Comcast came to CES 2022 with a brand new gateway router, and it’s actually one that you’re going to want. It’s the new Xfinity xFi Advanced Gateway from Comcast.
This new router supports all of the newest standards. That includes WiFi 6E, Zigbee and even Matter. Which is going to be a really nice addition to your smart home. This Xfinity xFi Advanced Gateway will offer support for 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz WiFi bands. Giving you some really incredible WiFi speeds. That also means that it will work with older devices that don’t support 6GHz or even 5GHz. Like smart home products.
Having WiFi 6E on-board is a big deal, and likely a trend that we will continue to see throughout the year.
You’ll be able to lease the Xfinity xFi Advanted Gateway from Comcast for $14 per month. While it is not a good deal to actually lease the router, it does provide peace of mind for some. And now, the gateway is going to suck even less.
Adding Matter and Zigbee support is huge
Comcast adding both Matter and Zigbee to this router is a really big deal. Matter is the new smart home standard that just about every major smart home player is working on. It’s going to make it easier for everything to work with every ecosystem. So no longer will you need to buy a speaker that works with Google Assistant and then another for Amazon Alexa. The same speaker will work with both – as well as Apple’s Siri and Homekit.
Zigbee is also available and supported by most smart home products. In fact, if you have a Zigbee hub like this router, then you don’t need the Philips Hue bridge, which can save you about $50.
There’s no word yet on when exactly Comcast will start sending these routers out to customers, but it shouldn’t be too long.