The Fastest ISPs of 2016
The United States of America isn't known for taking its Internet speed that seriously, at least not in comparison to other countries that have download speeds few providers in the US can match. But we're edging closer, bit by bit. We can see it happening every year in these Fastest ISPs results.
What's new for 2016? Consider it the year of ISP upstarts versus "merging conglomerates." Maybe it's always been so, but it takes on a totally new flavor when one of those "upstart" companies is Google.
What's happening: small localities—typically those willing to invest in fiber-optic lines to the home/premises—continue to push the envelope more nimbly than any giant ISP. Sometimes a big company can find locations with so-called "dark fiber" and put it to use –that's what Google Fiber is now doing in seven locations in the US. These are 100 percent the types of ISPs you should hope to have in your location.
That said, the big guys, almost all of them cable provider conglomerates, aren't resting. The latest DOCSIS standard for cable modems makes it possible to push up the speeds while keeping the cost for customers down. However, major ISPs beholden to their shareholders need to grow, grow, grow; that translates to "acquire more customers and more revenue all the time." For some, the only way to do that is merge or buy out other ISPs. Sometimes that doesn't work. Comcast tried to merge with Time Warner Cable (TWC) and got shut down. However, a month later, Charter Communications, the second-largest cable provider in the US, swooped in with a plan to buy not only TWC (the fourth largest) but also Bright House Networks (tenth largest), creating a new mega-ISP still to come, which will go by the brand name of Spectrum. Eventually. And it still won't be as big as Comcast's Xfinity.
For now, all those ISPs are still operating independently and show up separately in our Fastest ISPs results. Next year, who knows? What matters most for customers is that the services continue to get better, not worse. That means increased throughput, so our continued national obsession/addiction to streaming media can be satiated. As long as the local providers still provide much-needed competition to the super-mega-corp titans (and the titans fight each other, hopefully with fewer mergers), we can all benefit.
Wondering how we do our tests? Our sister site Ookla provides the Speedtest below—we only use tests taken here at PCMag in the results below. Take the test and you're automatically part of the story.
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From the results, we get for your ISP's download and upload speed (measured in Megabits per second, or Mbps), we calculate a PCMag Speed Index—a weighted ranking that takes into account 80 percent of the download speed and 20 percent of the upload. Add them together, and you get an easy-to-understand index number that allows us to rank ISPs and the locations where tests were performed. You can read more about it in the full methodology below.
The results reflect mostly fiber-optic (like Fiber to the Home, or FTTH) and cable providers. ISPs stuck in the doldrums of DSL copper lines can't compete, and wireless providers aren't there yet, either. The less said about satellite the better, probably (though we'll have a few things to say). Perform your own Speedtest so you'll know where you stand.
We completely understand that some of you will be annoyed not to see your own ISP in this collection, but we establish a cut-off on the number of tests required to ensure the results are statistically valid. We can't have one or two tests from the fastest ISP in one city count as high as 1,000 tests from a major ISP in multiple locations. Nevertheless, be sure to share in the comments just why your ISP kicks it up a notch where you are—it may help others find the service.
The Fastest ISPs in the United States
We say it every year, but it's still true: Internet service providers in the US are getting faster on average all the time. Most ISPs show gains in our PCMag Speed Index score year to year. There are only a couple of notable exceptions.
If we narrow things down to the "major" ISPs—those with the biggest footprint nationally, and the biggest customer base, we see a major change in our Fastest ISP coverage that dates back to when we started the series in 2010. This is the first time that Verizon FiOS isn't a clear winner.
FiOS certainly is a winner—but FiOS's PCMag Speed Index is in an almost perfect tie with Comcast's Xfinity service. Comcast has been pushing speeds ever faster in the face of growing competition and regulation that prevented its merger with TWC. That has translated into great things for customers, obviously.
The differences between the two services are stark, of course: FiOS fiber has symmetrical speeds (in fact, its national upload speed average is higher than its download speed!); Xfinity's cable-based service is all about download speed, reaching a 59.4Mbps number; it's the 10.6Mbps upload that drags down its index. It all leads to a mathematical tie that's almost too close to call. Thankfully, spreadsheets dive deep: the full index on Xfinity is 49.6207, versus FiOS at 49.6201.
Verizon FiOS has been on a bit of a decline the last couple of years on this list and that is unlikely to end. Not only did it stop expanding service in 2010; last year Verizon sold off all its FiOS (and landline) operations in Texas, California, and Florida to Frontier Communications. If you're wondering how Frontier is doing with them, know that nationally, it only managed a 9.1 on the index this year, putting it around No. 42 on our list of all ISPs.
That said, Verizon FiOS does continue to improve speed, just not enough to keep up. It has also won PCMag's Readers' Choice Award for 10 years straight.
Note the separate listings for Time Warner Cable (TWC), Bright House Networks, and Charter. By this time next year, our results may be showing them all on one line as they merge under the Spectrum brand for Internet services from Charter Communications.
Let's also call out the amazing gains by Suddenlink Communications. Last year, this ISP operating in 16 states was in eighth place with an index of 20.7; it more than doubled that to a 47.8 this year. Suddenlink's Internet service is also part of a new corporate structure: Altice, which also bought Cablevision in New York, is its new owner. Cablevision as a brand is gone, but its Optimum Online service is still out there, at No. 9 this year with the major ISPs—right there between Bright House and Charter. Looks like Netherlands-based Altice (which also tried to buy TWC!) will continue to let Suddenlink and Optimum operate separately.
Let's dive as well into the roll call of "all" ISPs—our list of every ISP in the nation that had at a minimum of 100 Speedtests in our results. This expands the options to more localized or specialized ISPs, the local utilities or boutique ISPs willing to take on the big-name incumbents—the kind of ISPs few of us have access to, but all wish we did because what they do is pretty amazing.
This year, the top three are all new to this list.
Two are very localized: Grande Communications only serves communities in the great state of Texas, while EPB Fiber Optics is the provider that put Chattanooga, TN, on the map as a Gigabit Internet city way back in 2010. Both sport index numbers that far outstrip our previous year's fastest ISPs favorite, Midcontinent Communications. MidcoNet is one of those exceptions that had a year-to-year drop in its PCMag Speed Index; it's still higher than it was in 2014, thankfully.
EPB is exactly the kind of network the incumbent providers fear most, and thus it's the type at the center of laws in many states, including those in Tennessee and North Carolina, recently upheld by federal courts, that restrict deployment of city-owned broadband. (What the court actually upheld was the fact that the FCC can't stop the restrictions.) Who benefits from that decision? Big providers like Comcast and Charter. Similar laws are on the books in 19 other states.
In our tests, no one—not one single ISP—holds even a flickering candle to Google Fiber. Currently active in only seven US cities (Kansas City, Provo, Salt Lake City, Austin, Nashville, Atlanta, and Charlotte) with five more on the way soon, Google Fiber is merely one way Alphabet, Inc. is attempting to bring the Internet to people—and certainly the fastest. (Another remarkable method involves balloons.) The FTTH service provides symmetrical download/upload speeds (a feature it shares with other FTTH providers in this top 10: EPB and Verizon FiOS).
That said, reports indicate that Google Fiber could be foundering; signups are low (perhaps due to extra competition from cable companies who magically discover they can provide faster service) and staff is being cut.
WINNERS: The Fastest ISP in the United States
Comcast Xfinity
There's a pretty good chance if you live in the US you have Comcast as a cable provider—it serves 40 states plus D.C. Xfinity is doing its best to provide the speeds to be a major competitor in the ISP world: it has increased customer speeds 16 times in the last 14 years, the last being a move to DOCSIS 3.1 modems that it's still rolling out. Love or hate Comcast, you probably won't mind its fat, fast pipe to the Internet one bit.
Verizon FiOS
FiOS is keeping pace with the speed of the cable providers, using its fiber-to-the-home service to once again deliver an increase to customers for the sixth year in a row. That was enough to keep it competitive with a behemoth like Comcast Xfinity this year and ahead of the other cable providers nipping at its heels; can it do it again in 2017?
Google Fiber
The Google brand is everywhere, on search engines, ads, operating systems, and now, tearing up the charts with the fastest Internet service that exists in the United States—even if it's only in seven locations. Remember, the numbers we have are just an average—it's not just possible, but altogether likely, that the Gigabit Internet experience of a Google Fiber user will outstrip even these speeds.
Fastest ISPs by Region
The fastest ISPs in the nation may be nowhere near you, and that's not doing you much good when the games won't play on Steam and YouTube is buffering. The only truly nationwide available ISPs are those using satellite (HughesNet 4Gen and Wildblue's Exede) and neither are much to write home about in the speed department, sharing PCMag Speed Index scores of 7.4. Even wireless companies like T-Mobile (17.2), Verizon Wireless (12.0), AT&T Wireless (11.0), and Sprint (7.6) can outperform that (all those numbers are for nationwide tests).
That's why we look at the six regions of the continental US to narrow things down.
North Central
Includes: IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, and WI
Google Fiber's install in Kansas City alone delivered enough tests to make this section, and how. The PCMag Speed Index of 350.1 was only slightly behind the number it got nationwide (353.7). That's the kind of consistency all ISPs should be fighting to achieve. The speed, too. It's also a hell of a jump up from the score Google Fiber got for this region last year, when it was still crushing the competition with an index number of 248.8.
This area of the US is also the home of Midcontinent, a previous Fastest ISPs winner for several years. While it's a clear second place, Midco's drop from last year's 84.6 to only 50.9 this year is a little troubling. Hopefully, it'll turn things around.
Either way you slice it, Google Fiber and Midco are limited in their reach, even in the region. Rounding out the top five are those ISPs with a bigger footprint: Comcast Xfinity does well with a 45.2, and the fourth/fifth spots go to Charter Spectrum and Bright House. That last one only has service in Indianapolis, but will be merging into Spectrum by this time next year, so think of them as one entity for your future ISP shopping.
Northeast
Includes: CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VA, VT, and WV
T'was a time—say, last year—when Verizon FiOS was the clear No. 1 choice for speed in the northeastern US. While its PCMag Speed Index has increased quite nicely from last year's high of 43.0 to a sweet 49.1 this year, that was not enough of a climb to keep up with a couple of other ISPs edging ahead. RCN, with service from DC to New England and the co-winner of our PCMag Readers' Choice Award this year (along with FiOS and WOW!), fully doubled its index score from last year's 25.2 to 50.5 this year. But even RCN couldn't beat Comcast Xfinity. Two years ago, Xfinity was in third in the northeast; last year it coasted into second place with a 39.6; this year it sprang ahead of the pack with a 51.3.
The rest of the top five are Suddenlink and Charter Spectrum, which as discussed are going through changes as they merge with or acquire other ISPs. We'll see if they can hang on to their slots next year. Also interesting entries in the top 10 here for the first time: Armstrong Cable, the 15th biggest provider in the US has a strong showing from its Zoom Internet brand in sixth, while Atlantic Broadband, the ninth largest cable operator (and owned by Canada's Cogeco) is in tenth place.
Northwest
Includes: CO, ID, MT, OR, UT, WA, and WY
Comcast Xfinity remains consistent in the northwestern states. It jumped to first place in 2015 and stays there this year, improving its PCMag Speed Index from 39.4 to 48.2 in those states. The rest of the top players like CenturyLink, Wave, Charter Spectrum, Frontier, and Cable One are all still there in a different order (Cable One jumped from fourth place to second, etc.).
They're joined by TDS Telecom, a company that owns a number of subsidiary cable companies all over the US, and Rise Broadband, AKA the former JAB Wireless—and one of the few WISPs (fixed wireless ISPs) to make our top providers even regionally, with a mediocre index score of 9.0. Rise actually owned a number of WISPs of varying names (Digis, Skybeam, T6, and more) in over 15 states and has united all of them under the Rise brand. Rise also got some prominence last year when we covered the best ISPs for gaming, where it came in at fourth place.
South Central
Includes: AR, LA, MS, OK, and TX
Last year we described the results for ISP speeds in the southern central US as an "upset" because Comcast Xfinity kicked everyone else to the curb, in particular pushing Verizon FiOS down to third place, behind it and Texas provider Grande Communications. This year, Grande more than doubled its score from last year's 40.1 index all the way to 83.4, sweeping the central south for speed.
What's more, Xfinity dropped all the way back to fourth place, despite an increase in the PCMag Speed Index from 48.1 that won last year to this year's 52.3. That put it slightly behind FiOS, which retains third place. Maybe the big surprise is Time Warner Cable—soon to be part of eighth-place Charter Spectrum—drumming up the oomph it takes to get a 62.2 and come in second.
Southeast
Includes: AL, FL, GA, NC, SC, and TN
If you looked at the list above for all the ISPs that provided a minimum number of tests, you probably won't be too surprised about the leader here—unless you're looking for Google Fiber. It has service in Atlanta and Charlotte, but didn't get enough tests to make our Southeast list. The ISP that did, however, is Chattanooga's EPB Fiber Optics, the ISP division of the city-owned Electric Power Board that made the location the first Gigabit Internet city in the US. It paid off in this set of tests: EPB's PCMag Speed Index of 156.4 is close to three times faster than the next fastest ISP.
That would be Verizon FiOS, traditionally the fastest we see in this region. In fact, it improved year to year from 38.7 to 52.0, which is a pretty spectacular increase in normal circumstances. The remainder of the top 10 in the southeast all saw gains in their score. Some gained enough to get into the top 10 here for the first time, including AT&T U-verse, plus Comporium Communications in the Carolinas.
Southwest
Includes: AZ, NM, NV, and CA
Our southwest territory only includes four states, but one of them is California, keeping it interesting. In years previous—including last year—this has been a Verizon FiOS stronghold for speed. While FiOS did increase its PCMag Speed Index up to a 49.9 this year, that was only enough to get it into fifth place. It has been leapfrogged by four major cable companies: TWC (up from last year's 40.2 to 64.9), Comcast Xfinity (from 40.2 to 61.7), Cable One (new here at 56.3; it's only available in one southwest state, Arizona), and Cox Communications (34.9 to 52.3).
New ISPs on the southwest region list this year include the Bay Area provider Sonic, which started to use AT&T's fiber-to-the-node backbone in 2015 and offers some Gigabit Fiber services of its own, plus Consolidated Communications, AKA CCI, which serves the mid-west via an HQ in Illinois, but has service in California after it bought out Surewest in 2012.
Wondering about Alaska and Hawaii?
Alaska's only ISP result with enough tests to include was GCI Communications out of Anchorage. It managed a PCMag Speed Index of 39.1.
In Hawaii we got two ISPs: Time Warner Cable took the lead with a 40.4 index; while Hawaiian Telcom struggled behind with a tragically low 8.7.
Fastest Business ISP
For three years, Level 3 and tw telecom (which Level 3 bought) held the top slot in the results we get for business ISPs nationwide. You've heard this refrain before however: while Level 3 increased its speed year to year, going from a 37.5 PCMag Speed Index to 46.5 this year, it wasn't enough. Five different providers with a corporate bent bested our former winner.
Top among them: XO Communications. With an average index of 69.0 among our readers testing business connections, it's the clear leader. It's so good, Verizon announced plans to buy XO's fiber-optic network business earlier this year to make sure it has the proper backbone to offer future 5G wireless (assuming the government doesn't hold it up). Cogent, Windstream, Verizon Business, and AT&T fill out the top five.
WINNER: Fastest Business ISP
XO Communications
Based in Herndon, VA, XO claims to have one of the largest IP and Ethernet networks in the country, with the first Gigabit coast-to-coast network connection. Its customers on the corporate side include major social networks, wireless providers, banks, and maybe most importantly, Netflix. Chances are without XO, you wouldn't get much work done even if it's not your direct Internet provider at the office.
US States With the Fastest Internet
Few people can pick where they live based on the speed of the Internet connection. If you can we'll try to help you narrow down the state or city you want.
Which states have the fastest Internet speed on average? For the last two years, it was South Dakota; the state even doubled its Index score between 2014 and 2015. But SD dropped down to a 47.2 index this year, almost half of last year's 94.9.
That put all 50 states plus D.C. on a more level playing field. As you'd expect, Google Fiber had something to say about that. Its numbers almost certainly brought up the average for Kansas (67.0) and Missouri (60.1), each of which is served well by Alphabet Inc.'s ISP in Kansas City, coming in first and third, respectively.
The surprise for some might be Vermont at No. 3 with a PCMag Speed Index of 65.3. Looking at the ISPs for just that state, Comcast Xfinity alone accounts for the majority of that score.
The District of Columbia used to score quite well on the state list—until last year when it took a nosedive with an index of 31.7 (which was still the envy of two-thirds of the states). D.C. sprang back this year, earning an index of 49.2, placing it again in the top 10—but that's still not as high as it had in 2014. Verizon FiOS remains the strongest ISP in the capital, with an index of 53.1.
US Cities with the Fastest Internet
Ready for a shock? Google Fiber's tests in Kansas City, MO pushed that city to the primo location you should be moving to if Internet speed is the most important factor in your life.
Second place goes to...Deltona, FL? Northeast of Orlando it sits, the most populous city in Volusia County, with 85,000+ residents. Wikipedia says that the primary cable provider in the town is Bright House Networks; BroadbandNow.com says Bright House provides fiber connections there as well, plus AT&T U-verse is available to about 50 percent of the community.
Third place is Longmont, CO. The predominant provider there is Comcast Xfinity for 93 percent of the populace, but the town also has its own local fiber provider, NextLight.
If you're surprised that Chattanooga is only in seventh, well, so are we, but even with its own EPB and Comcast Xfinity and AT&T U-verse fiber all duking it out in the city, there are apparently just enough DSL customers to drag down the results overall. Remember, an 84.4 index is still nothing to turn your nose up at, snooty.
What about what's available in the big cities? Metro areas are lucky—more often than not they have several ISPs available, so you can pick and choose between fiber or cable (okay, really, that's the only thing to pick if you want decent Internet. For now.) Here's a quick rundown of the top ISPs in the biggest metro areas
- Austin (TX): AT&T U-verse—111.0
- Chicago: Comcast Xfinity—44.7
- Dallas: Time Warner Cable—87.5
- Denver: Comcast Xfinity—58.1
- Houston: Comcast—50.2
- Los Angeles: Time Warner Cable—69.8
- New York City: Time Warner Cable—74.4
- Philadelphia: Comcast Xfinity—47.2
- Phoenix: Cox Communications—65.2
- San Antonio: Time Warner Cable—88.2
- San Diego: Cox Communications—56.0
- San Jose: Comcast Xfinity—57.5
(As always, we require a minimum number of tests per ISP to include, so it's possible a faster ISP is present in a city that didn't show up in the narrowed-down results because not enough tests were run in that specific location.)
Methodology
The results in this article were taken from 140,663 individual tests completed by US residents from August 29, 2015, to August 22, 2016, using the PCMag Speedtest embedded on the site. Speedtest collected download and upload speeds for each test, measured in Megabits per second (Mbps). We used those results to calculate an index score for a better one-to-one comparison, where downloads count for 80 percent and uploads 20 percent. For an ISP or location to be included in results, we required a minimum of 100 tests.
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The Speedtest currently requires a Web browser running Adobe Flash and JavaScript to work. (Ookla, the maker of Speedtest.net, also offers mobile apps for iOS and Android, as well as a Chrome browser extension, which did not factor into this story. We do our own city-to-city driving tests for the Fastest Mobile Networks.)
On the back end, Speedtest.net performs a "fill the pipe" test. Rather than testing the upload and download speed of a single file, it uses multiple broadband threads (the broadband applications that can be used by a browser) to measure the total capacity of the "pipe." This leads to numbers higher than some other Internet speed tests out there, sometimes even higher than the rate of broadband speed you are paying for.
A note about PowerBoost: This is a marketing term used by Comcast; other cable-based ISPs use similar technology. It ramps up the initial speed of a connection to faster than what it will sustain. For example, someone with a 20Mbps-rated Internet connection can find his or her initial connection jump up to 40 or 50Mbps, but only for a few seconds. It occurs on a per-transfer basis, and most Internet activity, especially Web browsing, sees a boost from it. It doesn't last long, though, and therefore doesn't impact long downloads or streaming much. Speedtest.net uses a blend of boosted and unboosted data to determine overall speed. For the most part, PowerBoost isn't a factor for speeds over 30 to 50Mbps.