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Best fiber internet plans

Cheapest fiber internet plans

The cheapest fiber internet plan is CenturyLink’s Fiber Internet 200 for $30.00 per month. It gives you 200Mbps speeds, which is enough to support several Wi-Fi users all at once as they Zoom, play online games, and stream in 4K resolution.

There’s some other cheap fiber options too, which we recommend looking into if you’re on a budget. Though you won’t get the fastest-possible speeds on a cheaper plan, you’ll still get reliable service and won’t have to deal with recurring slowdowns and service interruptions like on other internet types.

How fiber internet works

Fiber uses bundled strands of fiberglass to deliver internet to your home. It’s the most reliable internet connection you can get and has better upload speeds than cable and DSL. The fastest fiber plan available today is 10,000Mbps (10Gbps), while cable stops at 1,200Mbps (1.2Gbps).

So, why is fiber the best? Both light and electricity travel at the same speed in a vacuum, but they slow down when they interact with atoms. But unlike the radio waves used in cable and DSL internet, light signals aren’t affected by radio interference. Fiber by design is simply more efficient and can reach speeds up to 10,000Mbps—much faster than any other internet type. Fiber networks are newer, too, compared to the aging infrastructure of DSL and cable, which helps boost performance.

Fiber is so reliable that the world’s major data routes and network access points are linked together between oceans and continents through massive bundles of fiber-optic cabling.³ If fiber is good enough for the vast global backbone of the internet infrastructure, then you know it’s the best way to wire up your own home internet.

How fast is fiber internet?

Fiber internet reaches speeds up to 10,000Mbps, but most fiber providers offer top speeds of 1,000Mbps.

To put that in perspective, Netflix recommends just 25Mbps to stream video in 4K on one device. But supercharged gigabit speeds (1,000Mbps) give you the ability to perform many more tasks on many more devices simultaneously. That way, you and everyone else on your Wi-Fi will never have to worry about whether your internet speed will slow down or cut out, because it will always be humming smoothly with bountiful bandwidth.

In practical terms, fiber is fast enough to keep up with extremely heavy internet use and a range of advanced online activities. It can also maintain a steady and reliable internet connection for multiple users who need to do speed-intensive tasks over the same Wi-Fi network at the same time.

Fiber is great for any of these tasks:

• Streaming 4K video on numerous devices
• Downloading massive files
• Uploading content to cloud servers and social media accounts
• Gaming online
• Teleconferencing on Zoom
• Connecting multiple smart home devices

Download times for different fiber speeds

*Download speeds calculated with OmniCalculator.com.

What internet providers offer 10Gbps internet?

Data effective 6/26/23. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

Read disclaimers.

Sonic is the only well-known internet provider in the United States that offers 10Gbps internet. Sonic is available in California, mostly in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and prices for its fiber internet plans start at $40 per month.

In general, 10Gbps speeds aren’t widely available nationwide—nor are they necessary for most internet users. Most internet providers offer top speeds of 1Gbps (1,000Mbps), which gives you tons of bandwidth to support a wide range of Wi-Fi devices for as many as 10 internet users and possibly even more. Going any faster means you have more bandwidth than you can realistically use. It would be like using a Formula One race car to go grocery shopping.

However, several internet providers have unleashed multigigabit internet plans in the last year or two. Most recently, Google Fiber announced that it would roll out 5Gbps and 8Gbps plans in the beginning of 2023. The plans cost $125 per month for 5Gbps and $150 per month for 8Gbps. Granted, those speeds don’t surpass 10Gbps, but those are still unbelievably fast speeds. And DOCSIS 4.0 technology to support 10Gbps is expected to emerge soon, which means cable internet providers like Xfinity and Spectrum will in due time be able to deploy 10Gbps on a wide scale.

Although the vast majority of Americans don’t need 10Gbps speeds for their home Wi-Fi, 10Gbps internet has the potential to revolutionize the way we interface with the online world, providing the capability for a wide range of activities and online tools.

What do internet users think of fiber internet?

It’s clear from the results of our most recent customer satisfaction survey that most customers like fiber-optic internet a lot more than other connection types.

The two top-rated internet providers in our survey—EarthLink and Verizon—are fiber internet providers. They took the first and second spots for overall satisfaction, respectively, and also ranked highly for other crucial categories like internet speed, price, and reliability.

Both providers also offer DSL internet. But when you break down the numbers specifically between DSL, cable, and fiber customers, it’s clear that the fiber customers are the most pleased with their service. CenturyLink and AT&T’s fiber customers gave much higher overall ratings compared to the providers’ DSL customers, while Optimum got better rankings for fiber services compared to its cable offerings.

Fiber services ranked highest in all of our survey categories. With fiber’s symmetrical speeds and efficient fiber-optic infrastructure, fiber internet users didn’t have to deal with problems with congestion, recurring slowdowns, and buffering issues that are far more common with other internet types.

Do you need fiber gigabit speeds?

You don’t need gigabit internet speeds unless you live in a large household (think five people or more), regularly upload very large files to cloud servers, or stream on Twitch.

A big selling point with fiber internet is that it can hit gigabit speeds—anything 940 Mbps or faster. And now, fiber internet providers seem to be rivaling each other in a kind of gigabit arms race, with Google Fiber, AT&T, Ziply, and Frontier all introducing multigigabit plans that range from 2,000Mbps to 5,000Mbps. Those speeds are totally unnecessary for the majority of internet users, and the prices are quite high as well.

Fiber internet providers frequently offer plans with more practical speeds of 100Mbps, 300Mbps or 500Mbps, all of which are excellent options for the average household. We recommend aiming to get 25Mbps for each person who uses Wi-Fi in your household. So if you live with three other roommates or family members, then 100Mbps is solid.

Is gigabit internet worth it?

Fiber gigabit internet is worth it for the incredibly fast speeds. But make sure you actually need those speeds first—you might be better off with a slower plan that still delivers excellent speeds but costs less.

Naturally, gigabit speeds come at a higher monthly price than slower plans, and the fastest gigabit plans cost well over $100 per month. That’s a lot to pay for a monthly internet bill. But the price may be justified if you share Wi-Fi with a lot of users who all regularly do high-bandwidth activities on multiple devices.

Fiber internet and upload speeds

While most internet providers emphasize the importance of download speeds, fiber internet also delivers record-fast upload speeds. Fiber internet providers can often give you upload speeds of 1,000Mbps or faster, beating out what cable and DSL providers offer by a wide margin. This makes fiber a lot more useful for upload-centered activities like making video calls, posting to social media, and hosting livestreams.

So, how does this work, exactly? The difference between your download and upload speed has to do with what you’re using it for. When you download data, you get things from the internet. When you upload data, you put things onto the internet.

Examples of downloading data:

• Reading an email
• Watching a YouTube video
• Downloading a game

Examples of uploading data:

• Posting to Twitter
• Joining a Zoom meeting
• Uploading a file to the cloud

Internet users typically spend a lot more time downloading than they do uploading, so cable, DSL, and satellite providers don’t allocate more frequency for uploads. For example, a cable internet package that can get you 1,000Mbps download speeds may be capable of delivering only 35Mbps upload speeds.

But since the spread of COVID-19, there’s been a sudden, widespread need for faster upload speeds as more people are stuck at home working, attending online classes, and hosting online versions of live events. In July 2022, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel even proposed raising the federal standard of broadband upload speeds from a measly 3Mbps to a much more robust 20Mbps.²

At this point, fiber providers seems to be the only ones willing to give internet users the most high-bandwidth upload speeds possible. That’s yet another reason why we’ve got fiber on our happy list.

Fiber vs. DSL and cable

Fiber, DSL, and cable all transmit internet signals in a similar way—they carry binary signals (computer language) through cables over long distances. But while DSL and cable use copper wires and electrical signals, fiber uses fiber-optic cables and blinking light signals.

The light signals used in fiber are faster and more efficient than electrical signals, and they have fewer issues with signal interference or degradation over long distances. That translates to faster, more reliable internet with very little lag.

Internet types—how are they different?

Data effective as of post date. Pricing and speeds are subject to change. Not all offers available in all areas.

In addition to being more efficient, fiber-optic threads are also thinner than the copper wires used in cable and DSL infrastructure, so more of them can fit into a single cable. This increases the available bandwidth, which prevents network congestion and allows for gigabit speeds for you and everyone else on your street at the same time.

The only problem with fiber is that it’s not widely available. Installing the infrastructure for it is expensive, so internet providers are hesitant to roll it out everywhere. Most fiber networks are in cities, leaving a lot of the US to settle for older technology.

Where can I get fiber internet?

You can get fiber internet from more than 200 fiber internet providers in the US, but those providers are found mainly in cities. According to FCC data, about 42% of the US has access to fiber internet. But the actual number is possibly lower, considering the unreliable way the FCC collected that data.⁴

Want to see if you can get fiber in your area? Type in your zip code below to see what’s available.

Google Fiber availability

Google Fiber is available (or will soon be available) in three dozen cities across the US. Some of the cities offer service only to apartments or condos, but 13 cities currently have full fiber access and there are more on the way.

Google Fiber is in the process of expanding its nationwide network, and it has added several cities to its list since the beginning of 2023. Take a look at our guide on Google Fiber expansion for more details.

These cities have access to Google Fiber internet services:

• Atlanta, GA
• Austin, TX
• Charlotte, NC
• Des Moines, IA
• Huntsville, AL
• Kansas City, MO/KS

• Nashville, TN
• Orange County, CA
• Provo, UT
• Salt Lake Valley, UT
• San Antonio, TX
• The Triangle, NC
• West Des Moines, IA

These cities are Google Fiber Webpass cities with internet access for apartments and condos:

• Chicago, IL
• Denver, CO
• Miami, FL
• Oakland, CA

• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA

These cities will have access to Google Fiber internet in the near future:

• Riverton, UT
• Millcreek, UT
• Taylorsville, UT
• South Salt Lake, UT
• Holladay, UT
• Woods Cross, UT
• Draper, UT

• Lakewood, CO
• Omaha, NE
• White City, UT
• Springville, UT
• West Bountiful, UT
• West Jordan, UT
• Smyrna, TN
• Mesa, AZ

Frontier fiber availability

Frontier Communications offers internet services in 25 states, but its fiber internet services are present only in certain areas. The rest of the provider’s service area gets DSL.

Some states that previously had fiber internet from Frontier now have it through a provider called Ziply. In May 2020, Frontier sold its operations in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana to Ziply.

• California
• Florida
• Indiana
• Texas

Verizon Fios availability

Verizon’s Fios fiber internet service is available in eight states (plus Washington, D.C.) on the East Coast.

• Delaware
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• New Jersey
• New York
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• Virginia
• Washington, D.C.

AT&T Fiber

AT&T offers fiber internet services in 21 states. It offers both DSL and fiber internet, but its fiber network is concentrated mostly around urban areas, while it provides DSL internet for more rural locations.

• Alabama
• Arkansas
• California
• Florida
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana

• Michigan
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Nevada
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Wisconsin

Related resources about fiber internet

• How Fast Is Fiber?
• What You Need to Install Fiber-Optic Internet
• Cable vs. Fiber: Which Internet Type Is Right for You?
• DSL vs. Fiber Internet: Which One Is Right for You?
• AT&T Fiber Availability, Speeds, and More

Sources

1. Federal Communications Commission, “Compare Broadband Availability in Different Areas,” June 2022. Accessed February 13, 2023.
2. 1. Jessica Rosenworcel, Federal Communications Commission, “Chairwoman Rosenworcel Proposes to Increase Minimum Broadband Speeds and Set Gigabit Future Goal,” July 15, 2022. Accessed January 30, 2023.
3. Peter Christiansen, HighSpeedInternet.com, “Why Can I Only Get a Few Internet Providers?,” October 27, 2020. Accessed March 24, 2021.
4. Kate Patrick, Government Technology, “FCC to Rework Its Inaccurate National Broadband Maps,” August 6, 2019. Accessed March 29, 2021.
5. Seattle Times staff, The Seattle Times, “Frontier to Finalize $1.35 Billion Sale of Northwest Assets to Kirkland-Based Ziply Fiber,” May 1, 2020. Accessed June 16, 2021.