Best Internet Providers in Salt Lake City, Utah

Since its establishment in the mid-1800s, Salt Lake City has maintained a modern reputation for cultural and natural wonders, including some of the country's finest skiing spots. It also has some of the fastest internet service plans around. When you're not out enjoying the lake and mountains, you want your home internet provider to deliver a rock-solid connection and reliable high speeds to keep you streaming, gaming and browsing in style. 

Salt Lake City doesn't have many home internet provider options, but you'll find some big names in play, including Xfinity, CenturyLink, T-Mobile, and Google. Google Fiber, CNET's top pick for the best internet service provider in Salt Lake City, Utah, is known for its reliability and blazing speeds (up to an impressive 8 gigabits), and it's been expanding its presence in Salt Lake City. The right ISP for you depends on availability, price, and needs. Check out our recommendations for the best Salt Lake City internet providers.

Best internet providers in SLC

Our choice for the best overall Salt Lake City home internet provider is Google Fiber for its fast speeds and high customer satisfaction ranking. If it's not available at your address or if you're looking for a bargain, there are other solid options to choose from, including Xfinity, CenturyLink and relative newcomer T-Mobile Home Internet. 

Note: The prices, speeds and features detailed in the article text may differ from those listed in the product detail cards, which represent providers’ national offerings. Your particular internet service options -- including prices and speeds -- depend on your address and may differ from those detailed here.

All available Salt Lake City residential internet providers

• Rise Broadband: Rise is a fixed wireless provider specializing in rural areas. It counts Salt Lake among its coverage spots. Plans start at $30 (for up to 25 Mbps), with unlimited data costing an additional $20. Pricing goes up by $10 after the first 12 months. If you're in a more remote area with few internet options, check if Rise has you covered. 
• Satellite internet: Salt Lake City is well-covered by multiple internet options ranging from cable to DSL to fiber to fixed wireless. Some residents of the region might still consider satellite plans from Starlink, Viasat or HughesNet. It might make sense if you're in a rural or remote spot or if you travel and want the flexibility of taking a Starlink RV plan on the road.
• Verizon 5G Home Internet: Verizon offers fixed wireless home internet plans in some parts of Salt Lake City, but its 5G Home Internet service may be elusive. Some addresses qualify for slower $60-a-month ($50 with autopay) LTE plans with download speeds up to 50 Mbps, but that's unlikely to be your first choice if you have a better option.

Salt Lake internet pricing

There's a wide swing in pricing for home internet in Salt Lake City, ranging from as low as $20 per month to as high as $150. The average starting price works out to under $45. 

Xfinity's $20 budget option won't blow you out of the salty water with its 150Mbps top speed, but it represents quite a bargain basement price. Google Fiber's $70 starting price may seem high at first glance, but the reliability and speed may be well worth it to anyone who is a heavy internet user. When price shopping, keep an eye on providers like Xfinity that may bump up prices after a certain amount of time. 

Cheap internet options in the SLC metro area

Comcast's Xfinity service wins the battle for the lowest monthly price with its $20-a-month, 150Mbps option, but that comes with a yearly contract and doesn't include equipment. It's also fairly slow compared to more expensive plans. It could be a cheap way to connect if you already have a compatible modem and router. 

But let's talk about value. Users with heavy streaming or gaming demands would do well to pay for the $70 intro price for fast fiber from Google Fiber or CenturyLink. If you like the idea of a stable fiber connection, but that price is too steep, then you can consider CenturyLink's $50 plan for 500Mbps if available.

Fastest internet providers in SLC

Ookla, the company that offers the popular Speedtest.net service, tracks internet speeds in Salt Lake City. Ookla's data shows the city's fixed internet download speeds are at a median of about 250Mbps. Your mileage will vary depending on your connection type, plan and equipment. If that sounds too slow, check into a speed-demon plan like Google Fiber's 8,000Mbps (better known as 8-gig) option. 

There's one clear champion for blazing internet speeds in Salt Lake. Google Fiber's top-of-the-line 8-gig plan delivers the goods for $150. Yes, you pay for the privilege, but it's your best option if you need those zippy download and upload speeds. Here's our look at the best multi-gigabit internet plans. The sticking point is availability. If fiber doesn't reach your address, your next best bet is to go with one of Xfinity's faster plans. Just remember that Xfinity's upload speeds are considerably slower than a fiber connection will offer.

What's the final word on internet providers in Salt Lake City?

Salt Lake City won't overwhelm you with internet providers. There are the big stalwarts like Xfinity and CenturyLink, the rapidly expanding Google Fiber and the conveniently wireless T-Mobile Home Internet to choose from as your main options. Heavy internet users will love having a fiber connection, but Xfinity's low-cost options (sometimes with a few strings attached) can get you connected, no matter your budget.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Salt Lake City

Internet service providers are numerous and regional. Unlike the latest smartphone, laptop, router or kitchen tool, it’s impractical to personally test every ISP in a given city. What’s our approach? We start by researching the pricing, availability and speed information drawing on our own historical ISP data, the provider sites and mapping information from the Federal Communications Commission at FCC.gov.

It doesn’t end there. We go to the FCC’s website to check our data and ensure we’re considering every ISP that provides service in an area. We also input local addresses on provider websites to find specific options for residents. To evaluate how happy customers are with an ISP's service, we look at sources including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power. ISP plans and prices are subject to frequent changes; all information provided is accurate as of the time of publication. 

Once we have this localized information, we ask three main questions: 

• Does the provider offer access to reasonably fast internet speeds? 
• Do customers get decent value for what they're paying? 
• Are customers happy with their service? 

While the answer to those questions is often layered and complex, the providers who come closest to “yes” on all three are the ones we recommend. 

To explore our process in more depth, visit our How We Test ISPs page.