
On the other hand, Eero routers are made by one of the world’s tech giants. In this case, it is Amazon. Unfortunately, they do not offer internet connectivity along with it, so you will be expected to figure out that part on your own. However, the advantage of coming from the Amazon pedigree is that you can easily integrate Eero into your smart home setup if it’s ruled by Alexa because it works perfectly fine with it!
Where to buy xFi Pods vs. where to buy Eero?
If you’re looking for where you can buy these WiFi extender pods, whether you’re looking at getting xFi Pods or Eero, there’s no scarcity of places for you to get them from.
The Pods from xFi can be bought straight from a physical Xfinity Store, which makes it convenient if you have one near you. However, as most people might do, you can also buy these WiFi pods online on Xfinity’s website, which is where things are most convenient.
If you want to buy Eero products instead, you’ll have way more options to get these mesh pods. First, you can buy them online from , the parent company, or directly from Eero’s website. However, there are also several authorized resellers like Best Buy, Micro Center, and Newegg, among others. In addition, some ISPs also carry Eero products in their stores, which gives you tons of options.
xFi Pods vs. Eero: Spec comparison
Because of how close the battle between xFi Pods vs. Eero seems, sometimes you may need to break things down into a Eero and xFi Pods review of their technical specifications to see which one comes out on top.
So then, if you’ve been waiting to see how Eero and xFi Pods specs compare, this is the best place to be. Let’s get right into all the details that you need to know.
Cost
When it comes to the Xfinity Pods cost, it depends on the exact Eero product that they are being compared to. Eero offers extenders that do the exact same job as the Pods, and in this case, the Eero product is quite a bit cheaper.
However, if you turn to the Eero routers, which can double as extenders if you’d like to get full WiFi 6 speeds. Then you will be paying around the same amount or more than double, depending on whether you go for the WiFi 6 or 6E model.
Speed
Simply put, they can’t beat Eero when it comes to xFi Pods specs in the speed domain. Eero products use WiFi 6, which gives them speeds of more than 1 Gbps. Unfortunately, an xFi Pod can only max out at 500 Mbps, which is less than half the speed of the Eero mesh pods.
If the speed of your wireless connection is crucial to you, then the Eero devices win hands down.
Service Provider Options
Because xFi Pods are a product from Xfinity, an internet service provider, it makes sense that their product can only be used with their Xfinity router. This means that you only have one option of ISP if you want to use these products, but Comcast, in turn, Xfinity, is the largest home broadband provider in the US, so that’s not such a bad deal.
On the other hand, with Eero, you can choose from most of the ISPs that are available in the US market. This gives you many options and is perfect if you were already on a good internet provider that you don’t want to abandon for Comcast.
Size
One area where the Xfinity Pods clearly win is in size. They have dimensions of 1.4 x 3.8 x 3.5 inches, which makes them relatively. At least compared to the Eero extender, which measures 3.9 x 3.8 x 2.4 inches. This is even on the small side of their product lineup, as their full-blown routers are much larger.
If you’re looking for something small that you will almost forget exists, then the xFi Pods win that fight unanimously.
Versatility
You can’t complete an xFi Pods review without mentioning the versatility of these devices.
With the Xfinity product, you can plug them into an outlet to mount them and give them power, making self-installation very easy to deal with. However, besides that, there is little flexibility to these.
With Eero, on the other hand, when you buy one of their routers, you can use it as an extender if you wish to, which is impressive. Thanks to their compatibility with Amazon Alexa, you can also integrate Eero products into your smart home setup. It can even be used with Apple HomeKit. This is, unfortunately, not an option with your Xfinity Gateway or Pods.
Are xFi Pods worth it? Or should you get Eero?
Now then, the big question is whether the Xfinity Pods are worth getting or not.
My simple answer to this is that, yes, they are. However, there’s a big conditional here. If you are a previous xFi subscriber and you have the xFi Gateway at home, then go for it. The xFi Pods cost is not eye-watering, so it doesn’t hurt to add these to the Xfinity ecosystem you have at home if you need more coverage.
However, if you don’t fall into those specific conditions, I recommend Eero. Their products are more available for purchase. They have much faster WiFi speeds. And their devices are more versatile thanks to being able to function as a router or extender and find a place in a smart home system.
The major downside of Eero is their price, but if you’re looking to spend on home internet, you might as well spend what you need to to get the very best out there.
Credits: Thanks for the photo to Canva.
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