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.