Best Internet Providers of 2024: Our Reviewers Give Their Top Picks

Google Fiber costs $70 a month for the 1Gbps internet plan, $100 a month for the 2Gbps plan, $125 a month for the 5Gbps plan, and $150 a month for the 8Gbps plan. Google Fiber comes with unlimited data and doesn't include an annual contract or extra fees for installation or equipment.

Yes, Google Fiber is much faster than 5G. A fiber-optic plan on Google Fiber can reach speeds up to 8Gbps, while the absolute fastest 5G home internet plan tops out at 1Gbps. Google Fiber also provides a more reliable and steady connection than a wireless 5G connection, with speeds that don't fluctuate because of network congestion or other issues.

Yes, Google Fiber is better than cable internet. Google Fiber's fiber-optic connection promises faster and more stable internet speeds. Unlike cable, Google Fiber also delivers symmetrical upload and download speeds, giving you significantly more upload bandwidth to support gaming, file uploads, posting to social media, livestreams, and VR.

The cheapest AT&T internet plan costs $55 a month and gives you 300Mbps upload and download speeds.

AT&T offers bundling options with DIRECTV for its fixed wireless, DSL, and fiber internet services. But these aren’t bundles in the cost-saving sense. You’re not getting a discount on your DIRECTV service—you’re just adding it to your home internet package while still paying full price.

Similar to Xfinity, AT&T offers Wi-Fi hotspots across the nation. So if you can’t find the Wi-Fi password posted at your favorite coffee shop, you can just hop on an AT&T hotspot to browse Instagram or check your work email. 

Our take: If you can’t get fiber, you should get cable internet—and Spectrum gets you a solid and reliable cable connection with fast speeds and generous terms. The cable provider ranks up there with AT&T in terms of speed and reliability because it gets respectable speed-test results and many customers we talked to said they didn’t worry too much about outages or slowdowns. “They’re very affordable, and if I’m having an issue, they’re very good about troubleshooting,” one longtime Spectrum customer in Queens, New York, told us.

The provider’s slow upload speeds certainly can’t top fiber. But the brand is widely available nationwide and it delivers excellent download speeds for decent prices. Also, you don’t have to worry about data caps or annual contracts. Cable companies tend to be regarded as impenetrable monoliths, but this is clearly a cable company that meets customers’ needs where it counts. Read our Spectrum Internet review.

Yes, you can get Spectrum with just internet. Customers are able to bundle their Spectrum internet service with a Spectrum cable TV package or a Spectrum Mobile cellular phone plan, but you can also order internet alone without a bundle.

The cheapest Spectrum internet plan costs $50 a month for 12 months and gives you download speeds of 500Mbps. Some families may also qualify for Spectrum Internet Assist, an internet package for low-income households that costs $24.99 a month and delivers 50Mbps speeds.

In most cases, Spectrum does not offer discounts to existing customers. But there are ways to lower your Spectrum internet bill. As we write in our guide to Spectrum deals, try calling customer service to bring your monthly bill back to promo rates, or even going into a brick-and-mortar shop to haggle for a discount or promotion. You can also get discounts when you bundle your internet with a mobile phone plan via Spectrum Mobile.

Our take: A relatively new service, T-Mobile’s 5G Home Internet runs over the provider’s 5G cellular network and delivers solid speeds for a competitive price. The speeds aren’t the greatest (you may see fluctuations due to the wireless connection), but lots of customers have given the service positive reviews—hence why it gets a particularly strong rating for customer experience in our review.

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet is incredibly easy to setup and it doesn’t cost too much, with a simplified pricing structure and extra perks (such as unlimited data and sign-up promos for customers) that make it an excellent alternative to the complex pricing tiers of cable internet. Plus, you get a monthly discount when you pair it with a qualifying T-Mobile cellular plan. Read our T-Mobile 5G Home Internet review.

Most folks will get download speeds between 72-245 Mbps, which is more than enough for your usual streaming and gaming household. The speed you get with 5G home internet all depends on your proximity to a 5G tower—the closer you are, the more likely you are to get a reliable connection.

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet is expanding around the country, but there's still plenty of spots without access (especially in rural areas). The easiest way to find out if you can get T-Mobile 5G Home Internet in your neck of the woods is by entering your ZIP code below and looking for T-Mobile 5G Home Internet to pop up.

A fiber internet provider is almost always your best bet for home internet—the price, speeds, and reliability simply can’t be beat.

In our Google Fiber review, we point out that this fiber provider is like an exotic bird—a marvel of incredible reliability and great value, 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 pretty much any other internet provider that comes your way because you get the most bang for your buck with ultra-fast speeds at a fair price.

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.

Your other two best options are cable internet and 5G home internet. If you can’t get fiber, we recommend cable provider Spectrum 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.

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. You can also run a search with your zip code below to see what internet options are available in your area. 

Although we picked out the best internet providers above, you can likely find other great options where you live. The internet providers below are all standouts too—you’d be pleased getting home internet from any of them. We picked them because they also performed well in our reviews and stand out for awesome speed and reliability, excellent dollar value, and smooth customer experience.

Since not every reader lives in an area with access to these providers, let’s give you some context to help understand how to pick an internet provider. The main things to consider are availability, connection type, price, and speed.

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.

Once you know what internet you can get, you can base your buying decision on which provider gives you the speeds you need for a price that meets your budget.

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.

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).

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.

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.