Best Cheap Internet Plans 2020

AT&T arguably offers the best-priced fiber gigabit plan around. With a starting price of just $49.99 per month, it gives you some of the fastest download and upload speeds possible on a residential plan for half the price of similar plans from some rivals.

The only catch is that AT&T’s fiber network is relatively small and available only in select locations. Also, the price bumps up to $69.99 per month after the end of the 12-month promotional period—but $69.99 per month still isn’t a bad price for fiber internet that delivers speeds this fast.

If you’re looking for a cheap internet plan that still delivers a quality connection, you can’t do much better than this. Verizon Fios Home Internet delivers outstanding speeds over a high-tech fiber connection—the fastest and most reliable type of internet available.

Sure, it’s not as fast as the 940 Mbps speeds from AT&T’s plan above. But as our How Much Internet Speed Do I Need? Tool makes clear, 200 Mbps provides enough bandwidth to let a full household of people stream movies, download large files, and play online video games smoothly.

Another perk with this plan is that download speed is the same as the upload speed. So, you can upload large files (like videos to YouTube) and do group Skype or Zoom calls with way fewer hiccups than you would on cable and DSL plans with far slower upload speeds.

The only issue—as with AT&T’s fiber network—is that Verizon Fios isn’t available for everyone. Its network mostly covers New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington, DC. And that eye-popping $39.99 per month starting price may go up after 12 months. All in all, though, customers are pleased with Verizon Fios, as it gets top rankings for billing in our 2020 customer satisfaction survey.

But you can get a waiver on the $99 installation fee if you order online. Also, the plan comes with a free, 12-month subscription to Disney+ if you’re interested. And there’s no requirement to sign up for an annual contract.

DSL isn’t fancy-schmancy like cable or fiber-optic internet—it runs over our landline phone cables, making it a bit old school. But it’s hard to beat DSL’s wide availability, and we love this plan because it gives you a set monthly rate that stays the same for as long as you’re signed up. If you’re a vampire and somehow make it to the year 7,000 without ever moving or switching plans, you’ll still be paying $49 a month—just as long as CenturyLink is still in business.

That’s the idea, at least. Meanwhile, some other providers will try to lure you in with amazingly low monthly fees up front, and then smack you in the face 12 months down the line with a hefty price hike. Price for Life is a straightforward offer and customers clearly like it, considering that CenturyLink rated so highly for monthly billing in our most recent customer satisfaction survey.

CenturyLink also doesn’t goof around with annual contracts, so you won’t have early termination fees hanging over your head if you move to a new place or decide to switch providers.

Just make sure you can get fast enough speeds. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sets 25 Mbps as the baseline for what defines broadband internet—anything under that may be too slow and is probably not worth your money. But if you can get 25 Mbps or faster, you’ll have solid speeds to browse, download, and stream in HD.

RCN has a relatively limited reach—its internet is available only in Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania. But if you live in one of these areas, you can get a sweet deal for an unfussy internet plan.

Sure, 25 Mbps is no 1,000 Mbps, but it’s still solid if you live alone or with a couple roommates. RCN also hooks it up with regular promotions and coupons, giving you breaks on installation costs and other features. And there are multiple modem rental options to choose from, ranging from fairly cheap to slightly less cheap.

If you sign up for RCN, make sure to hit up its free installation coupon page as well as the Special Offers link under the Shop tab to make sure you’re getting your fill of all its price breaks.

Mediacom—which has a network centering around the Midwest—offers some nice introductory prices on its plans. We recommend Internet 60, which will give you plenty of speed for you and your roommates or family and costs only $39.99 per month for the first 12 months. It comes with a 400 GB data cap (not the best but not too bad) and the plan goes month to month, so you won’t have to worry about an annual contract.

Make sure to read the fine print before signing up with Mediacom, though. When the 12-month promotion period is up, that $39.99 suddenly shoots up to a monthly rate of $69.99—almost twice as much. This helps explain why Mediacom received such poor ratings for monthly billing in our 2020 customer satisfaction survey.

Also, steer clear of the Access Internet 60 plan, which Mediacom has been hyping lately. It delivers a respectable 60 Mbps download speeds and starts off at an impressively cheap $19.99 per month. But the data cap is set at just 60 GB. You could easily blow through 60 GB just from binge-watching Netflix for a few nights. And data overage charges add up. It costs $10 per additional 50 GB, and that fee is not prorated, so you’ll pay full price even if you go just one GB over.

Starry Internet is an up-and-coming internet provider that specializes in fixed-wireless connections and straightforward internet plans. It uses antenna arrays to pick up radio waves and transmit them as internet signals to apartment buildings in big cities.

Given the novel way it works, it’s understandable that Starry has a limited footprint when it comes to availability and coverage. But it’s well worth looking into if you’re in Los Angeles, Denver, New York City, Boston, Washington, DC; or other areas where Starry operates.

The company has one plan, which delivers up to 200 Mbps and costs a set $50 per month. There are no data caps, equipment rentals, or annual contract requirements. And there are no recurring price hikes, so no need to worry about your monthly rate going up as soon as the 12-month honeymoon period is over.

This is the best bet for anyone who can’t take advantage of more niche-market internet providers like RCN or Starry Internet or who doesn’t have Verizon Fios or CenturyLink available in their area. It’s also a great option for college students, as it’s often running gift-card promos for college kids who sign up.

Xfinity has a massive network nationwide and delivers cable internet at a wide variety of speeds and price points. The Performance Starter plan is the cheapest of the bunch, starting at just $20.00 per month in the areas covered by Xfinity’s Central region and $24.99 per month in the West.

The prices and plans can differ by region, which explains why the same plan will run you $49.95 per month in the Northeast (*wipes away tear*). But Xfinity has some other, decently priced plans with much faster speeds if you want an upgrade, and you can get an Xfinity Flex streaming box at no extra cost when you sign up.