Best Internet Providers in Austin, Texas

What is the best internet provider in Austin?

Spectrum is CNET's top pick when it comes to the best internet provider in Austin, Texas. It's the perfect option for most households thanks to it wide availability across the city, unlimited data and no contract requirements. However, Spectrum doesn't cover the entirety of ATX. If you're outside its coverage areas, T-Mobile Home Internet and Google Fiber are also solid picks, depending on what you can get at your address.

Looking for the lowest prices and speediest plans in Austin? We've got you covered. Astound Broadband offers the cheapest internet plan in the city, with its 300Mbps connection coming in at $20 a month without any monthly equipment fees or contracts. If you want the fastest internet in the city, Google Fiber offers 8,000Mbps for $150 monthly. AT&T Fiber, Frontier and Astound Broadband also offer multigigabit plans if Google Fiber doesn't service your address.

Best internet in Austin, Texas

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Other available internet providers in Austin

• Astound Broadband/Grande: You'll find some of the most competitive starting rates in Austin from this cable internet provider. Astound's cheapest plan is $20 a month for 300Mbps download speed. Astound's 1.5-gig plan is also the cheapest in the city, starting at $55 per month. The catch? A pretty steep increase awaits customers. According to Astound's rate card (PDF), your rate could increase after your introductory period (from $20 to $90 per month for the 300Mbps plan). Granted, you're not under a contract, so you can negotiate a better deal or bail to a different provider. But you should be aware of that looming increase.
• AT&T: If I had to name a runner-up for the best fiber internet provider for ATX, AT&T would take that spot. It has greater availability in the Austin metro area than Google Fiber, and its fiber plans offer a greater diversity of options -- from 300Mbps to several multi-gigabit plans, including one as high as 5,000Mbps. Not all Austin residents are serviceable for AT&T Fiber. Many still have to deal with AT&T Internet Air service, a fixed wireless product whose download speeds max out around 225Mbps.
• Evolve Broadband: This regional provider won't be found within city limits, but its LTE fixed wireless service caters to rural customers in the outskirts of the Austin metro area, including to the south and southeast in Bastrop, Cedar Creek, Dale and Lytton Springs and west of the city in McDade and Paige. You'll have to fill out an online form to view plans and pricing, but its website does advertise a $100 plan for 300GB of data per month.
• Frontier: If you're within Austin city limits, Frontier isn't for you. Its mix of DSL and fiber-optic service is a prime option for residents of Georgetown to the north and Dripping Springs and Kyle just south of the city. Check the site to see if Frontier Fiber is available at your address. Featuring symmetrical plans of 500Mbps, gigabit or multi-gig speeds, the company's fiber service is a compelling option, ranging in price from $45 to $130 a month.
• Optimum: Suddenlink is the name many in the Austin area might know, but parent company Altice USA rebranded in 2022. So, the freshly named Optimum service is very lightly scattered in the metro area -- mostly around the Austin Recreation Center and near Barton Creek Wilderness Park -- but is more concentrated north of ATX in Pflugerville. This cable ISP boasts competitive starting rates and decent signing perks, including Visa gift cards and bundling discounts with unlimited mobile plans.
• Ranch Wireless: This VTX-1 wireless provider has limited coverage within Austin. Coverage can be seen in south-central Texas servicing a few towns on the outer reaches of the Austin metro area, including Bastrop, Cedar Creek, Dale, Elgin, Lockhart, Mustang Ridge and Uhland. Speeds and prices will vary based on location, but customers can expect unlimited data with their plans.
• Satellite internet: Typically, I'd tell anyone in a metro area to run, not walk, away from satellite internet service. You'll find much cheaper and faster alternatives in the city. Many outside the urban limits of Austin won't have the same access. That's when it's time to consider either Hughesnet or Viasat, the leading satellite broadband providers. One of the biggest drawbacks to both is the slower speeds and data restrictions. Newcomer Starlink has them beat on that front -- the provider features faster speeds and an unlimited data option. It does still require a hefty upfront payment of $349.
• Verizon 5G Home Internet: Availability for Verizon's 5G fixed wireless home internet product is expanding to more areas. It has a higher average download speed (300Mbps) than T-Mobile Home Internet. It also boasts a similar all-in price that includes equipment rental, installation fees and taxes for $60 per month (and eligible Verizon Wireless customers can get a discount to knock that down to $35 per month). So why'd we list T-Mobile higher? Verizon's coverage still tends to lean strongly toward metro areas due to its use of Ultra Wideband 5G Technology. In contrast, T-Mobile also uses its 4G LTE network to increase availability. If you're within the Capital City limits, you should explore this option, but many others will find it outside their grasp.

Cheap internet options in ATX

The average starting price for internet service in Austin -- taking into account the promo prices, not the elevated regular rates -- is approximately $50 a month. If you're searching for the cheapest rates, the lowest starting price in Austin is $20 per month, belonging to Astound Broadband. Many other providers, including Spectrum and Frontier also offer base plans less than the average internet cost in the area.

What's the cheapest internet plan in Austin?

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How to find internet deals and promotions in Austin

The best internet deals and top promotions in Austin depend on what discounts are available during that period. Most deals are short-lived, but we look frequently for the latest offers. 

Austin internet providers, such as Spectrum and Astound Broadband, may offer lower introductory pricing or streaming add-ons for a limited time. Many providers, including Google Fiber and AT&T Fiber, run the same standard pricing year-round. 

For a more extensive list of promos, check out our guide on the best internet deals.

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How fast is Austin broadband?

Thanks to its multiple fiber options, Austin has a spot among the top five fastest cities in the country. In Ookla's latest reporting, Austin ranked as the fifth fastest city, registering a median download speed of 274 megabits per second. That was good enough to place ATX well ahead of its Texas big-city siblings, Dallas and Houston. (Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

People within the city limits have access to the superior speeds of fiber internet service, tilting the scales here. Case in point, Ookla's data tags Google Fiber as the fastest provider in Austin, with a median download speed of approximately 337Mbps. AT&T and Frontier also offer fiber plans as fast as 5Gbps, so those three providers feature the fastest individual plans you'll find.

Fastest internet plans in Austin

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

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What’s a good internet speed?

Most internet connection plans can now handle basic productivity and communication tasks. If you're looking for an internet plan that can accommodate videoconferencing, streaming video or gaming, you'll have a better experience with a more robust connection. Here's an overview of the recommended minimum download speeds for various applications, according to the FCC. Note that these are only guidelines and that internet speed, service and performance vary by connection type, provider and address.

For more information, refer to our guide on how much internet speed you really need.

• 0 to 5Mbps allows you to tackle the basics: browsing the internet, sending and receiving email and streaming low-quality video.
• 5 to 40Mbps gives you higher-quality video streaming and videoconferencing.
• 40 to 100Mbps should give one person sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the demands of modern telecommuting, video streaming and online gaming. 
• 100 to 500Mbps allows one to two people to simultaneously engage in high-bandwidth activities like videoconferencing, streaming and online gaming. 
• 500 to 1,000Mbps allows three or more people to engage in high-bandwidth activities at the same time.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Austin

Internet service providers are numerous and regional. Unlike the latest smartphone, laptop, router or kitchen tool, it's impractical to test every internet service provider in a given city personally. So what's our approach? For starters, we tap into a proprietary database of pricing, availability and speed information that draws from our own historical ISP data, partner data and mapping information from the Federal Communications Commission at FCC.gov. 

It doesn't end there. We go to the FCC's website to check our data and ensure we consider every ISP that provides service in an area. We also input local addresses on provider websites to find specific options for residents. We look at sources, including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power, to evaluate how happy customers are with an ISP's service. ISP plans and prices are subject to frequent changes; all information provided is accurate as of publication. 

Once we have this localized information, we ask three main questions: 

• Does the provider offer access to reasonably fast internet speeds? 
• Do customers get decent value for what they're paying? 
• Are customers happy with their service? 

While the answers to those questions are often layered and complex, the providers that come closest to “yes” on all three are the ones we recommend. When selecting the cheapest internet service, we look for the plans with the lowest monthly fee, although we also factor in things like price increases, equipment fees and contracts. Choosing the fastest internet service is relatively straightforward. We look at advertised upload and download speeds and consider real-world speed data from sources like Ookla and FCC reports.

To explore our process in more depth, visit our page on how we test ISPs.

What's the final word on internet providers in Austin?

Within the city limits of Austin, cable internet is still the most ubiquitous internet connection you'll find. As far as cable internet providers go, Spectrum and Astound Broadband present solid value with their offerings. As we've often mentioned in our CNET home internet coverage, fiber internet trumps cable every time. If your address is serviceable for Google Fiber or AT&T Fiber -- and thankfully, both companies are continuing to expand their fiber networks within ATX -- then you shouldn't give signing up a second thought.

Internet providers in Austin FAQs