Best Fiber Internet Providers | 2022 ISP Guide

Fiber is a great ingredient in a broadband diet. A fiber optic internet connection, which refers to the pulses of light that send data through thin cables, provides both immensely fast downloads and equally fast uploads, up to gig internet speeds.

Fiber, however, has to be built out from scratch at considerable cost, resulting in limited coverage. FCC data collected in June 2020 shows fiber is only available to about 44% of the U.S. So some providers employ a hybrid-fiber approach: They extend fiber to a neighborhood and then switch to cable or phone-based connections for the last mile. If you’re wondering which internet service providers (ISPs) made our rating, keep reading below to see where companies like Verizon, Spectrum, and AT&T place in the Best Fiber Internet Service Providers of 2022.

Spectrum Internet promotion price is $49.99/mo for 12 months. Wireless speeds may vary.

Because telecom companies can’t reuse old phone or cable lines to build out fiber, it’s usually harder to find than phone or DSL connectivity. Our Fiber ISP availability map offers general guidance about where in the U.S. you can find a fiber connection, and you can also see which providers offer service near you by checking the Federal Communications Commission’s Fixed Broadband Deployment locator. But to know for sure, you’ll have to visit an internet provider’s site and plug in a specific address to see what rate plans it lists. Be wary of plans sold as “fiber-based” or “hybrid fiber,” since those usually involve cable or phone-based links for the last mile and so won’t deliver the fast upload speeds of a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) connection.

The availability of fiber internet has increased greatly since 2002 when one study found only 50,000 homes in the U.S. had access to all-fiber connectivity; today, a recent study from the Fiber Broadband Association found 1,000-times more homes had fiber access.

If fiber internet is not available in your area, you’ll have to consider another broadband service – cable will usually be your best choice, followed by DSL or satellite. Learn about your high-speed internet options in our guide to the Best Internet Service Providers of 2022.

*Speed usage data from FCC website.

Over the last decade, the entry-level speed for fiber optic connectivity has gone from under 20 Mbps to 100 Mbps – a testimony to this technology’s ability to scale up to meet demand. Most providers of full-fiber service offer symmetric download and upload speeds, so your service should run as fast if you’re receiving or sending files. Mid-tier speeds range from 200 to 600 Mbps, and most fiber providers offer a gigabit or near-gigabit tier, meaning downloads and uploads at or near 1,000 Mbps or 1 gigabit per second (Gbps).

In a hybrid-fiber system such as those many cable operators now deploy, there’s a much broader range of speeds possible. Uploads can get a little faster than pure-cable uploads but they won’t be symmetric, while the minimum download speeds can increase to 100 Mbps.

You can usually sign up for some form of fiber broadband for under $50 a month, sometimes well under; for example, the most affordable Verizon Fios plan, a 200 Mbps option, runs $39.99 a month. Upgrading to gigabit speeds will push you to the $75 to $300 range, especially for 2 Gbps with Xfinity’s Gigabit Pro plan. Some fiber providers – notably, CenturyLink and Xfinity – impose a data cap that can add extra costs.

As with any other form of broadband you also have to factor in non-promotional rates that run above the advertised costs for plans. AT&T, CenturyLink, and Frontier – along with all of the hybrid-fiber cable providers covered here – will increase your rates after a year or two, and many embed those rate increases on their site. Verizon, however, does not.

Finally, remember equipment costs. Fiber and hybrid-fiber providers typically charge $10 to $15 a month to rent their gateway, and most (but not AT&T) also let you buy your own to avoid that ongoing cost. In some pure-fiber situations, like an internet-only setup for Verizon Fios, you can run an Ethernet cable from the optical network terminal (the permanent box that brings the fiber cables into your house) to any standard Wi-Fi router.

As with other broadband services, it makes financial sense to buy a gateway or router for fiber internet service instead of renting whatever your provider will issue you. With providers typically charging $10 or $15 a month for that rental, you should be able to recover even the cost of a high-end model in a year or two at most. You’ll also be able to choose a Wi-Fi router that works for you – and then take it with you if you switch providers.

Some fiber services (for instance, Frontier and Verizon) require either a specialized router or an adapter for a standard Wi-Fi router because they usually run a “MoCA” coaxial cable from the ONT that can carry both internet and TV signals. If you only get internet, you should be able to run a standard Ethernet cable from the ONT to the Wi-Fi router of your choice.

Cable operators with hybrid-fiber networks don’t use an ONT and do need a standard cable modem, so you’ll have to buy one that your provider has approved. In either case, your use of your own modem may lead to a little pushback from tech support – they do have to help with the broadband connection but probably won’t offer router help.

Renting a modem should eliminate that potential hiccup and simplify your initial setup, but the finances always argue against that unless you’ll also be moving within a year or so. Note that if you use AT&T, you have no choice: the company requires the use of its own hardware at $10 a month. In most cases with equipment rental, you’ll likely pay a fee if you fail to return the equipment.

If your home already has fiber cable running to a functioning ONT that in turn has a MoCA or Ethernet cable running to a convenient spot for a Wi-Fi router, setting up a new router should be no harder than in any other context. Just make sure it supports your new connection’s speeds, as some older routers won’t have sufficiently fast wireless. If your fiber provider uses MoCA (a coaxial cable that carries both TV and internet), you’ll need an adapter for your router or one of the few models that support this connection standard.

If seeing jargon like “MoCA” makes you cringe, you may prefer to rent a fiber gateway that will already be set up for your system. Requesting professional installation for that, however, will probably come at an extra cost.

You will definitely need professional installation if your home doesn’t have an ONT has one that isn’t working properly or is obsolete. (You may also want one if you need additional inside wiring, but if you’ve replaced an electrical outlet you can probably run cable from an ONT’s spot to a nearby outlet.) Installation fees range from free to more than $99. The ONT typically occupies a spot in a basement, garage, or utility closet. Verizon advises budgeting four to six hours for an ONT installation.

Fiber and cable internet can both offer high download speeds, but fiber optic connections (not the hybrid-fiber services of some cable providers) can offer uploads that are as fast as those downloads. That makes fiber a much better choice for anybody who needs to send as well as receive large files – for instance, anybody who began working from home since the start of the pandemic.

Fiber also offers much higher capacity and should never suffer a slowdown even if all of your neighbors jump online, which can be an issue with cable networks. And fiber generally has slightly lower latency, although you’re unlikely to see that anywhere but in online gaming.

Cable internet, however, is vastly more available, especially outside of built-up areas in which fiber is more economically viable to build out. And for streaming-only or mostly-streaming households, cable’s slower upload speeds won’t matter as much. Customers who don’t need a particularly fast connection may also find some deals at the low end of a cable provider’s rate list.

In most markets, fiber versus phone-based digital-subscriber-line service isn’t a choice – once a telecom company has upgraded a telephone network to add fiber capability, it stops selling DSL. Should both DSL and fiber somehow be available, there is no good reason to opt for DSL over fiber unless you want to pay more for an exponentially slower connection. Even if fiber seems like more speed than you can use, you will probably find that you get accustomed to life in the fast lane of the internet.

DSL does, however, remain a possibility and is sometimes the only option in rural areas that haven’t seen upgrades to phone networks that would support fiber access. In those cases, it can provide a minimal connection that works for email and web browsing, plus maybe Voice over Internet Protocol phone calls. For some users, that may be enough. But for anybody looking to stream high-definition video or have multiple computers online, DSL will disappoint.

In addition to the companies in our rating of the Best Internet Service Providers, here are some others to consider:

The following describes our 360 approach to researching and analyzing internet service providers to guide prospective consumers.

1. We researched the companies and products people care most about.

U.S. News analyzed and compared a variety of publicly available data, including internet search data, to determine which internet service providers consumers are most interested in. We found 25 companies that stood out for further evaluation using the volume of searches and consumer research. After conducting a thorough analysis, we were able to condense the initial list to the 12 overall Best Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Taking a step further, out of the top 12 ISPs, we determined which is best by connection type, the best for gaming using latency (provided by the Federal Communications Commission) as a parameter, the best for rural areas, the best prepaid plans, and the cheapest in terms of the lowest regular rate. Fastest ISPs was also another sub-category to consider, but without the proper speed testing platform, this could not be captured appropriately. 360 Reviews instead offered consumers the fastest publicized ISP plans provided by our overall Best Internet Service Providers. With the companies determined, we researched their most important features to create a general layout of what consumers should know to assist with their purchasing decisions.

We compared the various plans, along with the monthly costs and associated fees that each company provided relative to its customers’ needs. The plans highlighted features such as connection type, download/upload speed, and data caps. We also considered the latency, consistency, and packet loss data provided by the Federal Communications Commission in regards to connection type and ISPs for gaming. With these factors in mind, we created a thorough set of guides that provides a 360 overview of what consumers should consider.

2. We created objective 360 Overall Ratings based on an analysis of third-party reviews.

Our scoring methodology is based on a composite analysis of the ratings and reviews published by credible third-party professional and consumer review sources. The ratings are not based on the personal opinions, tests, or experiences of U.S. News. To calculate the ratings:

(a) We compiled two types of third-party ratings and reviews:

Professional Ratings and Reviews: Many independent evaluating sources have published their assessments of internet service providers and products online. We consider several of these third-party reviews to be reputable and well-researched. However, professional reviewers often make recommendations that contradict one another. Rather than relying on a single source, U.S. News believes consumers benefit most when these opinions and recommendations are considered and analyzed collectively with an objective, consensus-based methodology.

Consumer Ratings and Reviews: U.S. News also reviewed published consumer ratings and reviews of internet service providers. Sources with a sufficient number of quality consumer ratings and reviews were included in our scoring model.

Please note that not all professional and consumer rating sources met our criteria for objectivity. Therefore, some sources were excluded from our model.

(b) We standardized the inputs to create a common scale.

The third-party review source data were collected in a variety of forms, including ratings, recommendations, and accolades. Before including each third-party data point in our scoring equation, we standardized it so that it could be compared accurately with data points from other review sources. We used the scoring methodology described below to convert these systems to a comparable scale.

The 360 scoring process first converted each third-party rating into a common 0 to 5 scale. To balance the distribution of scores within each source’s scale, we used a standard deviation (or Z-Score) calculation to determine how each company that a source rated was scored in comparison to the source’s mean score. We then used the Z-Score to create a standardized U.S. News score using the method outlined below:

Calculating the Z-Score: The Z-Score represents a data point’s relation to the mean measurement of the data set. The Z-Score is negative when the data point is below the mean and positive when it’s above the mean; a Z-Score of 0 means it’s equal to the mean. To determine the Z-Score for each third-party rating of a company, we calculated the mean of the ratings across all companies evaluated by that third-party source. We then subtracted the mean from the company’s rating and divided it by the standard deviation to produce the Z-Score.

Calculating the T-Score: We used a T-Score calculation to convert the Z-Score to a 0-100 scale by multiplying the Z-Score by 10. To ensure that the mean was equal across all data points, we added our desired scoring mean (between 0 and 10) to the T-Score to create an adjusted T-Score.

Calculating the common-scale rating: We divided the adjusted T-Score, which is on a 100-point scale, by 20 to convert the third-party rating to a common 0-5 point system.

(c) We calculated the 360 Overall Score based on a weighted average model.

We assigned “source weights” to each source used in the consensus scoring model based on our assessment of how much the source is trusted and recognized by consumers and how much its published review process indicates that it is both comprehensive and editorially independent. The source weights are assigned on a 1-5 scale. Any source with an assigned weight less than 2 was excluded from the consensus scoring model.

Finally, we combined the converted third-party data points using a weighted average formula based on source weight. This formula calculated the consensus score for each product, which we call the 360 Overall Rating.

†Limited time offer; subject to change; valid to qualified residential customers who have not subscribed to any services within the previous 30 days and who have no outstanding obligation to Charter. Spectrum Internet® promotion price is $49.99/mo; standard rates apply after yr. 1. Taxes, fees and surcharges extra and subject to change during and after the promotional period; installation/network activation, equipment and additional services are extra. General Terms: INTERNET: Speed based on wired connection and may vary by address. Wireless speeds may vary. Services subject to all applicable service terms and conditions, subject to change. Services not available in all areas. Restrictions apply.