Fiber Optic Internet Providers – CNET

What is one of the best fiber web total?

When it involves fiber web, you’ll discover that costs, pace tiers and repair phrases differ amongst suppliers. That’s why sure fiber ISPs rise above the remaining. Out of the entire main suppliers, I discover AT&T Fiber to be one of the best fiber supplier total resulting from its number of excessive-pace plans, aggressive pricing, favorable service phrases and broad availability.

AT&T Fiber is not the one respectable choice for fiber web, nonetheless. You’ll discover my picks of one of the best fiber web suppliers under. Each of the finest web suppliers listed under makes use of a fiber-to-the-house community, which all however ensures one of the best connection high quality, pace and reliability. Additionally, these suppliers stand out for his or her distinctive pricing, availability, buyer satisfaction and different components. We replace this checklist periodically.

Best fiber web of 2023

AT&T Fiber

Best fiber web supplier total

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Product particulars

Price vary

$55 – $180 per 30 days

Speed vary

300 – 5,000Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Info

Unlimited information, 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 among the lowest pricing on fiber web service if you consider its new multigig tiers. 

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

The quick pace, comparatively low pricing and buyer-pleasant service phrases have earned AT&T excessive buyer satisfaction rankings in recent times. The American Customer Satisfaction Index gave AT&T Fiber an trade-main rating of 80 out of 100 for 2023.

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CenturyLink

Best fiber web protection

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Product particulars

Price vary

$30 – $70 per 30 days

Speed vary

200 – 940Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Info

Unlimited information, no contracts, gear included with gigabit tier

Though AT&T Fiber and Verizon Fios can be found to extra folks, 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 excessive-pace fiber connections to areas that won’t in any other case have entry to them. 

However, folks 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. While extra plan choices could be good, CenturyLink’s gigabit pace plan continues to be a reasonably whole lot. At $70 a month for speeds as much as 940Mbps and no gear charges, CenturyLink is likely one of the most cost-effective fiber suppliers for gigabit service.

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Frontier Fiber

Best low-value fiber plan

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Product particulars

Price vary

$50 – $155 per 30 days

Speed vary

500 – 5,000Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Info

Unlimited information, no contracts, no gear payment

Frontier Communications just lately expanded its fiber web protection to 19 states after which rolled out a brand new multigig service to your entire footprint suddenly, 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 should you do not want all that pace, the decrease tiers — 500Mbps beginning at $50 per 30 days and gig service beginning at $70 month-to-month — are nearly as good a worth as you will discover from any main supplier.

Frontier Fiber plans include limitless information and require no contract. Unlike many different suppliers, Frontier consists of the gear value with the value, so apart from taxes, Frontier plan pricing may be very a lot “what you see is what you pay.” 

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Google Fiber

Best fiber web gig plans

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Product particulars

Price vary

$70 – $100 per 30 days

Speed vary

1,000 – 2,000Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Info

Unlimited information, no contracts, gear included

Google Fiber continues to be round and resuming enlargement after a multiyear hiatus. Where accessible, Google Fiber gives fiber web service beginning at $70 a month and a 2Gbps plan beginning at $100 a month. Both include gear included at no additional value, no information caps and no contracts. 

There’s additionally the newly launched 5 gig and eight gig plans for $125 and $150 per 30 days, respectively. Availability is at present restricted, however a Google Fiber spokesperson confirmed with CNET that the supplier goals to increase the plans to all service areas later this yr.

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Verizon Fios

Best signup bonuses

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Product particulars

Price vary

$50 – $120 per 30 days

Speed vary

300 – 2,000Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Info

Unlimited information, 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, however it lacks the identical breadth of protection. Though accessible to almost the identical variety of potential prospects as AT&T Fiber, Verizon Fios primarily serves the mid-Atlantic and Northeast areas. 

Those fortunate sufficient to stay in a Verizon Fios service space will doubtless discover the fiber web service is difficult to beat, particularly for these in search of a low-value connection. Starting at simply $50 a month, the bottom-value Fios web plan comes with obtain and add speeds of as much as 300Mbps. The subsequent pace tier can be a good worth — $70 a month for as much as 500Mbps — however at $90 per 30 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 together with your order, like free streaming subscriptions, electronics, present playing cards or different promotional gives.

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Windstream Kinetic

Best for fiber in rural areas

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Product particulars

Price vary

$40 – $70 per 30 days

Speed vary

100 – 1,000Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Info

Unlimited information, no contracts

One drawback of fiber web is that it is usually solely accessible in choose neighborhoods of bigger cities. If you are 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 likely one of the finest rural web suppliers, bringing excessive-pace connections to locations doubtless underserved by cable or by different fiber web suppliers. Those in a Kinetic service space may even recognize 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 information and no contract necessities.

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Ziply Fiber

Fastest fiber web supplier

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Product particulars

Price vary

$40 – $300 per 30 days

Speed vary

100 – 10,000Mbps

Connection

Fiber

Key Info

Unlimited information, no contracts, quick rural web connection

Ziply Fiber just lately 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. Still, 10Gbps is greater than the common family will want. For everybody else, Ziply Fiber gives a spread of different pace tiers from 100 to five,000Mbps.

Read our Ziply Fiber evaluation.

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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 own home makes an enormous distinction as nicely.

If I might advocate any web connection sort 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 customary month-to-month fee of fiber web companies, whereas not the most cost effective service amongst web suppliers in my space, continues to be an important worth contemplating the speeds I get.

What to contemplate when looking for fiber web

Fiber web is one of the best sort of service for many properties, however there’s extra to picking a supplier and plan than the connection sort. Here are some suggestions to bear in mind when looking for fiber web service.

Availability. You will not discover fiber web to be accessible in practically as many properties 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 may differ from one neighborhood to the following in most cities. It’s potential fiber web is simply not accessible at your own home or the deal with you are shifting to.

Speeds. Fiber web has the quickest add and obtain pace potential of any sort of web. Many of the highest suppliers supply pace tiers as much as 2,000Mbps (2Gbps), 5Gbps and better. While the blazing quick speeds are tempting, they’re prone to be extra pace than your own home wants. Check out our information to discovering the best web pace for assist deciding on a fiber plan that finest meets your wants.

Price. If you are in search of low cost web, fiber might not be your only option. It’s true that fiber web plans are sometimes one of the best worth, however you might discover cheaper choices from cable or 5G suppliers.

A couple of fiber suppliers supply plans with beginning costs as little as $30 per 30 days, however you are extra prone to pay a minimum of $50 per 30 days for fiber web. Cable web suppliers together with Cox, Mediacom, Xfinity and others have decrease-priced plans in lots of areas. If you’re a T-Mobile Magenta Max or Verizon wi-fi buyer, you could possibly get 5G house web for the discounted value of $25 to $35 per 30 days.

Bundles. Few fiber suppliers supply a TV service, that means you might not have the ability to bundle web and TV along with the identical supplier should you select a fiber web service. In the times of streaming and twine-slicing, that might not be a deal-breaker for you, however it’s one thing to bear in mind when looking for each companies.

How we consider fiber web suppliers

Testing an web supplier the identical means CNET assessments different services is, at finest, impractical. Instead, we depend on in depth analysis of every supplier to develop our critiques and suggestions.

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

We discuss with the Federal Communications Commission at FCC.gov for availability information 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 information. When potential, we contact the supplier immediately to verify pricing and pace particulars.

Finally, to develop a extra nicely-rounded perspective of the supplier, we take into account buyer satisfaction experiences from the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power, in addition to buyer critiques and complaints from sources such because the Better Business Bureau, downdetector.com and even Reddit.

Before writing our critiques and compiling finest lists, we analysis something and every little thing the standard shopper would wish to know previous to signing up for house web service. Read our piece on how we evaluation web suppliers to study extra about our evaluation 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 implies accessible speeds and repair high quality can differ broadly from one area to the following. In choose areas, EarthLink gives fiber service with speeds of as much as 1 gigabit for round $100 a month.
• Optimum: Optimum is primarily a cable web supplier, however it does have a rising fiber community, significantly within the higher NYC space. Approximately 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 be considerably restricted in availability and gives a powerful max pace of as much as 6,000Mbps. The catch? The plan comes with an equally jaw-dropping value of $300 a month.

Best fiber web suppliers recap

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

Fiber web FAQs