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Biggest national footprint
AT&T Fiber Internet- Multi-gig options
- No price hikes
- Inconsistent customer service
- Speeds: 300–5,000Mbps
- Starting price: $55.00/mo.* w/ Auto Pay
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Best price lock guarantees
Verizon Fios- Fast, reliable speeds
- Excellent perks and promotions
- Unavailable outside the Northeast
- Speeds: 300–2,300Mbps
- Starting price: $49.99/mo.†
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Best entry-level prices
Frontier Fiber Internet- Affordable fiber plans
- Eero router included
- Price hikes after two years
- Speeds: 500–7,000Mbps
- Starting price: $29.99/mo.§
Data as of 06/18/2025. Availability and speed may vary by location, and prices are subject to change. See disclaimers.
On this page:
What is fiber internet? | Most popular fiber providers | Perks and promotions | Cheapest fiber plans | Is fiber worth it? | How fast is fiber? | What users think | Fiber vs. DSL and cable | FAQ
On this page:
What is fiber internet?
Fiber internet is a broadband connection that runs on light signals from fiber-optic cabling, delivering multi-gig upload and download speeds. It’s the fastest and most reliable internet you can get, and most plans come with straightforward pricing and included Wi-Fi equipment. Fiber is available to more than half of households in the U.S., but you may not be able to get it if you live in a rural or disadvantaged area.
Fiber has the lowest latency of any internet type, so it’s great for gaming and videoconferencing. It’s also the only internet tech with symmetrical speeds, meaning the uploads are just as fast as downloads. That makes fiber perfect for working from home, streaming in high definition, creating online content, and livestreaming gameplay.
Fiber is so reliable that the world’s major data routes and network access points are linked together between oceans and continents through massive bundles of fiber-optic cabling. If fiber is good enough for the vast global backbone of the internet infrastructure, then you know it’s the best way to wire up your own home internet.
Most popular fiber internet providers of 2025
| Provider | Starting price | Speeds | Shop now |
|---|---|---|---|
| | $55.00* | 300–5,000Mbps | |
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| $49.99/mo.† w/ Auto Pay | 300–2,300Mbps | |
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| $29.99/mo.§ w/ Auto Pay and Paperless Bill | 500–7,000Mbps | |
| $39.95/mo.‡ | 100–5,000Mbps | |
 | $50.00|| | 500–940Mbps | |
| $45.00/mo.# | 200–8,000Mbps | |
| $40.00/mo.** | 300–8,000Mbps | |
| $70.00.†† | 1,000–8,000Mbps | |
| $34.95/mo. for 12 mos.‡‡ | 150–5,000Mbps | |
| $24.99/mo. for 12 mos.§§ | 100–2,000Mbps | |
| $29.00/mo. for 12 mos.|||| | 300–2,000Mbps | |
| $20.00–$900.00/mo.## | 300–6,000Mbps | |
| $39.95/mo.*** | 100–50,000Mbps |
Data as of 06/18/2025. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change. See disclaimers.
Perks and promotions for fiber internet
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Cheapest fiber internet plans
| Plan | Price | Shop now |
|---|---|---|
| Ziply Fiber 100/10 | $20.00/mo.## | |
| Kinetic Internet 100 Mbps | $24.99/mo.§§ | |
| Brightspeed Fiber 300 | $29.99/mo. for 12 mos.|||| | |
| Frontier Fiber 200 | $29.99/mo.§ | |
| Metronet 150 Mbps | $34.95/mo. for 12 mos.‡‡ | |
| Earthlink Fiber 100 | $39.95/mo.‡ |
Data as of 06/10/2025. Availability and speed may vary by location, and prices are subject to change. See disclaimers.
The cheapest fiber internet plan is Ziply Fiber’s 100/10 option for $20.99 per month. It gives you 100Mbps speeds, enough to support a few Wi-Fi users as they Zoom, play online games, and stream in 4K resolution.
Ziply is available only in a few states in the Pacific Northwest, but there are hundreds of fiber providers in the U.S., and there’s a good chance you can get a plan with suitable speeds at a good price.
Pro tip: We usually recommend plans of at least 300Mbps for around $50 per month for the average household, but that accounts for slowdowns that may come with cable or fixed wireless internet. Fiber internet is so reliable that you may be just fine with slower speeds. Plus, most fiber providers offer free equipment, and you may qualify for free fiber installation if you act fast.
If you have a large household (five people or more), stick to 300Mbps or faster.
Is fiber internet worth it?
Pros:
- Fast, symmetrical speeds
- Low latency
- High customer satisfaction
Cons:
- Hard to get
- Higher prices on premium plans
- Lack of competition
Pros of fiber
Fastest speeds: Fiber internet is by far the fastest internet you can get. It’s easy to find plans with speeds up to a gig (1,000Mbps), but some deliver speeds up to 10 gigs or more. Fiber speeds remain consistent during heavy usage and far outpace what you get on DSL and cable internet plans. Furthermore, fiber is built on relatively new infrastructure, so equipment-related issues are rare.
Excellent upload speeds: Fiber speeds are symmetrical, meaning the upload speed is as fast as the download speed. This is a huge difference from internet types like cable and DSL, whose internet packages give you much slower upload speeds than download speeds.
Low latency: Fiber is highly efficient, which means incredibly low latency. Latency is the delay (measured in milliseconds) when you send an internet signal from your computer to the larger internet network and vice versa. That could be anything from clicking Send on an email to firing a weapon in a fast-paced video game. Fiber’s low latency rates make it especially useful for the high-performance demands of online gaming, livestreams, and video calls.
High customer satisfaction: As our Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey indicates, fiber customers generally have fewer complaints about things like speed, reliability, and price compared to cable and fixed wireless customers. In the survey section measuring satisfaction by tech type, fiber customers gave the highest ratings for overall satisfaction, while cable and DSL customers both gave more middling scores. Fiber users also gave top scores for speed and customer service.
Cons of fiber
Limited availability: The main disadvantage of fiber is that it’s hard to find, with connections built to only a little more than half of all homes and businesses. Building up fiber internet requires a costly investment in fiberglass cabling and other infrastructure, and many projects have been on hold for years as the federal government sorts out funding.
Higher prices on premium plans: While cable internet providers often offer a wide range of slow plans at relatively low prices, fiber internet providers tend to offer faster speeds but fewer budget options. Still, some fiber providers offer plans that cost less than $50 a month, and often, you can find faster speeds for the same price or even cheaper than cable and DSL.
Low competition: Fiber is available to about half of the population, but few households can choose from more than one fiber provider. The same is true for cable internet. However, you may have multiple fixed wireless options. It’s not as bad as it once was, but fiber customers still don’t have much leverage when advocating for lower prices or better customer service.
Looking for an easy way to test and track your internet speed?
Take our internet speed test or download our free speed test app to test your speed from anywhere.
How fast is fiber internet?
In practical terms, fiber is fast enough to keep up with extremely heavy internet use and various advanced online activities. It can also maintain a steady and reliable internet connection for multiple users who need to do speed-intensive tasks over the same Wi-Fi network at the same time.
Fiber is great for any of these tasks:
- Streaming 4K video on numerous devices
- Downloading massive files
- Uploading content to cloud servers and social media accounts
- Gaming online
- Teleconferencing on Zoom
- Connecting multiple smart home devices
Fiber internet upload speeds
While most internet providers emphasize the importance of download speeds, fiber internet also delivers record-fast upload speeds. This makes fiber a lot more useful for upload-centered activities like making video calls, posting to social media, and hosting livestreams.
So, how does this work, exactly? The difference between your download and upload speed has to do with what you’re using it for. When you download data, you get things from the internet. When you upload data, you put things onto the internet.
Examples of uploading data:
- Posting to TikTok
- Joining a Zoom meeting
- Uploading a file to the cloud
Internet users typically spend a lot more time downloading than they do uploading, so cable, DSL, and satellite providers don’t allocate more bandwidth for uploads. For example, a cable internet package that can get you 1,000Mbps download speeds may be capable of delivering only 35Mbps upload speeds.
What do internet users think of fiber internet?
It’s clear from the results of our Annual Internet Provider Review that fiber internet is the most popular connection type.
Two of the most highly rated internet providers in our survey—Google Fiber and Quantum Fiber—are fiber internet providers. They took the first and second spots for customer service and also ranked highly for other crucial categories like value and reliability.
Fiber services also rank highest in our Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey. With fiber’s symmetrical speeds and efficient fiber-optic infrastructure, fiber internet users didn’t have to deal with problems with congestion, recurring slowdowns, and buffering issues that are far more common with other internet types.
Fiber vs. DSL and cable
Fiber, DSL, and cable all transmit internet signals in a similar way: They carry binary signals (computer language) through cables over long distances. However, while DSL and cable use copper wires and electrical signals, fiber uses fiber-optic cables and blinking light signals.
The light signals used in fiber are faster and more efficient than electrical signals, and they have fewer issues with signal interference or degradation over long distances. That translates to faster, more reliable internet with very little lag.
In addition to being more efficient, fiber-optic threads are thinner than the copper wires used in cable and DSL infrastructure, so more of them can fit into a single cable. This increases the available bandwidth, which prevents network congestion and allows for gigabit speeds for you and everyone else on your street at the same time.
Where can I get fiber internet?
Fiber internet is easiest to get in cities and suburbs, but you may also have it in certain rural areas. Better yet, providers are building new infrastructure all the time, so you might have access now, even if you didn’t a few months ago.
Want to see if you can get fiber in your area? Type in your zip code below to see what’s available.
Can you get fiber at your address?
Enter your zip code for a list of local providers.
Learn more about fiber internet
FAQ about fiber internet
Do you need fiber gigabit speeds?
How much does 10Gbps internet cost?
Is 10Gbps internet fast?
What can I do with 10Gbps internet speeds?
What is gigabit internet?
Are fiber internet and gigabit internet the same thing?
How do I get fiber internet?
Do I need fiber internet for home security systems?
Disclaimers
*AT&T
Price includes $10/mo. discount when you sign up for paperless billing and AutoPay with a debit card or bank account. Or $5/mo. with a credit card.
† Verizon
Price per month with Auto Pay & without select 5G mobile plans. Consumer data usage is subject to the usage restrictions set forth in Verizon’s terms of service; visit: https://www.verizon.com/support/customer-agreement/ for more information about 5G Home and LTE Home Internet or https://www.verizon.com/about/terms-conditions/verizon-customer-agreement for Fios internet.
§ Frontier Fiber
w/ Auto Pay & Paperless Bill. Max wired speed 200/200 Mbps. Wi-Fi, actual & average speeds vary. One-time charges apply.
‡ Earthlink
with a 12 month contract. Actual speeds may vary depending on the distance, line-quality, phone service provider, and number of devices used concurrently. All speeds not available in all areas
|| CenturyLink
Limited availability. Service and rate in select locations only. Paperless billing required. Taxes and fees apply.
# Quantum Fiber
Limited availability. Service and speed in select locations only. Price for Life: Offer available to new and existing customers located in qualifying markets and cannot be combined with other promotions or offers. Offer not available with Instant Internet service, Instant 360 WiFi service, or at bulk service properties. Limited time offer.
**Optimum
w/ $10/mo. elig. Auto Pay & Paperless Bill. Wired connection up to 940 Mbps. WiFi speeds may vary. Not available in all areas. Disney+, Hulu Bundle Basic avail. w/ 500 Mbps Internet and above. After promo period, plan auto-renews at $10.99/mo. Offer will not replace existing subscriptions. Add’l terms apply. Unlimited Mobile line w/ Promo Code HEYITSFREE. Plus taxes & fees. Savings via monthly bill credits. Elig. cust. only. Paperless Bill & Auto Pay req’d. Terms Apply.
†† Google Fiber
Plus taxes and fees. Upload/download speed and device streaming claims are based on maximum wired speeds. Actual Internet speeds are not guaranteed and may vary based on factors such as hardware and software limitations, latency, packet loss, etc.
‡‡ Metronet
For 12 months. Offers subject to change. Standard rates apply upon expiration of any promotional periods. Non-promotional pricing subject to change. Advertised speed based on wired connection and compatible equipment.
§§ Windstream
With $5 Auto Pay for each month the customer is enrolled in AutoPay. Limited-time, non-transferable offer for residential customers that may not be combined with other promotions. Credit restrictions may apply. Subject to availability. Promotional period pricing ending after 24 months.
|||| Brightspeed
Autopay required. Installation fee may apply. Limited availability in select areas. Prices may vary depending on location.
## Ziply Fiber
For 12 months w/ paperless and autopay. No annual contract required. For new residential customers only. No annual contract required. Prices shown are before taxes and fees and require autopay and paperless billing. Service may not be available in all areas. Speeds shown for wired connections. Observable speeds will vary.
***Sparklight
for the first 12 mos. w/ Auto Pay & Paperless Billing*. $90/mo. Reg price.