Unlike laptops, printers, or smartphones, ISPs are not the same everywhere in the US. Many people don't have a choice in internet service providers where they live. The sole ISP available may provide excellent service, but that’s not guaranteed, especially in remote parts of the country. ISPs aren’t known for upping their game without some healthy competition.
According to a recent Pew Research study, nearly a quarter of respondents from rural areas (24%) say that access to high-speed internet is a major problem in their communities, compared with only about one in eight urban respondents (13%). The number of suburban respondents with access problems is even lower (9%). For many others, though, the problem is not location but lack of choice. More than a third of respondents to this month’s Readers’ Choice survey (34%) said their current ISP is the only one available. Respondents’ overall satisfaction with their ISPs is much lower when they have no other option.
Fixed-wireless and satellite-based internet have been around for years, if only as the services of last resort—but no more. While much of the buzz about 5G networks is around faster connections for mobile phones, 5G fixed wireless can also provide enough speed to serve many homes’ internet needs. And satellite internet used to be very slow and unreliable; people would sign up for the service only out of desperation. But several survey respondents are using SpaceX’s growing Starlink satellite network, and they report it's on par with cable and fiber-based broadband connections.
Is it time to start investigating your broadband alternatives? Read on to see which internet service providers are providing fast, reliable connections and excellent service—and which are not.
Readers’ Choice ISPs 2022: Fiber, Overall
Fiber-based internet services have been a longtime favorite among PCMag readers. Fiber offers important advantages over other technologies: It tends not to suffer from congestion, so it shouldn’t matter if your neighbors have all their devices pounding away at the internet simultaneously. Also, fiber’s upload speeds are (usually) the same as its download speeds. That may not matter if all you do is stream Netflix, but it’s fantastic for those who work remotely and need to video-conference and send files back and forth, as well as for online gamers.
For years, Verizon Fios was our readers’ fiber provider of choice. But this year, AT&T Fiber wins its first Readers’ Choice Award. In fact, AT&T Fiber is both the top overall internet service provider and the top fiber-based service. It earns a rating of 8.8 both for overall satisfaction and for likelihood to recommend, the highest ratings on these measures this year. (Our scale ranges from 0 for extremely dissatisfied to 10 for extremely satisfied.) Starlink, the winner for satellite ISPs, also receives an 8.8 for likelihood to recommend. These ratings are more than half a point higher than those of the next-closest ISP, which happens to be Fios. (Note that our two-time previous co-winner, Google Fiber, didn’t have enough responses to make the results this year.)
AT&T Fiber also takes top marks for satisfaction with the reliability of the internet connection (9.2) and for satisfaction with the speed of connection (9.0). A few respondents pointed out the fiber service’s symmetrical connections and very fast available speeds. One remarked, “Excellent, consistent service. I have the 5Gb service and get 4,750/4,750 [Mbps] consistently on my desktop.”
Another reader noted their satisfaction with both AT&T Fiber’s value and speed. “The bill was actually exactly what they said it would be to the penny. Up/down is as advertised. I am shocked and happy.” AT&T Fiber’s satisfaction rating for value (8.4) is second only to that of T-Mobile Home Internet, a fixed wireless service that earned 8.5.
Readers’ Choice ISPs 2022: Cable
Cable is still the way most of the US gets its internet. The NCTA says 90% of households in the country have access to cable, though BroadbandNow.com pegs it a little lower, at 88%. Still, that’s 194 million people.
Many big names provide cable internet, including Comcast’s Xfinity and Spectrum (together, they service 100 million people, according to the FCC), but Astound Broadband is the clear winner of the Readers’ Choice Award for cable internet service providers. Though it's a traditional broadband ISP with cable, it also offers fiber-based connections in some areas. That’s because Astound is one, big rebranded ISP that's a combination of RCN, Grande Communications, and Wave Broadband, after all three were purchased by the same firm.
Astound’s overall satisfaction rating of 7.9 is nearly a point behind that of AT&T Fiber—our readers really prefer fiber-optic connections, which is no surprise. But Astound's rating is well ahead of the other cable companies in our survey, which range between 5.1 (Suddenlink) and 6.6 (Spectrum and Xfinity). Astound also receives the top satisfaction ratings among all service providers for setup (8.8), customer service (8.2), tech support (8.0), and repairs (7.9).
Note that while there are a few DSL providers on the list, such as Frontier, Verizon High Speed Internet, AT&T Internet, and CenturyLink, none of them earned ratings high enough to merit a Readers’ Choice award—not even the few that also do fiber-to-the-premises.
Readers’ Choice ISPs 2022: Fixed Wireless
Fixed wireless services provide options for people who otherwise do not have access to broadband or who are looking for an alternative to their existing ISP. Of course, it helps to be near a 5G tower, which isn’t a given. Nevertheless, the customer base is growing, which helps Verizon 5G Home Internet win our first Readers’ Choice Award for fixed wireless services.
We all know Verizon as one of the big three cell carriers. Along with the other two (AT&T Fixed Wireless Internet and T-Mobile Home Internet), Verizon now provides high-speed internet to homes over its mobile phone network.
Among the three fixed wireless ISPs that made the cut, Verizon is the only one with satisfaction ratings of 8.0 or higher for overall satisfaction (8.1), reliability of connection (8.1), and speed of connection (8.0). But several survey respondents indicate that Verizon needs to step up its game when it comes to customer service, where it scores a 7.2. This explains why T-Mobile Home Internet actually earns a higher rating than Verizon (8.1 versus 7.7) on likelihood to recommend.
Readers’ Choice ISPs 2022: Satellite
In the not-so-distant past, using a satellite-based internet service seemed to be an act of desperation. The service providers always received abysmally low satisfaction ratings in our surveys, when they even made the cut. And don’t get us started on speed and latency issues.
SpaceX’s satellite-based Starlink internet service looks to be changing all that. Starlink’s ever-growing network of satellites provides true broadband with download speeds in excess of 100 megabits per second in areas of the country and the world that previously didn't have access to fast connections.
The Starlink service, which this year earned its first Readers’ Choice Award, has been a game changer for many users. One reader noted, “Great service at our home. Previously only HughesNet [was] available. Now [we] watch HD movies, stream, etc. with rare buffering or pixelation.” Another said, “We live in a rural area with no cable access. Compared to the 9Mbps download & 1.5Mbps upload speeds I experienced with Frontier hardwired, SpaceX Starlink has exceeded my expectations. With Starlink, on a good day, we get 144Mbps down and 9.6Mbps up. Might even be able to stream a movie.”
Starlink earned a rating of 8.7 for overall satisfaction, only slightly behind AT&T Fiber, and it ties that co-winner for likelihood to recommend at 8.8. The service’s weakest rating is for satisfaction with value: Its 7.2 rating is far behind those of T-Mobile and AT&T Fiber but still well ahead of most of the other service providers. Starlink requires a one-time investment of $599 for equipment, and the service runs $110 per month.
Some Starlink users mentioned that they’re seeing connections slow down as more homes join the service. Starlink has acknowledged this problem and says it will be addressed as the company builds out what it refers to as its satellite constellation.
The PCMag Readers' Choice survey for ISPs was in the field from June 21, 2022 to July 18, 2022. For more information on how we conduct surveys, read the survey methodology.