Best Internet Providers of 2023

One of the metrics we like to use to compare value between ISPs is the average cost per megabit per second of download speed. A lower cost per Mbps is a good, rough indicator of value -- and with AT&T's fiber internet plans, the average cost per Mbps is just 10 cents, including your equipment rental. 

For comparison, you can expect the average fiber internet plan from Verizon to cost you 12 cents per Mbps, while a fiber plan from CenturyLink will cost you 16 cents per Mbps. Meanwhile, most cable internet plans from names like Spectrum and Xfinity will typically cost you at least 25 cents per Mbps, if not more. Another point worth mentioning: In 2022, AT&T began offering multi-gig plans with concurrent upload and download speeds of 2 and 5 gigabits per second.

That is to say that AT&T's fiber plans are a terrific value -- especially since none of them come with any contracts or data caps. On top of that, AT&T is highly ranked for customer satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power. The telecom giant's DSL and fixed wireless plans are much less impressive, but if AT&T Fiber is available at your address, consider yourself lucky because there isn't much reason to consider anything else.

With most fiber providers, you'll find a better bang for your buck, but a cable connection is the next best thing if fiber isn't an option. And, among all the providers offering cable internet service in the country, Spectrum is the one I'd be happiest to see available at my address.

Spectrum isn't the biggest name in cable internet -- that'd be Comcast's Xfinity -- but it still offers service to more than 100 million Americans, thanks to Charter's acquisition of Time Warner's internet infrastructure in 2016. And, unlike Comcast (or Cox, its other main cable rival), Spectrum doesn't enforce a data cap and won't tie you down to a long-term contract, either.

On top of all that, Spectrum's prices and terms are straightforward, easy to understand and easy to live with -- and the average Spectrum plan comes with a lower cost-per-Mbps than either Comcast or Cox. It isn't quite the best value in the cable category (keep reading), but Spectrum is still your top option for cable internet at home when you drill down into the details.

Pickings can be frustratingly slim when shopping for an internet plan in a rural area because most of the best internet infrastructure in the country is centralized in population-dense cities and the suburban neighborhoods surrounding them. If you live outside a region like that, your home probably isn't wired for fiber or cable. Instead, you'll have to make do with slower, less reliable and more expensive technologies, and you'll likely have fewer options to choose from, too.

You'll need to take the good with the bad with just about any rural ISP, but there's more good than bad with Rise Broadband, our top pick for getting online when faster cable and fiber plans aren't an option. A fixed wireless provider covering much of the country's middle, Rise Broadband will beam an internet signal directly to an antenna mounted outside your home, providing download speeds of up to 50Mbps. That's twice as fast as what you'll get with a satellite internet plan from HughesNet and faster than many DSL plans, which often struggle to surpass double-digit download speeds. 

Rise's 250GB data cap is also significantly higher than you'll get with most rural internet plans, and plans with unlimited data will only cost you an extra $10 or $20 per month, depending on whether you've signed up for speeds of 25 or 50Mbps. 

Verizon lands atop the American Customer Satisfaction Index's rankings of internet providers year after year, and it's been one of the strongest finishers with J.D. Power for multiple years running, too.

What do people like about Verizon? For starters, while the company's DSL service isn't special, most customers across the company's eight-state coverage map in the northeast have access to Verizon Fios fiber service capable of gigabit speeds and uploads that are just as fast as the downloads. Verizon plans don't come with contracts or data caps, either, and your price won't automatically go up after a year the way it will with most other providers.

What's more, Verizon made headlines in 2022 by expanding the availability of its 5G Home Internet service to approximately 900 cities. That's a promising development for consumers, given the glaring need for better internet options nationwide.

WideOpenWest -- or WOW -- is a relatively small provider that offers services in nine states. Still, it earns the exclamation point it likes to stick at the end of its branding by offering cable internet plans at some of the best prices you'll find anywhere in the US. That includes an entry-level 100Mbps plan that starts at $20 per month ($40 a month after the first year) and a high-speed gigabit plan that starts at $65 monthly. Even after the price of that plan jumps to $75 per month in year 2, that's still a cost per Mbps of just 8 cents, which is unheard of in the cable category.

In addition, WOW doesn't enforce contracts with any of its plans, and it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee when you sign up, letting you cancel without penalty if it isn't the right fit. All told, it's about as strong as ISP sales pitches get -- I just wish the footprint was a bit bigger and there weren't data limits on some plans.

CenturyLink offers DSL internet plans across 16 states, but roughly half of the coverage map also has access to CenturyLink's fiber plans, branded as Quantum Fiber. That "Quantum" bit is meaningless, but the plans themselves are a great deal -- $30 per month for matching upload and download speeds of 200Mbps (15 cents per Mbps), or $70 per month for a gigabit plan with matching speeds of 940Mbps (just under 8 cents per Mbps, which is an even better value than you'll get with AT&T for its fiber gigabit plan). There are no data caps or contracts with those plans, and those prices don't arbitrarily go up after a year, either.

Meanwhile, CenturyLink's DSL speeds are much slower and can vary greatly from address to address, but with a flat rate of $50 per month, the pricing is pretty fair by DSL standards. Better still, the DSL plans come with a Price for Life guarantee, which locks that rate in for as long as you stay a customer. If nothing faster is available at your address, a plan like that might be worth considering -- but if CenturyLink offers fiber service in your area, signing up is a lot closer to a no-brainer.

Comcast is the biggest name in cable, and the company offers its Xfinity internet service to over 100 million people in the US -- more than a third of the country. Subscribers will find a great variety of plans and packages to choose from, including plans with download speeds of up to 1,200Mbps that are available across the majority of the sprawling coverage map (or, if they're lucky, plans with multi-gig speeds of up to 6Gbps that are available at a small percentage of addresses). In addition, Xfinity consistently earns above-average customer satisfaction scores too.

That said, being the biggest doesn't mean it's the best. Cable internet plans from Spectrum and Optimum come at a slightly better value than most Comcast plans, and neither enforces a data cap. Comcast does, capping your monthly data usage at 1.2TB, with penalties levied if you exceed it in a given month. If you can live with that, there's a lot to like about Xfinity home internet -- but it's more of an honorable mention than an outright best pick.

It's been over a decade since Google first announced that it would bring fiber internet service to select regions across the country -- and it's been a bumpy ride ever since. After initially rolling out across 11 metro areas, Google struggled to build out the service beyond that and paused its efforts in 2016, leaving disappointment across dozens of cities where the company had teased prospects for future fiber expansions.

Google hasn't given up, though. The company is currently working on expanding fiber access in select cities and recently rolled out plans that support speeds of up to 5 gigabits per second for $125 per month. However, that super-speedy plan is currently only offered in Kansas City, Provo, Salt Lake City and West Des Moines. 

The other cities in which you'll find Google Fiber available are Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Huntsville, Nashville, Orange County, Raleigh/Durham and San Antonio. If you live in any of those metros, and Google Fiber is available at your address, give it a look because that's one of the best deals you'll find for such a blazing-fast connection.

Satellite internet is typically slow, laggy and temperamental in inclement weather, so I'd explore other options if you've got them. But that's the thing -- too many of us don't have other options, and satellite internet from established names like Viasat and HughesNet is available just about everywhere.

If it comes down to those two, I'd start with Viasat. Why? Neither offers strong value for what you're getting, but HughesNet caps the max download speed of all plans at 25Mbps, which is the barest definition of broadband. With Viasat, satellite speeds of up to 100Mbps are available in some regions, and speeds are set to improve in 2023 with Viasat's newest satellite hardware launch. Viasat also offers data limits that are slightly higher than what you'll get with HughesNet.

All of that said, there are aspects of Viasat's service that would probably be more at home on the worst list than a best list like this. For starters, your monthly bill will shoot up after just 3 months -- and with some plans, the increase is a whopping $50. You'll also need to agree to a two-year contract, with potentially steep penalties, if you decide to cancel early. As I said, make sure to shop around for other, better options in your area -- but if there aren't any (and if you can stomach the sky-high prices), Viasat is a workable choice for getting online in remote parts of the country.

Ziply is a relative newcomer to the fiber scene after acquiring fiber-optic infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest from Frontier. The service launched in 2020 amidst the pandemic, offering relatively affordable fiber plans to customers across parts of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Plans are limited for now, with a notable lack of middle-ground options between the 200 and 1,000Mbps speed tiers. Still, Ziply offers strong value and reasonable terms and doesn't enforce data caps, contracts or credit checks for any of its plans. It also recently began offering a multi-gig speed of 10 gigabits per second, in addition to the already fast tiers of 2 and 5Gbps, introduced in 2022.

Ziply also includes whole-home Wi-Fi with up to three extenders in its $10 modem rental fee, which is a nice deal for anyone interested in trying out the benefits of a mesh network. We'll keep an eye on the company as it grows, but we like what we're seeing so far.