Best Internet Providers in North Carolina
Our Experts
- 2013 Media Award Winner Issued by Press Club Long Island
Thanks to North Carolina, you can play Fortnite while traveling in an airplane. The Tar Heel state is famous for being the birthplace of flight after the Wright brothers’ successful airplane test in Kitty Hawk in 1903. It’s also less notably the home of Fortnitecreator Epic Games (based in Cary), which lets players dressed as Indiana Jones fight it out with Spider-Man.
What's the best internet providers in North Carolina?
Whether gaming, watching movies and TV shows, or working, North Carolina is home to some of the fastest internet speeds in the country. While AT&T and Google’s fiber options are mainly limited to Charlotte and The Triangle, North Carolinians can access many internet connection types. Due to its wide availability in the state, fast speeds and simple pricing, we’re giving the nod to Spectrum as the best internet provider overall in North Carolina. Your options will vary depending on where you live, but fortunately, everyone in the state can get online, although it may be through satellite internet.
Our methodology
CNET considers speeds, pricing, customer service and overall value to recommend the best internet service in North Carolina across several categories. Our evaluation includes referencing a proprietary database built over years of reviewing internet services. We validate that against provider information by spot-checking local addresses for service availability. We also do a close read of providers' terms and conditions and, when needed, will call ISPs to verify the details.
Despite our efforts to find the most recent and accurate information, our process has some limitations you should know about. Pricing and speed data are variable: certain addresses may qualify for different service tiers, and monthly costs may vary, even within a city. The best way to identify your options is to plug your address into a provider's website.
Also, the prices, speed and other information listed above and in the provider cards below may differ from what we found in our research. The cards display the full range of a provider's pricing and speed across the US, according to our database of plan information provided directly by ISPs. At the same time, the text is specific to what's available in North Carolina. The prices referenced within this article's text come from our research and include applicable discounts for setting up automatic payments each month -- a standard industry offering. Discounts and promotions might also be available for signing a term contract or bundling multiple services.
To learn more about how we review internet providers, visit our full methodology page.
Best internet options in North Carolina
Spectrum
Best internet provider in North Carolina
Our take - Spectrum may not have the fastest speeds or provide the overall best value, but it’s the no-nonsense way for most North Carolinians to connect to the internet.
AT&T Fiber
Broadest fiber coverage in North Carolina
Our take - AT&T’s fiber internet offering gets high marks from CNET for its reliability, speed and value, and it's normally our top recommendation for connecting to the internet. The issue in North Carolina is its limited availability, as only 10% of households in the state can access it.
T-Mobile Home Internet
Best 5G home internet in North Carolina
Our take - With T-Mobile’s home internet option available to three-quarters of the households in North Carolina, according to the FCC, you can likely connect to the internet through the carrier’s 5G offering.
Brightspeed
Best rural internet for eastern North Carolina
Our take - While Spectrum covers a wide swath of North Carolina, it has a huge coverage gap between Raleigh and Wilson to Kitty Hawk. Brightspeed, a Charlotte-based company that provides internet and voice services to areas previously served by CenturyLink, fills that gap.
Google Fiber
Best high-speed internet in Charlotte
Our take - If you’re in Charlotte or The Triangle and need a lot of speed for an affordable price, you can’t go wrong with Google’s fiber internet.
Rural internet options in North Carolina
| Provider | Connection type | Price range | Speed range | Data cap | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brightspeed | DSL/fiber | $50 | Up to 100Mbps | None | Eastern part of the state |
|
Hughesnet Read full review | Satellite | $50-$80 | 50-100Mbps | 100-200GB | Entire state |
|
T-Mobile Home Internet Read full review | Fixed wireless | $60 ($40 with eligible phone plans) | 72-245Mbps | None | Entire state |
|
Viasat Read full review | Satellite | $100 | 25-150Mbps | 850GB | Entire state |
Source: CNET analysis of provider data
North Carolina broadband at a glance
Around 96% of North Carolinians have access to download speeds of 100Mbps and upload speeds of 20Mbps, according to state data. Additionally, North Carolina ranks sixth among the 50 states and Washington, DC, for the fastest median download speeds, per the speed-testing company Ookla. The median download speed in the Tar Heel State sits at about 225Mbps, thanks in part to the reliably fast Google Fiber, and in fact, Raleigh holds the top spot on its list of cities with the fastest internet, with median download speeds of about 292Mbps. North Carolina boasts a whopping five cities in the top 30 of Ookla’s ranking of 100 cities by fastest internet speeds, with Raleigh coming in at the top, Durham at seven, Charlotte at 22, Winston-Salem at No. 23 and Greensboro at No. 28. So, yeah, the Tar Heel State has some fast internet, mostly thanks to fiber internet from AT&T and Google. Just over 48% have access to a fiber internet connection, though mostly in Charlotte and The Triangle.
Internet breakdown by city in North Carolina
It’s hard to cover the broadband options of an entire state and give individual cities the attention they deserve. That’s why we also compile lists of the best internet providers in cities across the US, including those in North Carolina. We tackle details such as internet connection types, max speeds and cheapest providers. Check back later if you don’t find the city you’re looking for below. We’re working to add more locations every week.
- Best internet providers in Cary
- Best internet providers in Charlotte
- Best internet providers in Concord
- Best internet providers in Durham
- Best internet providers in Fayetteville
- Best internet providers in Greensboro
- Best internet providers in Greenville
- Best internet providers in Hickory
- Best internet providers in Jacksonville
- Best internet providers in Raleigh
- Best internet providers in Wilmington
- Best internet providers in Winston-Salem
Internet pricing in North Carolina
The starting price of internet service in North Carolina will depend on where you live, but judging by the most widely available ISPs in the state, expect to pay around $50 to get online. If you’re an existing customer of certain T-Mobile plans and have access to its 5G internet offering, you can get that service for $40 per month.
How CNET chose the best internet providers in North Carolina
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. So 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.
But it doesn’t end there. We go to the FCC’s website to check our data and ensure we consider every ISP that provides service in an area. We also input local addresses on provider websites to find specific options for residents. We look at sources, including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power, to evaluate how happy customers are with an ISP’s service. ISP plans and prices are subject to frequent changes; all information provided is accurate as 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 answers to those questions are often layered and complex, the providers that come closest to “yes” on all three are the ones we recommend. When selecting the cheapest internet service, we look for the plans with the lowest monthly fee, though we also factor in things like price increases, equipment fees and contracts. Choosing the fastest internet service is relatively straightforward. We look at advertised upload and download speeds and consider real-world speed data from sources like Ookla and FCC reports.
To explore our process in more depth, visit our how we test ISPs page.
Future of broadband in North Carolina
The federal government in late June awarded North Carolina $1.5 billion to expand high-speed internet access across the state. The Department of Information Technology Division of Broadband and Digital Equity “will use [Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment] funding to connect high-cost areas, remaining unserved and underserved locations, and community anchor institutions without fiber access,” reads the state’s five-year plan draft. The government also plans to boost digital literacy and make internet access more affordable.
Internet in North Carolina FAQs
Does North Carolina have good internet?
You bet your tar heel it does. Not only does North Carolina rank 10th out of the 50 states and District of Columbia in terms of fast median download speeds, according to Ookla, but five cities -- Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro, Raleigh and Winston-Salem -- boast some of the highest city download speeds in the country.
Is there fiber internet in North Carolina?
Yes. There are two primary providers: AT&T and Google. Fiber internet is mostly available in Charlotte and The Triangle, but the state government plans to expand access to the technology over the next five years.
Is Spectrum or AT&T better to connect to the internet in North Carolina?
If you have access to Spectrum and AT&T, you may wonder which is the best choice. The short answer: If you can get fiber internet from AT&T, that's your best option. But if AT&T's DSL service is matched up against Spectrum's cable connection, you'd be wise to turn to Spectrum. Read more in CNET's breakdown of AT&T vs. Spectrum.
Home Internet Guides
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