Xfinity Flex Review - It's FREE ... but is it WORTH IT?

Flex is free right now, but some where down the road a charge for flex will appear on your internet bill.

This would be fine if they would stop raising internet prices

Good review. I just hooked up my flex for the second time and it is a decent box, but yes Roku, fire and Android are definitely much better. The remotes I've always liked with the backlit buttons but it's too big for my taste when it comes to a streaming box remote (love my shield 2019 pro, fire and Roku remotes) :).... I didn't like the UI much and the remote buttons are pretty hard to press compared to the others (just me nit picking). May obviously it does have Hulu but compared to the other streamers I have like you mentioned, it does not have the option to scroll through the add on channels like HBO, STARZ etc. At the top of the Hulu screen like the others do which is a bummer. When I search the networks with flex on Hulu for HBO, it just shows me Conjuring in my stuff which is weird. But hey it was free as only a WiFi customer. Can't beat free! 😃 It is a great idea, but it's just ehhh IMO. Shield tv def beats all of them but at $200 it better lol.

Thank you so much for stopping me from slinging my remote into the wall! 🤣 I am a cord cutter and they installed my flex box and left. I have been struggling with this remote for a couple of weeks. Now I understand how it works and I may be able to enjoy more TV now that I have more control over the remote! Thanks again!

As a experienced cord cutter I'll stick with my amazon 4k fire stick

Important to note there don't currently seem to be any options to cast/stream to this device in any of the apps. This is a pretty common/basic feature in most streaming devices. Probably going to return it as such.

Man, I can't thank you enough! The remote issue was really getting to me! LOL!

As our first baby step towards cord cutting, Flex helps. I do look forward to the next step and cutting Flex out all together. It has it's frustrations; for example, if the box gets turned even a smidgen, the remote doesn't work until it's put back into a precise position. Despite the frustrations, it's worth saving 1,000 dollars a year off the bill. Great video by the way; Flex for Dummies!

Thanks for this. I was wondering whether to order it. But I already have a Roku and I don't see this adding anything to it. If anything, it seems like going through a lot of aggravation to get less than what I already have.

I have been using the flex box for over a month now and it works great for me. Coming from Xfinity cable I like the remote it's will made. I mostly use it to watch YouTube. I don't even miss having cable. I can watch local and cable news clips on demand and live sometimes. Before I got the flex box I thought about getting a subscription to sling but not anymore. Plenty of content.

Thank you so much. This just came with my internet router and I asked them what it was and all I got from the employee was “It’s for streaming.” I already have roku, so I might just bring it back.

To pair the remote to the XI6 you first point it to the front of the box with the small white light. Once paired you can hide the box. The remote works over a RF single rather than IR.

I got mine yesterday, it is very well made,has an hdmi input and output on back ,he failed to mention controller is actually nice made well and is very easy to use.I think sometimes reviewers hate on products because they know that's what people want to hear. Hulu will be available in March. I Had roku and apple tv in the early years and trust me they didn't either have hardly any apps.For a free 4k streaming device it's very nice and quality made .I believe xfinity made right choice with this for internet only customers,I believe before long you will have the spotify and disney before it's all said and done , I suggest if you can get this for free I would ,you can always send it back but I believe you will see it's TRUE potential before long.

When I got my Flex device and connected it, the amount of data I used increased from about 650 GB per month to almost a TB. I sent it back after 2 months and went back to Roku.

Thank you for the remote tip I've been at it for hours!!!! I am that somebody out there you helped with this issue!

This unit was offered when I completed my cheap 1 year starter offer with Xfinity. I picked a new offer for existing customers which dropped the bill from 69.00 to 45.00. I use my own cable modem and a separate WiFi router. The flex easily connected to WiFi and was up and running. Mine must be a stripped down model. No number buttons on the remote. I used it on my projector, since my main big tv already has streaming. The directional, fussy IR remote sucks! I need to see if this one has an RF option.. I doubt it does.

Literally I’m terrified ordering stuff “free from them” my bill jumped from 75 to 100 to 250... terrified

Now THIS was helpful! Alot of talking but nothing wasted everything useful and to the point. Thank you for not going off on a tangent.

One thing I noticed that you didn't mention is that if you have X1 Flex system, you can add broadcast TV (for $$$) to get regular TV channels without adding any other hardware. I just wanted the local channels, so I subscribed to the minimum cable offering. But the really slick thing for us 'non-cord-cutters' is that you don't need a regular cable box at the TV like you used to have to. When using the little Flex box, your regular TV channels come wirelessly from the Gateway (Modem/Router) just like the streaming channels! And you use the remote to 'combine' your streaming and your regular TV into one spot and one Remote. And the voice input on the Remote allows you to search for content and you may find some on the TV channels and others on the streaming channels all grouped together. This reduces clutter quite a bit, because now you don't have to have the old style cable box at each TV or a cable outlet either. You just place one of these little flex boxes with each TV and it connects wirelessly back to the Gateway, and you get regular TV and streaming channels on every TV. There can be as many as 5 TVs hooked to one Gateway this way.

The remote is awesome. I love the mic. I have xfinity cable on my stream box as well as Hulu nextflix YouTube peacock etc. There's really only a couple of apps I use that aren't on this box. The best part is I can speak a title into the mic and it pulls any option from any of the apps.