Fiber Optic Internet Providers – CNET

What’s the finest fiber web total?

With regards to fiber web, you’ll discover that costs, pace tiers and repair phrases range amongst suppliers. That’s why sure fiber ISPs rise above the remaining. Out of all the main suppliers, I discover AT&T Fiber to be the very best fiber supplier total on account of its number of high-speed plans, aggressive pricing, favorable service phrases and broad availability.

AT&T Fiber is not the one respectable choice for fiber web, nevertheless. You will discover my picks of the very best fiber web suppliers beneath. Every of the finest web suppliers listed beneath makes use of a fiber-to-the-home community, which all however ensures the very best connection high quality, pace and reliability. Moreover, these suppliers stand out for his or her distinctive pricing, availability, buyer satisfaction and different elements. We replace this record periodically.

Finest fiber web of 2023

AT&T Fiber

Finest fiber web supplier total

Verify availability

Product particulars

Value vary

$55 – $180 per thirty days

Pace vary

300 – 5,000Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Data

Limitless knowledge, no contracts, gear included

AT&T has the best availability of any fiber supplier, extending service to greater than 16 million potential prospects throughout 21 states. The supplier additionally boasts a few of the lowest pricing on fiber web service whenever you bear in mind its new multigig tiers. 

At $180 a month for speeds as much as 5,000 megabits per second, AT&T’s Web 5000 plan boasts a 4-cents-per-Mbps price that’s arduous to cross up, however not each family wants that a lot pace. All plans, from the budget-friendly 300Mbps plan to multigig service, include limitless knowledge and require no contract. 

The quick pace, comparatively low pricing and customer-friendly service phrases have earned AT&T excessive buyer satisfaction scores lately. The American Customer Satisfaction Index gave AT&T Fiber an industry-leading rating of 80 out of 100 for 2023.

Verify AT&T Fiber availability

CenturyLink

Finest fiber web protection

Verify availability

Product particulars

Value vary

$30 – $70 per thirty days

Pace vary

200 – 940Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Data

Limitless knowledge, no contracts, gear included with gigabit tier

Although AT&T Fiber and Verizon Fios can be found to extra individuals, CenturyLink’s fiber community covers extra areas, with fiber service that spans a powerful 25 states. CenturyLink additionally operates primarily in suburban and rural areas, bringing high-speed fiber connections to areas that won’t in any other case have entry to them. 

Nevertheless, individuals dwelling in CenturyLink fiber service areas solely have two plan choices: 100 or 200Mbps beginning at $30 a month, or gigabit service beginning at $70 a month. Whereas extra plan choices can be good, CenturyLink’s gigabit pace plan remains to be a fairly whole lot. At $70 a month for speeds as much as 940Mbps and no gear charges, CenturyLink is without doubt one of the least expensive fiber suppliers for gigabit service.

Verify CenturyLink availability

Frontier Fiber

Finest low-cost fiber plan

Verify availability

Product particulars

Value vary

$50 – $155 per thirty days

Pace vary

500 – 5,000Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Data

Limitless knowledge, no contracts, no gear charge

Frontier Communications not too long ago expanded its fiber web protection to 19 states after which rolled out a brand new multigig service to all the footprint abruptly, changing into the primary main ISP to take action.

Frontier’s new multigig plans are priced competitively at $100 a month for speeds as much as 2,000Mbps and $155 month-to-month for the 5 Gig plan. Even for those who do not want all that pace, the decrease tiers — 500Mbps beginning at $50 per thirty days and gig service beginning at $70 month-to-month — are pretty much as good a price as you will discover from any main supplier.

Frontier Fiber plans include limitless knowledge and require no contract. Not like many different suppliers, Frontier contains the gear price with the worth, so aside from taxes, Frontier plan pricing may be very a lot “what you see is what you pay.” 

Verify Frontier Fiber availability

Google Fiber

Finest fiber web gig plans

Verify availability

Product particulars

Value vary

$70 – $100 per thirty days

Pace vary

1,000 – 2,000Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Data

Limitless knowledge, no contracts, gear included

Google Fiber remains to be round and resuming growth after a multiyear hiatus. The place accessible, Google Fiber provides fiber web service beginning at $70 a month and a 2Gbps plan beginning at $100 a month. Each include gear included at no additional price, no knowledge caps and no contracts. 

There’s additionally the newly launched 5 gig and eight gig plans for $125 and $150 per thirty days, respectively. Availability is at the moment restricted, however a Google Fiber spokesperson confirmed with CNET that the supplier goals to increase the plans to all service areas later this 12 months.

Verify Google Fiber availability

Verizon Fios

Finest signup bonuses

Verify availability

Product particulars

Value vary

$50 – $120 per thirty days

Pace vary

300 – 2,000Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Data

Limitless knowledge, no contracts, free gear with gig service

Verizon Fios is a detailed second to AT&T when it comes to pace, pricing and repair phrases, but it surely lacks the identical breadth of protection. Although accessible to almost the identical variety of potential prospects as AT&T Fiber, Verizon Fios primarily serves the mid-Atlantic and Northeast areas. 

These fortunate sufficient to stay in a Verizon Fios service space will possible discover the fiber web service is difficult to beat, particularly for these on the lookout for a low-cost connection. Beginning at simply $50 a month, the lowest-price Fios web plan comes with obtain and add speeds of as much as 300Mbps. The following pace tier can also be a good worth — $70 a month for as much as 500Mbps — however at $90 per thirty days, gigabit service is priced the identical or a contact larger than you will discover with different fiber suppliers. 

Whichever Fios plan you join, anticipate some attractive extras along with your order, like free streaming subscriptions, electronics, present playing cards or different promotional provides.

Verify Verizon Fios availability

Windstream Kinetic

Finest for fiber in rural areas

Verify availability

Product particulars

Value vary

$40 – $70 per thirty days

Pace vary

100 – 1,000Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Data

Limitless knowledge, no contracts

One drawback of fiber web is that it is usually solely accessible in choose neighborhoods of bigger cities. In case you’re dwelling within the suburbs or a rural space, then your finest probability to get fiber web is probably going Kinetic by Windstream. Roughly a 3rd of Windstream’s community — which spans rural and suburban areas throughout 18 states — is fiber optic.

Windstream is without doubt one of the finest rural web suppliers, bringing high-speed connections to locations possible underserved by cable or by different fiber web suppliers. These in a Kinetic service space will even admire the low pricing — $37 a month for speeds of as much as 200Mbps the place accessible, and gigabit service for less than $67 a month — together with limitless knowledge and no contract necessities.

Verify Kinetic Web availability

Ziply Fiber

Quickest fiber web supplier

Verify availability

Product particulars

Value vary

$40 – $300 per thirty days

Pace vary

100 – 10,000Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Data

Limitless knowledge, no contracts, quick rural web connection

Ziply Fiber not too long ago rolled out a 10Gbps plan, successfully making it the quickest main ISP throughout its Northwest footprint in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington — if not the quickest supplier nationwide. 

As streaming, on-line gaming and distant working and studying have grow to be extra commonplace, sooner web speeds are in excessive demand. Nonetheless, 10Gbps is greater than the common family will want. For everybody else, Ziply Fiber provides a spread of different pace tiers from 100 to five,000Mbps.

Learn our Ziply Fiber assessment.

Verify Ziply Fiber availability

Why go for fiber web?

Your web speeds, reliability and total expertise do not rely solely on the web supplier you select. The know-how it makes use of to run service to your property makes a giant distinction as effectively.

If I may suggest any web connection kind above all the remaining, that’d be fiber. My fiber web speeds, add and obtain, are quick and constant, even throughout peak utilization occasions or inclement climate. The usual month-to-month price of fiber web companies, whereas not the most affordable service amongst web suppliers in my space, remains to be an amazing worth contemplating the speeds I get.

What to contemplate when looking for fiber web

Fiber web is the very best kind of service for many houses, however there’s extra to selecting a supplier and plan than the connection kind. Listed below are some ideas to bear in mind when looking for fiber web service.

Availability. You will not discover fiber web to be accessible in almost as many houses as cable, DSL, satellite tv for pc and even 5G web. In truth, solely round 38% of US households are wired for fiber-optic web. Availability is scarce in suburban and rural areas, and might range from one neighborhood to the following in most cities. It is potential fiber web is simply not accessible at your property or the tackle you are transferring to.

Speeds. Fiber web has the quickest add and obtain pace potential of any kind of web. Lots of the prime suppliers provide pace tiers as much as 2,000Mbps (2Gbps), 5Gbps and better. Whereas the blazing quick speeds are tempting, they’re prone to be extra pace than your property wants. Take a look at our information to discovering the precise web pace for assist choosing a fiber plan that finest meets your wants.

Value. In case you’re on the lookout for low-cost web, fiber is probably not the best choice. It is true that fiber web plans are sometimes the very best worth, however chances are you’ll discover cheaper choices from cable or 5G suppliers.

A number of fiber suppliers provide plans with beginning costs as little as $30 per thirty days, however you are extra prone to pay at the very least $50 per thirty days for fiber web. Cable web suppliers together with Cox, Mediacom, Xfinity and others have lower-priced plans in lots of areas. In case you are a T-Cellular Magenta Max or Verizon wi-fi buyer, you would get 5G residence web for the discounted worth of $25 to $35 per thirty days.

Bundles. Few fiber suppliers provide a TV service, which means chances are you’ll not be capable to bundle web and TV along with the identical supplier for those who select a fiber web service. Within the days of streaming and cord-cutting, that is probably not a deal-breaker for you, but it surely’s one thing to bear in mind when looking for each companies.

How we consider fiber web suppliers

Testing an web supplier the identical approach CNET checks different services is, at finest, impractical. As an alternative, we depend on intensive analysis of every supplier to develop our evaluations and proposals.

When evaluating fiber web suppliers, availability, speeds and total worth are on the heart of our evaluations. We additionally study added charges, knowledge caps, contract necessities, buyer satisfaction experiences and different elements that would have an effect on your high quality of service or buyer expertise.

We seek advice from the Federal Communications Fee at FCC.gov for availability knowledge and the kind of community a supplier makes use of. We then analysis a supplier’s speeds, pricing and repair phrases by means of quite a lot of channels such because the supplier’s web site and our personal historic knowledge. When potential, we contact the supplier instantly to verify pricing and pace particulars.

Lastly, to develop a extra well-rounded perspective of the supplier, we contemplate buyer satisfaction experiences from the American Buyer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Energy, in addition to buyer evaluations and complaints from sources such because the Higher Enterprise Bureau, downdetector.com and even Reddit.

Earlier than writing our evaluations and compiling finest lists, we analysis something and the whole lot the everyday shopper would need to know previous to signing up for residence web service. Learn our piece on how we assessment web suppliers to be taught extra about our assessment course of.

Fiber web honorable mentions

• EarthLink: EarthLink makes use of the fiber networks put in by different suppliers or municipal fiber-optic networks, which suggests accessible speeds and repair high quality can range broadly from one area to the following. In choose areas, EarthLink provides fiber service with speeds of as much as 1 gigabit for round $100 a month.
• Optimum: Optimum is primarily a cable web supplier, but it surely does have a rising fiber community, significantly within the higher NYC space. Roughly 1.6 million households can be found for fiber service within the space. Fiber plans are priced the identical as Optimum’s cable web service.
• Xfinity: Comcast Xfinity’s fiber service can also be considerably restricted in availability and provides a powerful max pace of as much as 6,000Mbps. The catch? The plan comes with an equally jaw-dropping worth of $300 a month.

Finest fiber web suppliers recap

If fiber web service is accessible in your space, it is in all probability price getting, particularly if any of the suppliers listed above is an choice. AT&T is best to suggest due to its excessive availability, low prices and favorable service phrases, however Verizon Fios is a detailed second with low pricing, excessive buyer satisfaction and plenty of perks for signing up. Google Fiber, Frontier Fiber, Windstream, CenturyLink and Ziply Fiber spherical out the record of ultimate choices whereas suppliers like EarthLink, Optimum and others are price a glance, too, if accessible in your space.

Fiber web FAQs