Best Internet Providers in Dallas, Texas

What is the best internet provider in Dallas?

In Dallas, AT&T Fiber is the best internet service provider for most households, offering symmetrical speeds and unlimited data and high customer satisfaction ratings to match. But its availability is limited in certain areas of DFW, where Spectrum Internet or T-Mobile Home Internet serve as strong alternatives.

Although Dallas may trail some Texas cities when it comes to internet speeds, it still provides a range of high-speed options. AT&T and Frontier deliver fast fiber connections, while Optimum and Spectrum deliver reliable cable service.

If you're looking for budget-friendly internet plans in Dallas, there are plenty of options, too. Astound Broadband, for example, offers a $20 monthly plan with 300Mbps download speeds, though this rate increases after the initial promotional period.

Best internet in Dallas, Texas

My grandmother lived in Dallas, and I can still remember the taste of the fantastic barbecue we'd devour whenever my family would visit... But I'm here to talk about broadband, not mouthwatering smoked meat. Thankfully, Dallas has quite a few home internet options, too.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Other available internet providers in Dallas

Many other broadband choices exist in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area beyond our top three picks. Some are outside the Dallas city limits but can be found well within the immediate suburbs. Others may only be in small pockets farther away from the city center. In most cases, each provider offers something enticing, even with some glaring issues.

• Astound Broadband: This cable internet provider, known locally as Grande Communications but now part of parent company Astound Broadband, features some of DFW's most compelling and competitive promo rates. The starting price of $20 a month for a 300Mbps plan is a very affordable 6 cents per Mbps. In contrast, AT&T Fiber's 300Mbps plan clocks in at $55 per month. The same holds with Astound's fastest plan, a 1,500Mbps tier with a monthly promo price of $55. That's a stellar 3 cents per Mbps. Astound also features some of the steepest price increases in the industry. The Astound Broadband Texas rate card reveals that your 300Mbps plan could rise to $90 per month after your promo period. That's stark. 
• Frontier Communications: Frontier features some solid serviceability in the northern portion of the Dallas metro area. You won't find any coverage in the city center. You can get its DSL and fiber-optic service in the northwest outskirts near Irving. Garland, which is just northeast of Dallas, you'll find coverage for 65% of households. If Frontier Fiber is available -- it features symmetrical plans of 200Mbps, 500Mbps, gigabit, 2Gbps or 5Gbps speeds ranging from $40 to $140 per month -- it's a very appealing choice. If Frontier DSL is your only option, you might want to keep looking.
• Optimum: Let me be clear -- Suddenlink is the provider you're probably familiar with in Dallas. Its parent company, Altice USA, renamed it to Optimum. In any case, Optimum cable internet service can be mostly found east of Dallas in the Mesquite area, covering Balch Springs, Forney, Rockwall and Terrell. Optimum also supplies broadband service to some areas north of DFW, including Little Elm, Fairview and Prosper. 
• Satellite internet: Typically, if you live in a big metro area like Dallas, I wouldn't even broach the topic of satellite internet. You're bound to find more reliable connections, faster speeds and cheaper prices than are awaiting you with a satellite internet connection. DFW is a large area, and some on the rural periphery may not have the same options. While Hughesnet and Viasat are steady choices, both feature data restrictions. Starlink, Elon Musk's newer satellite provider on the block, is more intriguing as it features faster speeds and no contracts -- and the Starlink availability map shows availability for the Dallas-Fort Worth area (which wasn't the case in 2023). 
• Verizon 5G Home Internet: Verizon has been just as ambitious with its 5G home internet product as T-Mobile, although perhaps not quite as aggressive in pursuing rural communities. As such, Verizon fell short of our top list because it might not serve communities on the outskirts of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area as well as T-Mobile can. If you are serviceable for Verizon 5G Home Internet, you'll find faster speeds than T-Mobile (average of 300Mbps to T-Mobile's 72 to 245Mbps) and a similar, straightforward approach for $50-$70 per month, including no data caps, no contracts and no equipment fees. Also, customers can shave $15 to $25 off their monthly bill if they have a qualifying Verizon mobile plan.

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Cheap internet options in Dallas

The average starting price for internet service in Dallas is approximately $46 per month, but a few providers offer plans cheaper than that. The absolute lowest starting price you can find currently belongs to Astound Broadband. It features a 300Mbps plan with a promo price of $20 per month.

Residents in downtown Dallas won't be able to get Astound's cheap internet, but serviceability reaches out to Flower Mound, Frisco, Fairview, Little Elm and McKinney.

What's the cheapest internet plan in Dallas?

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How to find internet deals and promotions in Dallas

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

Dallas internet providers, such as Astound Broadband and Optimum, may offer lower introductory pricing or streaming add-ons for a limited time. Others, including AT&T, Frontier and Verizon, run the same standard pricing year-round. 

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

How fast is Dallas broadband?

Dallas disappoints when you compare its home internet speeds to some of the other top cities in the US. The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area boasts the country's fourth-largest population, but according to Ookla's most recent reporting, Dallas managed only a 98th-place finish among the 100 most populated cities in the US. That puts it right behind Seattle and just above Detroit and Atlanta. This may seem competitive, but it's well behind other Texas towns such as Austin, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Fort Worth and San Antonio -- all of which made the top 15. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

Fastest internet plans in Dallas

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Dallas

Internet service providers are numerous and regional. Unlike the latest smartphone, laptop, router or kitchen tool, it’s impractical to personally test every ISP in a given city. What’s our approach? We start by researching the pricing, availability and speed information, drawing on our own historical ISP data, the provider sites and mapping information from the Federal Communications Commission at FCC.gov.

It doesn't end there: We use 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 who 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 Dallas?

As we like to say in our CNET home internet reviews, fiber internet trumps cable broadband almost every time. So if you have access to any of the AT&T Fiber plans -- or, if you're in the suburbs, Frontier Fiber -- that will be your best bet. Cable providers like Spectrum, Astound, and Optimum offer reliable connections and plenty of fast plans to suit just about any household. Be sure to avoid data caps, and if you're serviceable for providers like AT&T or Frontier, ensure you can get their fiber plans and don't have to settle for a slower, spottier DSL connection. 

Dallas internet provider FAQs