The Best Internet Providers: An Honest Guide to Reliable Wi-Fi (2024)

The best internet provider is AT&T Fiber, which offers unlimited data, symmetrical gigabit speeds, and multiple tiers of affordable plans. A fiber-optic service should be the top choice for any internet customer. Other fiber providers on this list offer faster speeds (that you might not need) and cheaper plans. Of course, we’ve also done our research on the best cable and satellite providers, if fiber isn’t available in your neighborhood.

As we do with our ISP reviews, our team of experts took a deep dive into fine-print pricing details, nitty-gritty tech specs, and customer input to compile this list of the best internet service providers.

Before jumping in, we recommend searching with your zip code below to see what internet options are available in your area. Internet providers have limited networks, so you want to know which of these providers you can actually get in your home.

Guide to this guide:

• Best internet providers
• How did we pick the best providers?
• Buying internet: What you need to know
• Best overall
• Best fiber speeds
• Best cable
• Best for budget
• Best satellite

The best internet providers—Plans and prices

A fiber internet provider is almost always your best bet for home internet—the price, speeds, and reliability simply can’t be beat. AT&T maintains probably the largest fiber network in the country and offers a range of speed tiers, offering you budget-friendly packages and the option to go all out with multi-gigabit speeds for a premium fee. Take a look at our internet speed guide to see how much bandwidth works best for you.

Google Fiber is like an exotic bird—a marvel of performance and efficiency, yet available in only a handful of cities. Even if you don’t exactly need 1,000Mbps on your home internet plan (or 5,000Mbps … or 8,000mbps), you’re better off picking Google Fiber over the much more common cable providers, considering you get better value with faster speeds at a fair price.

Your other two best options are cable internet and 5G home internet. Spectrum is our most recommended cable internet provider, since it offers a solid deal with unlimited data, no annual contracts, and mobile and internet bundle deals through Spectrum Mobile. T-Mobile’s cost-effective 5G Home Internet plan is best for budget users and folks who live in areas with limited internet options.

As for satellite internet—well, it’s expensive and slow, but in very remote areas it’s sometimes the only available option. If you absolutely have to get satellite internet, Starlink is your best bet. Once you get past the high startup costs, you can breathe easy with reliable speeds and unlimited data.

What makes this guide legit? How we picked the best internet providers

Looking for internet in your area? Search your zip code

What if I can’t get any of the internet providers on this list?

If none of these best providers are available where you live, aim to sign up with a fiber or cable internet provider that gives you speeds of 300Mbps or faster for a price that fits your budget. Home internet costs about $81 a month on average, but you can get decent Wi-Fi for less in many parts of the country. In a rural area, try a fixed wireless or satellite internet provider.

Scroll further down this page to see a crash course on buying internet for your humble abode.

Best overall: AT&T Fiber

Our take: AT&T has invested heavily in building out its fiber footprint across the country, making it the best bet for a fast and reliable fiber connection. Although the company offers speeds up to 5,000Mbps, you can get the most bang for your buck from one of the midtier plans—symmetrical 300Mbps download and upload speeds still pack a ton of firepower for a small or midsize household.

AT&T has excellent customer-service ratings and generous terms—including unlimited data, no annual contract, and frequent deals (including bill credits and other monetary benefits) offered to new customers. The provider no longer offers DSL service, but rural users may be interested in trying out AT&T’s affordable new 5G package, Internet Air. Read our review.

AT&T internet plans and prices

Best fiber speeds: Google Fiber

Our take: Although prices look high (at least up front), Google Fiber offers you some of the best value you could possibly get from an internet provider. Even the baseline plan is incredibly fast, delivering symmetrical uploads and downloads of 1,000Mbps, and the $70 a month price tag doesn’t look so shabby when you consider that slower plans from many competitors end up costing about the same once you factor in extra fees and price hikes. Speaking of, Google Fiber doesn’t have price hikes, data caps, or fees for installation or equipment.

Most users don’t need any of Google Fiber’s faster plan options—that baseline plan is plenty of bandwidth for even large households with 10 or more Wi-Fi devices going simultaneously. But a multi-gig plan may be worth exploring if you host online servers or run a crypto-mining farm in your basem*nt. Read our review.

Google Fiber plans and prices

Best cable provider: Spectrum

Our take: Cable providers are sometimes seen as monopolistic megaliths that lord over internet users with arbitrary fees and price hikes, but Spectrum is as fair as a cable provider gets. The brand delivers excellent download speeds for decent prices—the baseline plan starts at under $50 a month and offers enough bandwidth to support a small or midsize home for plenty of gaming and streaming.

Spectrum gets average ratings in public satisfaction surveys, and the provider’s slow upload speeds certainly can’t top fiber. But you don’t have to worry about data caps or annual contracts, and Spectrum customers in some parts of the country can even access a fiber-to-the-home connection that promises superior performance. This is clearly a cable company that more-or-less gets customers’ needs. Read our review.

Spectrum Internet plans and prices

Best for budget users: T-Mobile 5G Home Internet

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet plans and prices

Best satellite internet provider: Starlink

Our take: There are certainly cheaper satellite internet plans out there, but in terms of sheer performance, Starlink can’t be beat. Elon Musk’s much-hyped satellite service offers unlimited data at 100Mbps+ download speeds, which is surprisingly fast considering that you’re getting a connection beamed from 342 miles above Earth.

Having satellite internet once meant rationing your data usage to a maddening degree, but Starlink’s unlimited data and tiered soft limits give you more flexibility than what you get from rivals Viasat and Hughesnet. You still need to shell out a pretty penny—$599 minimum just for the hardware! But Starlink’s low-Earth orbit satellites chart shorter distances for data to travel, giving you and everyone else in your household (or boat … or RV …) a more established connection. Read our review.

Shopping for internet? Here’s what you need to know

Provider availability is the main deciding factor

Internet brands used to operate as monopolies, setting the agenda for price, speeds, and other technical capabilities as they operated without competition in specific geographic areas.

This situation has evolved somewhat with the expansion of fiber-optic networks and emergence of cost-friendly alternatives like 5G home internet. But the fact remains that many internet customers have only one or two realistic internet options where they live. Make sure to run a search with your zip code below to see what you can get in your area.

Connection type: Fiber internet is the best, but cable and 5G are great too

You should definitely get fiber internet if it’s available in your area. Fiber runs over bundled strands of fiber-optic cable, beaming data at the speed of light (or something close to it). Fiber providers like AT&T, Google Fiber, and Verizon offer the best internet speeds and often have the best prices too.

But it’s not the end of the world if you can’t get fiber. Cable internet from a provider like Spectrum or Xfinity is another reliable option with fast speeds at affordable prices. The speeds aren’t as fast as fiber, nor are the deals quite as good, but cable internet has a proven track record for dependable connectivity.

How much should you pay for internet?

Expect to pay about $60–$80 a month for a home internet plan that gives you enough bandwidth to handle your daily Wi-Fi needs.

Most Americans pay $81 a month on average for their internet connection, but you may be able to find a cheaper plan that still gets the job done. On the other hand, you may need to consider paying upwards of $100 a month or more to cover the cost of an upper-tier gigabit or multi-gig internet plan if you live in a big household or rely on ultrafast internet for remote work, VR gaming, or content creation (or perhaps all three).

How much internet speed do you need?

Most people need speeds of at least 25Mbps per person in their household to ensure a smooth connection with minimal slowdowns or buffering. So if you live in an apartment with three other people, you want an internet plan with minimum 100Mbps download speeds.

You’re better off not overspending if you can get away with a slower plan. But make sure the Wi-Fi package you get comes with enough speed to support all of your Wi-Fi devices, and consider upgrading to a faster plan if you share the Wi-Fi with a larger group of people.

The Federal Communications Commission defines high-speed broadband internet as any connection that delivers minimum download speeds of 100Mbps and minimum upload speeds of 20Mbps. Getting a plan with 100Mbps is a great starting point if you live in a small household and do regular stuff like streaming Netflix and making the occasional video call.

Hardly anybody needs the fastest-possible speeds offered by an internet provider—gigabit and multi-gigabit options are mostly good for influencer mansions and Bitcoin miners.

Rural customers have to settle for less

If you live in a remote area, your best bet is DSL internet or a low-cost 5G home internet package from a company like T-Mobile or Verizon. But you may be stuck with fixed wireless or satellite internet, which cost more money and have stricter limits on speed and data.

When internet providers invest in network infrastructure, they tend to focus on areas where they can make money serving lots of customers—so major cities and metro areas often get better served than rural parts of the country. Still, there are some solid options for rural internet. And while satellite internet used to be the slowest of the slow, it’s turned into a more flexible and reliable internet option thanks to SpaceX’s Starlink and revamped plan options from Hughesnet and Viasat.

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