Best Internet Providers in San Jose, California

What is the best internet provider in San Jose?

Xfinity is the best internet provider in San Jose, thanks to its wide coverage, competitive starting prices and speeds reaching up to 2,000Mbps. While prices may rise in the second or third year, Xfinity still offers good value even after the increase.

AT&T Fiber, though less widely available, provides faster plans than Xfinity and doesn’t have automatic price hikes after the promotional period. For smaller households with more modest speed needs, T-Mobile Home Internet offers a straightforward plan, with everything included for $50 a month.​ If you have access to it, Sonic Fiber offers the fastest internet in San Jose with speeds up ot 10,000Mbps.

Best internet in San Jose in 2024

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

Other available internet providers in San Jose

• Etheric Networks: Offering fixed wireless internet in San Jose, Etheric plans start at $79 monthly for 100Mbps speeds. Unless your only other option is satellite internet, you can safely eliminate Etheric from contention -- several other providers offer faster speeds at a lower price. 
• Ridge Wireless: Like Etheric, Ridge Wireless should only be viewed as a last resort in San Jose. It's prohibitively expensive -- plans start at $100 monthly for just 20Mbps -- and fixed wireless internet is less reliable than cable or fiber. A bare-minimum 100Mbps plan will run you $150 monthly.
• Satellite internet: You can get satellite internet at nearly every address in the country, but it's rarely your best option. Hughesnet and Viasat come with low data allowances, slow speeds and high prices. Starlink improves on the speed and latency issues satellite internet is known for, but you'll have to buy the dish for $499 just to get started. Keep an eye out for a deal on the dish as it is frequently discounted to $299.
• Sonic Fiber: Sonic would be an easy choice for our top pick if it were more widely available. Its single plan costs $50 a month for 10,000Mbps speeds -- a value unheard of in the internet world. For comparison, AT&T charges five times as much for half the speed. Unfortunately, it's available at fewer than one in four San Jose homes. (Because Sonic isn't among the city's top 10 most prevalent providers, FCC data doesn't list exact availability figures.)
• Verizon 5G Home Internet: Like T-Mobile, Verizon uses its 5G cellular network to offer high-speed internet in San Jose. It reaches higher speeds than T-Mobile but isn't as widely available. Right now, only 34% of homes have access to Verizon. It's especially appealing if you're a Verizon Wireless customer -- bundling with a cellphone plan cuts off $15 to $25 from home internet plans. 

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Cheap internet options in San Jose

Several affordable internet plans are available in San Jose, with prices starting at just $20 per month from Xfinity. Xfinity’s prices increase after the promotional period ends, but this isn’t until the third year on most plans. If you don’t want to worry about your bill going up, T-Mobile locks in your price for as long as you stay a customer.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

How to find internet deals and promotions in San Jose

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

San Jose internet providers, such as Xfinity, may offer lower introductory pricing or streaming add-ons for a limited time. Many, however, including AT&T Fiber and Sonic Fiber, 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 San Jose broadband?

San Jose has several multi-gig internet plans if you're looking for ultra-fast speeds. According to Ookla speed test data, San Jose ranks 30th out of the 100 most populated cities in the US for median internet speed -- ahead of Oakland, Fresno, San Francisco and Sacramento. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

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, streaming low-quality video.
• 5 to 40Mbps gives you higher-quality video streaming and videoconferencing.
• 40 to 100Mbps should give one user sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the demands of modern telecommuting, video streaming and online gaming. 
• 100 to 500Mbps allows one to two users to simultaneously engage in high-bandwidth activities like videoconferencing, streaming and online gaming. 
• 500 to 1,000Mbps allows three or more users to engage in high-bandwidth activities like videoconferencing, streaming and online gaming all at the same time.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in San Jose

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

This guide leverages an in-house artificial intelligence tool called RAMP, which is trained on our writing and uses our database to generate content about specific internet service providers that our writers can use in determining and presenting our picks for a given guide. Check CNET’s AI policy for more information about how our teams use (and don’t use) AI tools. 

Because our database is not exhaustive, we go to the FCC's website to check the primary data for ourselves and make sure we're considering every ISP that provides service in an area. Plans and prices also vary by location, so we input local addresses on provider websites to find the specific options available to 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 our pre-publication fact-check.

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

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

While the answer to those questions is 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, though 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, you can visit our how we test ISPs page.

What’s the final word on internet providers in San Jose?

San Jose residents have an embarrassment of riches when choosing an internet plan. Xfinity is our pick for the best internet provider overall due to its broad coverage throughout the city, a wide range of plan options and high customer satisfaction scores. AT&T Fiber isn’t as widely available, but it’s hard to beat the fast, symmetrical speeds and simple pricing if you can get it. For smaller households that don’t need as much horsepower, T-Mobile Home Internet is an affordable option that won’t ever go up in price. 

Internet providers in San Jose FAQ