Why Your Gigabit Internet Plan Might Be Overkill

Whether you’re streaming video, working remotely or just browsing on the couch, everyone wants a fast home internet connection. But does that mean you should spend up for gigabit speeds if they’re available at your address?

Maybe, maybe not. Gigabit plans are the fastest you’ll find, but in a lot of cases, you’ll be paying for speeds that you don’t actually need. That can be a costly mistake, particularly if your plan comes with a multiyear contract and steep penalties for early cancellation. To avoid overspending, you’ll need a solid understanding of both your options and your family’s typical internet usage. That’s where we come in – keep reading to learn if gigabit internet is worth the price in your home.

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This article was made possible in part by Xfinity. It was written and edited independently without partner oversight.

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What is gigabit internet?

Let’s start at the beginning: Digital information is measured in bits, and a megabit is one million bits. Your internet speeds are measured in bits per second or, more commonly today, megabits per second. That unit measures how much data, in megabits, is processed over a network in a single second. So, for instance, an internet plan with download speeds of up to 100Mbps is a plan that’s capable of delivering up to 100 million bits of data to your device each and every second.

That sounds like a lot – and it is – but let’s crank that connection up to something 10 times faster: 1,000Mbps is equal to 1 gigabit per second. That’s one billion bits of digital data flowing to your device each and every second as you surf. When people talk about “gigabit internet,” those are the kinds of plans they’re talking about.

The more bits per second your internet connection can deliver, the better your network will perform. With a full gig’s worth of speed, your network should be able to accommodate multiple internet users at once without issue. But again, in a lot of cases, a gig is more speed than you or your family actually needs, which brings us right to our next question.

How much speed do you really need?

To figure out whether a gigabit plan is worth it for you, start by considering the way you currently use the internet at home. Do you regularly have multiple family members using your network at the same time? Do you work from home or game online? Do you notice a lot of lag, buffering and interruptions?

Keep in mind that there are many reasons why your current internet plan might feel slow. Perhaps your router is in the wrong spot, or maybe you need to upgrade to a new one to give your home a more reliable Wi-Fi network.

Your best bet is to run through our guide to common Wi-Fi fixes to make sure that there isn’t an easier, less expensive solution than switching to a faster plan. After that, if your speeds are still lacking, then it might be time to upgrade.

Internet speed recommendations

Activity	Usage required	Our recommended speed
Email	1Mbps	1Mbps
Web browsing	3-5Mbps	5-10Mbps
Social media	3-5Mbps	10Mbps
Video calls	3-5Mbps	10-20Mbps
HD streaming	5-10Mbps	10-20Mbps
Online gaming	3–6Mbps	25-35Mbps
4K streaming	25Mbps	35Mbps

Now, it’s time to put your current speed needs into context. You can consult our internet speed guide and the US Federal Communications Commission’s household broadband guide for more in-depth tips, but you might be surprised by some of the figures. For instance, the biggest bandwidth hogs (like streaming in 4K, using Zoom, or downloading large files) typically require download speeds of just 25Mbps each.

That’s why, in most homes, an internet connection that meets the FCC’s updated definition of “broadband” (downloads of at least 100Mbps, uploads of at least 20Mbps) will offer enough speed for regular use. That said, if you’re connecting wirelessly over Wi-Fi, your speeds will be lower than with a wired connection, and your average speeds will drop the farther you get from your router. So, if you live in a large home, upgrading to a faster plan (or a multipoint mesh router) might be a good move.

If you have four or more family members using your network simultaneously, upgrading to a faster plan with more bandwidth to go around probably makes sense, too. But even then, upgrading to a gigabit or a multi-gigabit plan might be too much. In most cases, upgrading to a plan with faster upload speeds, or to a faster technology like fiber, is the better approach before going all-in on a gigabit plan. And hey, speaking of fast technologies:

Cable vs. fiber gigabit internet

The vast majority of internet providers offering gigabit speeds are using one of two popular internet technologies: cable or fiber.

Fiber internet is the broadband gold standard since it offers lightning-fast connections, but the key upgrade is the symmetrical download and upload speeds. That means that your uploads will be just as fast as your downloads. On top of that, fiber is more reliable than cable and less prone to congestion and other slowdowns.

Cable internet provides your connection through the same coaxial cables that providers use for TV services. It’s frequently bundled with TV packages, and much more likely to be available at your address. But unlike fiber internet, cable internet upload speeds typically top out in the double digits at best, which can cause lag for activities like videoconferencing or online gaming.

Both cable and fiber can offer gigabit download speeds, but only fiber can match that with gigabit upload speeds, as well. Some cable providers are starting to incorporate fiber infrastructure into their networks — such as Xfinity’s hybrid-coaxial cable — which can boost upload speeds in select areas. For now, most of cable’s upload limitations are very much the norm for most customers.

Elsewhere, 5G providers like Verizon are starting to offer gigabit download speeds in select areas where cellular signals are the strongest, but in most cases, your actual download speeds will be lower. And, like with cable internet, your 5G upload speeds aren’t likely to surpass double digits.

Which providers offer gigabit internet?

Most of the country’s cable and fiber internet service providers offer gigabit plans. Some fiber providers even offer multi-gigabit plans with upload and download speeds as fast as 2, 5, 10, or even 50Gbps. Fiber internet access is still somewhat limited in the US, but the numbers are trending up, with plans currently available to about 56% of homes, according to the latest data from the FCC. The wide majority of those fiber-ready addresses have access to gigabit speeds.

Spectrum, Astound Broadband and other cable providers offer gigabit plans over coaxial connections. Cable connections like those are more widely accessible than fiber, available at about 82% of addresses in the US. However, cable internet’s gigabit plans are only available at 32% of addresses in the US, or less than half of the overall cable coverage map.

Other gigabit providers of note are Verizon 5G, as well as Starry, a regional provider that delivers gigabit speeds in urban areas using fixed wireless connections. Although it’s possible we’ll see multi-gigabit speeds from Starlink in the future, satellite ISPs and DSL providers do not offer gigabit speeds.

Here’s a rundown of the major ISPs in the country currently offering speeds of 1 gigabit or more.

Depending on the specific deals and promotions at play, a gigabit plan typically costs between $40 and $100 per month, with the average cost of the most broadly available plans compiled above coming to about $60 per month. Multi-gigabit plans are available in some markets for a similar price, but in most cases, you’ll need to pay substantially more. Three-quarters of the multi-gig plans in the chart above cost at least $75 per month, and in some cases, multi-gig plans will cost you hundreds per month. For instance, Google Fiber offers an 8-gig plan with a monthly cost of $150, while Ziply Fiber offers 10-gig plans for $305 per month.

On the plus side, it’s worth noting that most gigabit and multi-gigabit plans do not include data caps that limit your household’s monthly usage. Cox Communications is the last provider on the list that still enforces one for all customers. Meanwhile, Xfinity legacy customers might still have a data cap, but new customers do not.

Generally, faster plans offer the lowest price per Mbps, a metric we often use to decipher whether an internet plan is cost-efficient. For instance, the cost per Mbps for Xfinity’s $300 per month 10-gig plan is just 3 cents. Meanwhile, Xfinity’s much more widely used 300Mbps plan costs $40 a month, which comes out to 13 cents per Mbps. That doesn’t mean paying $300 monthly for 10,000Mbps is the better deal in this scenario. Unless you’re operating a business that needs that kind of speed, you’d be better off with a less expensive plan.

Xfinity spokesperson Joel Shadle told CNET there’s more to value than speed: “While it’s important to get enough speed, maybe even more, value extends beyond that. Reliability is almost more important than speed in an internet plan.”

Why do I not have the exact speeds promised on a gigabit plan?

Verizon Fios, Verizon’s fiber internet brand, offers a 1 gig plan for $75 per month but notes — in the small print underneath — that it maxes out at 940Mbps for downloads and 880Mbps for uploads. AT&T’s 5 gig plan features speeds up to 4.7Gbps. This is common for ISPs, as many “gigabit” plans, especially those that run on a cable connection, actually offer speeds lower than 1,000Mbps. So what gives?

The answer is complicated, but it boils down to the fact that networking protocols and equipment consume a lot of that bandwidth. Think of it as networking overhead. On top of that, the speeds you’ll actually experience on your network depend on your modem or router. For example, California-based provider Sonic Internet advertises speeds up to 10,000Mbps for just $50 a month, but you’ll need a compatible Wi-Fi 7 router in order to take advantage of them.

And remember, if you’re connecting wirelessly over Wi-Fi, your speeds will almost always be slower than they would be with a wired Ethernet connection. This is why providers often list speeds “up to” a certain threshold.

Given this, when CNET reviews ISPs, we may refer to ISP plan names but use exact numbers when listing connection speeds. If a “gigabit” plan promises speeds only up to 940Mbps, we take that into account in our analyses and make it clear in our descriptions.

Learn more about how we test ISPs.

Is gigabit internet worth the cost?

Are you an internet power user who processes large video files or plays cutting-edge multiplayer games online? Do you also need to share your connection with roommates or family members? If you said yes to both, then gigabit internet would seem to be a justifiable upgrade. For the rest of us, gig and multi-gig internet plans are simply overkill.

“Most people don’t really need it,” says CNET writer and resident internet service expert Joe Supan. He points out that symmetrical download and upload speeds might be a reason to pay for a fiber connection, since having a higher upload speed will translate to less performance lag when sharing large files. That said, you’ll get strong, symmetrical upload speeds with any fiber plan, not just the gigabit plans. It isn’t until you’ve got several power users sharing the connection that gigabit speeds start to make sense.

“If you do have multiple people working from home, having a higher upload speed might be worth going up to that gig tier,” Supan says.

Gigabit internet FAQ