Latest news with #homeinternet
CNET
28-05-2025
- Business
- CNET
Which Internet Plan Is Right for You? 10 Expert Tips to Help You Decide
A good internet connection has become a necessity, but trying to get one can feel like a chore. There are a ton of providers offering different speeds, prices and promotional offers, which can make it difficult to pick the right connection for you. Some homes may have access to only a couple of options, but most US homes can choose from at least three providers that offer various bundles and speeds. Now, setting up your home internet may not seem like the most fun part, but picking the right provider and plan will save you a lot of money and hassle down the line. Here's what you need to know. How do you know which provider and plan is best for your needs? Somethings to look out for: Speed usage How much you want to spend on your internet Internet provider related details: connection type, additional fees, contracts and data caps Read more: Here's How You Can Stop Internet Throttling By Your Broadband Provider. 1. Evaluate your internet speed needs The best place to start is asking yourself these questions: How much internet speed do I currently use? Would I like a better connection? How many people in my home use the internet and how many devices are connected to my network? Is there a gamer or two in the house? Does anyone work from home? Is there more than one smart device connected to the network? Locating local internet providers For basic internet use like online shopping, browsing social media and light TV streaming, download speeds of 100 megabits per second are usually enough (and they meet the Federal Communications Commission's new definition for broadband). But I recommend faster internet speeds for working and learning from home, streaming in HD on multiple devices simultaneously and connecting numerous smart home devices like security cameras, video doorbells and smart speakers. Gigabit and multi-gig plans will all but guarantee you've got enough speed for every person and device in your home, but those are often the highest-priced plans. If you don't want to splurge on gigabit service but still prefer something on the faster side, consider speeds in the 300 to 600Mbps range, assuming they're available in your area. Advertised vs. actual speeds Pro tip here: Keep in mind that advertised speeds and actual speeds are two different things. An ISP's advertised maximum speeds may be 100Mbps, but those are speeds to the home. Actual speeds in the home are likely going to be lower, even more so when using a Wi-Fi connection and adding multiple devices to your network. CNET's Trisha Jandoc discovered this upon facing slow speeds despite being on a gigabit plan. Additionally, if you have an outdated router, you may not be getting the speeds you're paying for. When shopping for internet service, be sure to factor in that speed loss and select a plan with advertised speeds faster than what you'd like your actual speeds to be. For an in-depth examination of how much speed your house might need, you can check out our internet speed guide. Quick tips to help speed up your Wi-Fi at home Quick tips to help speed up your Wi-Fi at home Click to unmute Video Player is loading. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Next playlist item Unmute Current Time 0:05 / Duration 4:25 Loaded : 15.68% 0:05 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 4:20 Share Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Quick tips to help speed up your Wi-Fi at home 2. Explore all of your ISP options Available internet providers vary by location and possibly by address within the same ZIP code. Even if you aren't moving far, the available internet providers, and the technologies they use, could be different. Your options can understandably feel limited, so know that it's uncommon for one provider to be the absolute only ISP option in an area. In markets where a cable internet provider such as Xfinity or Spectrum is available, there's also likely to be a fiber or DSL service available from providers like AT&T, CenturyLink or Frontier. Additionally, the recent rise of 5G home internet from T-Mobile and Verizon has further increased broadband competition in both rural and urban settings. Serviceability check tools like the one you'll find a bit further up the page are a good way to identify the internet providers in your area and get an overview of potential plans and pricing. I can't speak for all serviceability tools, but CNET's version uses proprietary in-house technology to help ensure your results are accurate and keep your information secure. 3. Consider the connection type Speed and cost are among the most important considerations when it comes to choosing an internet service, but you may want to start by comparing the internet connection type each provider uses. There are some exceptions, but if we're ranking connection types in order of most to least desirable, I'd start with fiber-optic, cable and 5G home internet. Keep DSL, fixed wireless and satellite as a last resort. Fiber-optic internet is the best bet for fast, consistent speeds, low latency and greatest overall value. Service also comes with the advantage of symmetrical or close to symmetrical upload speeds. Cable internet is not far behind in terms of speed and value, and is often a good choice for cheap internet, especially since you can often get a cheap cable TV and internet bundle from some providers. Meanwhile, 5G home internet is quickly proving to be a convenient alternative to cable and even fiber connections in rural areas. In fact, customers are reported to be more satisfied with a wireless 5G connection due to it's affordability and accessibility. The new technology could also provide much-needed upgrades to broadband in rural areas where less speedy or reliable DSL, fixed wireless and satellite internet services are often the only options. 4. Compare speeds, not just pricing Here's where the bulk of your internet shopping takes place: comparing plans from each available provider. It's tempting to look at the price first and speed second, but I'd suggest focusing on speeds first, then price. Opting for a cheaper plan that doesn't quite meet your household's speed demands, especially one that comes with a contract, may end up costing you more when you need to upgrade to a faster plan or provider anyway. Look for plans with the speeds you want, or higher, then compare the prices among those options. Find the one that best fits your speed demands and your budget. Price vs. value Pro tip here: A low price is nice, but is it a good deal? To get an idea of a plan's value, consider the cost per Mbps by dividing the cost by the advertised speed. For example, Xfinity's cheapest plan is available for as low as $40 a month for speeds up to 400Mbps -- that's a cost of around 10 cents per Mbps. Not bad, but one of Frontier Fiber's cheapest plans costs $50 a month, more expensive than Xfinity's cheapest plan. Frontier's plan comes with speeds up to 1,000Mbps for a cost per Mbps of just 5 cents. Although Xfinity's plan is cheaper, Frontier is the better deal. 5. Beware of set price increases Spectrum hikes it's prices after a year once the promo period ends, as seen through it's broadband labels. Spectrum/screenshot by CNET So you've identified potential providers and plans. Let's take a closer look at the monthly cost. Will it be the same a year down the road? Or are there steep price increases and hidden fees waiting for you? On average, internet costs around $78 a month in the US, but your monthly bill could be more than that once the promo period ends. I know that low pricing can be tempting, but a cheap plan can lose its value entirely from one bill to the next when the price goes up by 50% or more. Xfinity, Spectrum, Cox and others have competitive introductory pricing but a looming monthly hike of $20, $30 or more after 12 months. Carefully examine the FCC-mandated broadband labels for each plan. Check for hidden infrastructure fees or equipment fees you could bypass by buying your own equipment. The good news is that providers have to be fairly transparent about price increases as far as when you can expect them and how much they'll inflate your bill. Additionally, many providers don't require a contract, so if the price hike is too steep, you can cancel without penalty. Not all providers have a planned price increase. AT&T, Frontier, Verizon Fios and a handful of others, including EarthLink, don't have promotional or introductory pricing, so you won't have to worry about a guaranteed price increase. Your bill may still go up at some point, which understandably happens, but it won't go up as drastically or quickly. 6. Know your (data) limits Some ISPs enforce data caps and will charge extra fees or throttle internet speeds when you go over. Be aware of the data cap, if any, before signing up for an internet service. Those considering satellite internet will have to be the most mindful of data caps and usage. Although none of the major satellite internet providers impose overage fees for data used, unless you upgrade to an unlimited data plan, your speeds will significantly slow after going over your priority data allotment. Data caps are less of a problem with every other connection type, but they're still there. Fixed wireless internet like what you may find from AT&T or Rise Broadband in rural areas often comes with a data cap of 250 to 350GB. Select cable and DSL providers also have data caps, although typically much higher, between 1 and 1.5TB per month. That's a generous amount of data and much higher than the average household will use, but still, a plan with unlimited data is preferred. You don't want to have to watch your data usage all month, and you certainly wouldn't want to suffer slowed speeds or added fees for going over. 7. Weigh all Wi-Fi options in your new home Viva Tung/CNET You'll need a router to create a home Wi-Fi network. Most, if not all, ISPs offer a router either for rent, to purchase or for free. If you plan on renting your equipment, take a look at what the rental fee is ahead of time, then go ahead and tack that onto the monthly price. Some rental fees are better than others, but anticipate it to add anywhere from $5 to $20 extra to your bill. In some cases, that means an appealing $20 rate may jump up to $35 or even $40 after equipment costs, so make sure you take a look at the fine print before securing a promotional internet rate. Many providers have started including your equipment at no extra cost. AT&T, Verizon Fios, Google Fiber and 5G home internet providers T-Mobile and Verizon, for example, have no added equipment fees. Others, like Spectrum, CenturyLink and Xfinity, may include either a free modem (but not the router needed for Wi-Fi) or all of your equipment at no extra cost with select plans. You may also have the option of using your own router and skipping the equipment fee altogether. CNET's Joe Supan saved close to $1,000 in yearly fees by deciding to by his own router, for example. Although the upfront costs may be high, including the potential optimizations like mesh Wi-Fi, supplying your own may pay off in a year or two if you can save $15 per month in equipment fees. The option to purchase your router is a little less common, but you may come across it with satellite internet or prepaid internet services. This can add to your upfront costs, especially in the case of satellite internet, but you may save money in the long run. 8. Consider any lengthy contracts Your internet provider may lock you into a contract, sometimes disguised as a "term agreement." Breaking your contract by canceling service or failing to pay your bill before the term is up could result in early termination fees and problems if you want to sign up for service again in the future. Some providers require a contract, typically of one or two years, with all plans and services. Others may require a one-year contract to qualify for the lowest introductory rate or special offers. Most ISPs require no contract at all. Term agreements aren't much of an issue if you plan on keeping the service for the length of the contract, but if you think you may move or want to switch providers at some point, it's nice to know you can do so without penalty. Also note that if you decide to switch providers and you rented equipment from a previous provider, you return your equipment within the designated timeframe to avoid any other fees (often up to $300). 9. Consider customer satisfaction ACSI It's no secret that most of us aren't particularly fond of our internet provider. Customer satisfaction ratings, such as those from sources like the ACSI and J.D. Power, shed some light on which providers fare better than others and why. In most cases, customer satisfaction numbers will fall somewhere in the middle of the road and not indicate much one way or the other. In others -- like Optimum's consistently low customer satisfaction score, Frontier's improving numbers or Verizon's consistently high marks -- may be a bit more telling. Do a little social research. Ask neighbors and friends who they have and why, what they like and don't like. Check out Reddit, and other media sources for further insight. Take the feedback for what it's worth, but don't believe everything you hear or read. 10. Watch out for promotional offers There's a reason I'm mentioning this tip last. Signup bonuses, much like low introductory rates, are tempting, but they're never incentive enough to commit to an ISP or plan that isn't the right fit for your needs. Gift cards, free months of internet service or streaming subscriptions eventually expire or lose their value. When that happens, you don't want to be stuck with an expensive plan that is faster than you need or a cheap ISP that doesn't deliver the speeds you want. Additionally, you may have to sign a term agreement when accepting promotional offers to prevent you from canceling as soon as you get the reward. Still, promotional offers like Verizon's streaming bundles which comes with a free Netflix and Max subscription for a year and then $10 a month after, may be worth investigating. Bottom line: finding good internet service is worth the effort There can be a lot to consider when signing up for an internet service. Along with the cost and speeds, be sure to evaluate the fine print -- price increases, data caps, equipment fees and contract requirements -- so you know what to expect when you get the bill each month. It can be overwhelming, but ultimately, your research and knowledge of the internet provider you settle for will pay off in the long run. 10 expert tips to finding your ideal ISP FAQs How do I choose the right provider and plan for me? In order to find the ideal internet service provider and plan for you and your household requires considering these key things: Speed, how much you want to spend on your internet and internet provider-related details such as connection type, additional fees, contracts and data caps. Considering these things can help narrow your search for internet service. What are the best internet providers? This may not be the most exciting answer, but the best ISP will all boil down to what's available at your address. The top providers in the country that offer the widest coverage are EarthLink, T-Mobile Home Internet, Spectrum, AT&T, Xfinity and Verizon 5G Home Internet. EarthLink's unique use of a variety of connection types makes it one of the most available ISPs in the country. T-Mobile comes at a close second with coverage available to more than 60% of the country. There are spots in the Midwest and the West that will have very little to no coverage for T-Mobile. In that case, Spectrum and Xfinity's cable coverage offer wide availability throughout the country.
CNET
24-05-2025
- CNET
Meet Orb: An Internet Speed Test Unlike Any I've Ever Used Before
I recommend internet speed tests to pretty much everyone I meet experiencing the inevitable home internet slowdown. In fact, I've tested and used dozens of internet speed tests -- the market is pretty saturated with them. Ideally, the best internet speed test is one that diagnoses your bandwidth blues as easily as possible -- no ads, no extra features you can't make sense of and no slowing down your Wi-Fi. Speed tests are nothing new in the home internet space, but then again, I've never used a speed test quite like Orb before. Meet Orb The creators of the industry's most popular speed test, Ookla, rolled out Orb at the end of April. (Disclaimer: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.) While I was skeptical about what value Orb could bring to the internet speed testing market, I felt differently after I downloaded the app to my iPhone and personal computer a few weeks ago. Orb is a sophisticated speed testing application. It doesn't just test your download and upload speeds; it measures the overall health of your home network holistically, using multiple metrics and continuous speed tests. Orb co-founder and CEO Doug Suttles says Orb isn't really a speed test at all. Locating local internet providers 'We're not a speed test, that's the best way to put it,' Suttles tells me. 'We have speed testing functionality, but we focus far more on what we call responsiveness.' What does Orb track? Orb uses a few different metrics to measure responsiveness. You can see what your best (and worst) lag times look like. Screenshot/Orb Responsiveness -- which includes measurements like lag, latency, jitter and packet loss -- is the main metric Orb uses to rate your internet connection. Reliability, or the network's responsiveness over time, and speed are secondary measures that Orb takes into account. 'It's a different side of broadband that we're focusing on,' Suttles says. 'The things that we built at our past company were perfect for the time when we built them, when broadband was in its infancy and you needed to measure throughput first and foremost.' With data use surging and internet speeds soaring, our lives are more connected than ever -- and speed alone is no longer the only factor in judging a good internet plan. I see this often while reviewing home internet plans: While most internet shoppers mainly focus on speed and cost, a host of other factors, beyond advertised max speeds, determine whether a connection is reliable or consistent. Jamie Steven, president and co-founder of Orb, says a reliable internet connection, not just a fast one, is vital for his rurally located home. 'The connection would go down all the time,' Steven says, 'Speed wasn't always or very often was not the issue. The issue was reliability and responsiveness.' Suttles and Steven compare typical internet speed tests as akin to measuring a car's top speed. Instead of focusing solely on speeds, Orb focuses on whether your internet stalls or how quickly it can accelerate. Additionally, Steven notes that the top speed of most cars is impractical for everyday use. 'It's not what you're doing day-to-day,' Steven says, referring to max internet speeds. 'For us, it was more about continuous measurement of your internet experience.' How does Orb work? Orb measures your internet's current speeds as well as its peak speeds. Screenshot/Orb Part of Orb's ingenuity is its ability to run those continuous speed tests, instead of only running speed tests when you're experiencing delays or interruptions. My first thought was that such an approach would put a hit on one's bandwidth. But Suttles assured me that Orb uses a much smaller payload (around 10MB) compared to popular speed test alternatives. For rural internet users like Steven, that lighter payload makes all the difference in keeping his internet connection stable. If you'd like to give your internet a stress test, Orb does come with a 'peak speed' function to test your network's capacity, but that's not a continuous test. Every device you connect to your internet acts as an "orb" or "sensor" that tests your internet connection. You can also set up a dedicated device to continuously monitor your network, 24/7. There is one downside to Orb as it compares to other speed tests: You can't run the tests in a browser. You'll have to download the application to a device (which could be anything from a spare smartphone to a Raspberry Pi). Once you create an account, you can basically download Orb to anything with a hard drive -- and easily diagnose your internet issues in different rooms, simultaneously. Hands-on with Orb Screenshot/Orb Orb is completely free and easy to use. A few weeks ago, I installed it on my phone and personal computer and used it to test my fiber internet connection. Using a scale of 0 to 100, Orb gives your internet a rating that's pretty easy to understand: Red (0 to 49) means poor performance and green (90 to 100) means your internet is performing excellently. My internet connection gets a solid 90 most of the time -- not bad for AT&T's cheapest speed tier. "We want consumers to use this because these are problems that all of us on the founding team have had at home,' Steven says. 'We want this to be free forever." 'There's more value in building a brand than in trying to monetize consumers for something that, quite frankly, we're so passionate about, we just want to give it away anyway,' Suttles notes. I used Orb to test the internet connection in my office and the speeds I was getting in the living room where my TV is. Both tests showed results typically consistent with what I'd see using Ookla. You can add as many devices to your Orb network as you'd like; they'll all play a role in measuring your internet connectivity. Screenshot Orb Orb is still in its beginning stages -- while it's an effective tool for understanding how your internet connection works, there are a few features coming to the app that will make it even more user-friendly, like the ability to access historical data (similar to Ookla). 'Orb does record all data locally first…,' Steven notes. 'We just hadn't presented it in the UI, but that was something we were very passionate about. We didn't want to require cloud connectivity to be able to see the past.' Perhaps most importantly, Orb will eventually start releasing recipes for measuring the connectivity of specific applications or services, like Microsoft Teams or Slack and, eventually, even specific internet services. 'Different web services use different sorts of protocols,' Steven says. 'So Zoom might use this special RTSP protocol -- can my connection open that port to that service? Is it accessible? What's its responsiveness?' Down the road, Suttles and Steven would like to see Orb used by the community to create different 'recipes' and ways of measuring reachability. 'At its core, Orb is really a recipe engine,' Suttles says. 'Our vision is to release and share new recipes, then have the community start creating them.' Final thoughts The internet isn't getting any cheaper, and while it might be tempting to just buy more speed, there are simpler ways of diagnosing and boosting your connection first. While Orb (and the internet) continue to evolve, it's a good idea to have a holistic sense of your network's connectivity, beyond speed.
CNET
24-05-2025
- CNET
Gigabit Internet: Is It Worth Splurging for a Faster Internet Plan?
Having fast, reliable home internet is important, whether you're using it for remote work, streaming, school or browsing. But that doesn't mean that you always need to opt for the fastest speeds available. You might not actually need the 1,000Mbps speed your internet provider is advertising as "the best deal". Plus, gigabit plans are usually on the more expensive side of home internet. Read on to find out how to determine if gigabit internet is worth the price. What is gigabit internet? Let's start at the beginning: Digital information is measured in bits, and a megabit is 1,000,000 bits. Your internet speeds are measured in bits per second or, more commonly today, megabits per second. That unit measures how much data is processed over a network in a second. 1,000Mbps is equal to 1 gigabit per second, or Gbps. The more megabits or gigabits per second your internet connection can accommodate, the better performance you can expect when streaming video or playing online games without lag or glitches, at least up to a point. You can still experience interruptions with a gigabit plan depending on a number of factors like your Wi-Fi setup, the layout of your home and the number of heavy internet users in the house. But we'll get into that later. How much speed do you really need? To evaluate whether or not you need a gigabit tier, first consider how much speed your household consumes each month. Do you notice a lot of lag, buffering and interruption? If you've already rundown the list of slow Wi-Fi solutions and found your speeds still lacking, you might need to upgrade. But sometimes the fix can be a small one, like moving your router to a central, raised location in the house. If you have a plan with a data cap, are you hitting your limit early in the month? Most ISPs offer apps that allow you to monitor your data usage, regardless of whether you have a data cap. If you're using a lot of data month over month and noticing slowdowns, you could potentially use a speed upgrade. Next, take stock of how many smart devices and internet users are in your household. You can consult our internet speed guide and the FCC's household broadband guide for more in-depth tips on evaluating how much speed you'll need, but the recommendation for the heaviest internet usage (like streaming in high-quality video, using Zoom, or downloading files) requires only 25Mbps per action. A good rule of thumb is that if you have more than four heavy internet users in the house at a time (think gamers, streamers, remote workers or students), an upgrade to a gigabit tier could make sense. Otherwise, you'll be paying for speeds you won't use. Locating local internet providers Cable versus fiber gigabit internet Two types of internet connections can legitimately deliver consistent gigabit-speed internet: cable and fiber. Moreover, fiber internet is the broadband gold standard since it offers lightning-fast connections and symmetrical download and upload speeds, giving you the fastest internet possible. It's more reliable than cable and less prone to being affected by peak usage times or congestion. Cable internet provides connection through the same coaxial cables providers use for TV services, so it's frequently bundled with TV packages. It's more reliable than satellite internet and offers faster download speeds, too. But unlike fiber, cable internet's upload speeds are significantly slower than its download speeds. So, if you're sending emails or video chatting, you might experience some delay. Which providers offer gigabit internet? Most national internet service providers offer gigabit plans. There's a mix of fiber and cable providers that can offer speeds up to a gigabit, with most fiber providers, like AT&T and Google Fiber, offering speeds up to a gigabit and much faster. Unfortunately, fiber internet access is still pretty limited, with an overall 46% availability, according to the latest data from the Federal Communications Commission. Spectrum, Astound Broadband and others offer gigabit plans over cable connections and are much more widely available than fiber providers. Notably, although Verizon 5G claims to offer speeds up to 1,000Mbps, only a select lucky handful of customers will see those speeds. Besides Starry, Verizon 5G Home Internet is the only other major 5G home internet provider to offer gigabit speeds. Although it's possible we'll see multi-gigabit speeds from Starlink in the future, satellite ISPs and DSL internet providers do not offer gigabit speeds. Here are some of the major ISPs in the country that offer gigabit speeds. Source: CNET analysis of provider data. A gigabit plan typically costs between $60 and $80 per month with the average cost of the most broadly available plans compiled above coming to $65 monthly. Multi-gigabit plans can run between $70 to $100 or more monthly. For instance, Xfinity and Ziply Fiber offer 10 gig plans for $300 per month, and Google Fiber offers an 8 gig plan that costs $150 monthly. 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 $35 monthly, which comes out to 12 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'll be better off with a slower 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? The fine print shows the 1 gig plan from Verizon features download speeds up to 940Mbps. Verizon Fios Verizon Fios, Verizon's fiber internet brand, offers a 1 gig plan for $90 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 ones that run on a cable connection, actually offer speeds lower than 1,000Mbps. So what gives? It's 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. And the specific equipment, like a modem or router, that connects the internet to your laptop or phone also determines the speed you'll get. For example, California-based provider Sonic Internet advertises speeds up to 10,000Mbps for just $50 monthly. But unless you have a compatible Wi-Fi 7 router, you won't get those speeds. Plus, if you connect to your router wirelessly via Wi-Fi, your speeds will almost always be slower than they would otherwise be with a wired Ethernet connection. This is why providers often list speeds 'up to" a certain threshold. For most of us, the difference between one gig and 940Mbps should be imperceptible. Check out our top picks for the best routers. AT&T offers a 5 gig plan with download speeds up to 4.7Gbps noted in the fine print. AT&T 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? Some gigabit internet plans are quite pricey, sometimes costing hundreds of dollars per month. And there's no point in paying for extra speed you don't need or can't use due to network hardware or other limitations. If you're an internet power user who processes large video files or plays cutting-edge online games, a gigabit plan might be worth the cost, but only if other internet users are in the house with you. For most households, less than a gig of speed should suffice and save you hundreds of dollars per year. According to the latest data from OpenVault, the average household only uses around 564Mbps in download speeds a month. Guidelines from the FCC state that a connection delivering between 100 and 500Mbps is enough for one to two people to run videoconferencing, streaming and online gaming applications simultaneously. Many providers offer 300Mbps plans starting around $50 per month, though sometimes even lower. Plans that deliver between 500 and 1,000Mbps, which typically cost between $70 and $100 per month, will allow three or more people to use videoconferencing, streaming and online gaming simultaneously. These are only guidelines and internet speed, service and performance will vary -- sometimes dramatically -- depending on connection type, equipment, provider and address. Only the most hardcore users have a rationale for paying for anything over a gig of speed. '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. 'If you do have multiple people working from home, having a higher upload speed might be worth going up to that gig tier,' he says. That noted, you can get symmetrical speeds from any fiber connection and without upgrading to gig speed. Gigabit internet FAQ Is gigabit internet enough for my household? According to the FCC, a connection that delivers 100 to 500Mbps should be enough for two people to run videoconferencing, streaming and online gaming. Moreover, OpenVault's Q3 2024 report highlights that the average American household uses 564Mbps downstream and 31Mbps upstream. In other words, if you can access gigabit speeds (940 to 1,000Mbps), that should be more than enough for your household.
CNET
07-05-2025
- Business
- CNET
An Early Adopter's Hands-On Take on How T-Mobile Home Internet Compares With Cable
Editors' note, September 2024: This article was written in early 2021 when T-Mobile first unveiled its 5G home internet product and updated six weeks later with additional impressions. We've updated it to reflect current pricing and speeds where noted (with accompanying editors' notes), but the original hands-on article is presented below. Otherwise, it remains largely unchanged. Check out our 2025 T-Mobile 5G Home Internet review for our latest opinions on this service. It was back in early 2021 when I first started to test T-Mobile Home Internet. At the time, T-Mobile was running a pilot program that hadn't fully rolled out yet and was priced at $50 a month -- a very competitive price point for a then-new player in the home internet space. (Editor's note: The price has bounced around a bit, at some points hitting $60.) In the interest of going all-in, I canceled my Comcast Xfinity internet service, which had been billed at $106. But did I make the right call, and did I encounter any major problems with my new 5G-powered internet? What was the overall experience and would I recommend it to others? Here's everything you need to know about the service, including what I learned during my first few weeks of use. T-Mobile Home Internet rollout I was overjoyed when I learned this was available in my area. (Although limited initially, T-Mobile Home Internet is now available to over 40 million US residents, including a third in rural areas.) I'd been with Comcast for years, angrily watching my bill tick up and up and up. My only other broadband option was AT&T, but there's some bad blood there. That was not going to happen. Locating local internet providers T-Mobile's deal sounded almost too good to be true: unlimited high-speed service for a flat $50 -- equipment, taxes and fees included. The promise of "no rate hikes" has also proven true after a fashion: I'm grandfathered in at that $50 rate. I had concerns. Would it be fast enough for everyday computing? Could it handle 4K streaming video? Would it work with my mesh network and support the many connected devices in my house? Perhaps most importantly, was it truly unlimited, or would T-Mobile throttle data at a certain point? Thankfully, there's no contract required to sign up for service, so I was able to get answers to these questions without risk. It's also a new bargaining chip, a way to potentially negotiate a lower rate from other ISPs. That's something worth considering if T-Mobile Home Internet is available in your area, but you're not necessarily looking to make a change. Read more: The best internet providers for 2024: Cable vs. Fiber vs. satellite and more Setting up T-Mobile Home Internet After using T-Mobile's online tool to check availability, I agreed to let a customer service representative call me, and that call arrived about a minute later. I spent just over 10 minutes on the phone with a pleasant operator who answered my questions, approved my credit and told me modem delivery would likely take two to three weeks due to a backorder. My total up-front cost was $0. Sure enough, it took about three weeks to get the Nokia-made T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway; a silver, cylindrical tower that's both modem and router. It creates 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi networks in your home, although it also has a pair of Ethernet ports should you wish to connect a mesh router, for example. Read more: The best mesh routers for 2024 The T-Mobile Home Internet app guides you through the setup process, which includes scanning a QR code on the bottom of the gateway, choosing a network name (aka SSID) and password and even changing the administrator password if you're so inclined; all pretty standard router-setup stuff, all pretty straightforward. Previously, I used my own cable modem (connected to Comcast) and an Eero mesh router. For the first days of testing, I left the latter out of the equation, as I wanted to see how the gateway performed on its own. Using T-Mobile's home internet service After the initial setup, everything seemed to be working. Having successfully connected my phone, my next stop was my Asus laptop. Curiously, the T-Mobile gateway didn't appear in the list of available networks. Suspecting a Windows hiccup, I rebooted with the same result. Then I pulled out an Amazon Fire tablet; it found the network just fine. So did an upstairs Roku TV and an old basement laptop running Windows 7. Huh. In the Home Internet app, there's a Support tab with a link to a T-Mobile FAQ page, but that just took me to T-Mobile's home page, which added to my frustration. A link to the T-Mobile Community Forum stonewalled me as well because I didn't have a working T-Mobile sign-in (which didn't arrive via email until two days after I received and set up the gateway). Read more: T-Mobile announces the widespread launch of consumer Home Internet service Then I tried restarting the gateway, which proved a huge mistake: It seemed to lose all my previous setup settings, as though I'd done a hard reset. (This is despite it having a battery backup; more on that later.) The app forced me to repeat the entire setup process, including choosing passwords. When I tried using the same ones as the first time, it wouldn't accept them. When I tweaked them slightly, I got a cryptic "installation failed" message. Eventually, everything seemed to sort itself out, and once I plugged my Eero base station into the gateway, my laptop had no trouble connecting. (For the record, the issue was an outdated Wi-Fi driver. Once I tracked down and installed a newer one, the laptop found the gateway.) Now I was ready for full-bore, whole-house testing. T-Mobile Home Internet speed and reliability Here's the good news: After six weeks of business as usual -- working online during the day, streaming video at night, FaceTime calls to parents and so on -- I encountered scarcely a blip in connectivity. While I conducted many speed tests (see below), I mostly wanted to see if I'd notice a difference between T-Mobile's internet service and Xfinity's. Because in the end, what matters is, can I reliably access the internet? So far, so good. I'd even say very good. There are definitely some caveats to consider, starting with this: Although T-Mobile's marketing campaign trumpets this as a 5G home internet service, there wasn't mention of 5G anywhere on the T-Mobile Home Internet signup page. (Editors' note: The current version of the signup page clearly includes a 5G callout now.) I mention that because, six weeks in, I still have no idea if I'm getting 5G or not. The gateway supports 5G where available but downshifts to 4G LTE where not. According to T-Mobile's coverage map, I should have 5G at my house. Nowhere -- not on the web admin page, not on the T-Mobile Home Internet page, not on the gateway's status screen -- is there anything indicating "5G." (Or, for that matter, 4G LTE.) Does it matter? Not really, as long as I'm getting good performance. Which I am. I just wish there was some at-a-glance way to know if I'm getting the 5G I was promised. Certainly, the test numbers don't tell the whole story: Over six weeks, T-Mobile Home Internet performance varied widely. The good news is it didn't really affect my day-to-day online experiences. Rick Broida/CNET These come from Speedtest, the service I've long used to gauge internet performance. As you can see, my upload and download numbers are all over the place. I've seen speeds as low as 6.8Mbps down and 9.4Mbps up and as high as 132.1 and 77.1. This is despite the gateway's little touchscreen display consistently showing four to five bars (much like on a phone) and the app reporting "very good" or "excellent" connection quality. Let me pause to note that so many variables are involved here -- local congestion, proximity to towers, signal interference within the house and so on -- that my experiences can't be considered typical. They're my experiences. Your mileage absolutely may vary. I can say that after some pretty concerning slowdowns during week one, I experimented with moving the gateway to different areas of the house. To my surprise, relocating it to a second-story window yielded a huge performance bump. Those are the numbers you mostly see in the chart above. Needless to say, gateway placement can make a big difference. I also did some side-testing at my mother-in-law's farmhouse (about seven miles due west of where I live), where cable internet isn't available. Her only option until now has been a slow, expensive, data-capped satellite service. After plugging in the gateway, I was chagrined to discover it showed only two bars, which is "weak" connectivity, according to the Home Internet app. Then I ran Speedtest. Download performance was hitting 126Mbps, which seemed amazing, while uploads were only about 9Mbps. Why the disparities? See above regarding variables. I'll simply say that she went ahead and subscribed to the service, and for the most part, it's been working well. That's the key: The only way to know if T-Mobile Home Internet will be a good fit at your house is to try it. T-Mobile Home Internet issues Although I've had good results overall with performance -- I've streamed hours of 4K video, participated in countless Zoom meetings, downloaded big games to install and so on -- not everything about the service is perfect. In addition to the aforementioned laptop problem, my RemoBell S hard-wired smart doorbell stopped working properly. The video became highly pixelated and pretty much unusable. I can't say why, as the "front end" (meaning the doorbell's connectivity to my Eero-powered Wi-Fi network) was fundamentally unchanged. Interestingly, I have a Wyze Cam Outdoor I also learned that although the gateway includes a battery backup, it disables Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity while running on battery power. That means it's of no use during a power outage. According to a T-Mobile representative, the battery is there so you can move the gateway around your house and see where it picks up the best signal. My first bill arrived at $55, not $50. It turns out you need to activate autopay to get the lower rate -- easy enough to do online, but I was certain I'd already set this up when I first signed up for service. My mother-in-law had the same experience. As of early 2021, there was a concerning bit of fine print on the sign-up page: "Not compatible with some live TV streaming services." Thankfully, that's specifically in reference to Hulu Plus Live TV "regular" Hulu Although the gateway has its own phone number, T-Mobile Tuesdays If you enjoy online gaming, this may not be the ISP for you. I've heard anecdotally and in the user forums (see below) that Home Internet produces too much lag, which can result in a poor gaming experience. I consider nothing here a deal-breaker, but I recommend perusing those forums to see what issues might be problematic for you. T-Mobile Home Internet tips and tricks Want to get the best experience? Here are some ideas based on what I learned over the six weeks. Experiment with gateway placement. I tried four different spots in my house, eventually landing at a second-floor bedroom window. The performance differences were considerable from one spot to another. I tried four different spots in my house, eventually landing at a second-floor bedroom window. The performance differences were considerable from one spot to another. Reboot the gateway regularly. Whenever I notice my Speedtest numbers dropping, I sign into the gateway admin portal and inevitably discover that the "Secondary signal" (the one connected to 5G) has disconnected. Rebooting the gateway reestablishes the connection. Unfortunately, there's no way to do this via the app; you must sign into the web portal. I recommend doing this once a week. Whenever I notice my Speedtest numbers dropping, I sign into the gateway admin portal and inevitably discover that the "Secondary signal" (the one connected to 5G) has disconnected. Rebooting the gateway reestablishes the connection. Unfortunately, there's no way to do this via the app; you must sign into the web portal. I recommend doing this once a week. Join the community forums. If you're encountering a problem, chances are good other users have encountered the same one. T-Mobile has an online forum devoted to Home Internet; it's a great place to share questions and search for answers. If you're encountering a problem, chances are good other users have encountered the same one. T-Mobile has an online forum devoted to Home Internet; it's a great place to share questions and search for answers. Expect issues. This is a major rollout from T-Mobile, one that's based on relatively new 5G technology. There will likely be growing pains in the form of performance and/or reliability issues, overwhelmed customer-service departments and so on. Is T-Mobile Home Internet ready for prime time? So after nearly two months with T-Mobile Home Internet, what's the verdict? I'm keeping it, at least for now. There's no contract, so I can always return to Comcast if things don't work out. Even if it's not perfect 100% of the time, neither is Comcast, and imperfection is a lot more tolerable when you're paying less than half what you were before. If this service is available in your area, I'd say it's definitely worth a try. If nothing else, as noted above, the presence of a new competitor gives you a bargaining chip; you might be able to negotiate a lower rate from your current provider.
