Best Internet Providers in Tallahassee, Florida

Florida's capital doesn't have the widest range of internet service providers, but it makes up for that in quality. With over 50,000 college students attending school in Tallahassee, great connectivity is crucial. After extensive testing and research, CNET's top pick for an internet provider in Tallahassee is Xfinity.

The internet service provider has a wide range of plans, starting at an affordable $35 a month for 150 megabits per second and going up to a blistering 1200Mbps. That means there's something for everyone. But if you need even faster internet, Metronet has you covered with its 5-gig plan. Some areas may also be eligible for the 2-gig plan by Quantum Fiber. T-Mobile Home Internet is our other pick for a go-to ISP, which may be a great choice for college students who are already T-Mobile cellular customers looking to save money on adding an internet plan. 

CNET examines customer service, speed, pricing and overall value before recommending the best broadband in your area. Keep reading for everything you need to know about the ISPs available in Tallahassee, including the cheapest and fastest providers in this Florida city.

Best internet providers in Tally

Our top three picks for best ISPs in Tallahassee are fairly neck-and-neck, because all three have unique strengths and weaknesses. All prices listed on this page reflect available discounts for setting up paperless billing. If you decide not to go with automatic monthly payments, your price will be higher.

Note: The prices, speeds and features detailed in the article text may differ from those listed in the product detail cards, which represent providers’ national offerings. Your particular internet service options -- including prices and speeds -- depend on your address and may differ from those detailed here.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

All available Tallahassee residential internet providers

Tallahassee has a wide variety of internet connection options, whether you’re looking for cable, fiber, DSL and beyond. Though we picked our favorite ISPs, Florida’s capital city offers even more connectivity options.

• CenturyLink: CenturyLink is widely available in Tallahassee, though you’ll mostly find DSL rather than fiber. DSL plans start at $55 per month for 10-100Mbps, while fiber plans (which in some areas will be called Quantum Fiber) go from $50 to $95 for speeds of either 500Mbps or 2,103Mbps.
• Satellite internet: Residents in Tallahassee have satellite options through a few providers. HughesNet offers 50Mbps plans for $50 and a 100Mbps plan discounted to $65 monthly with 100-200GB of data. Viasat offers speeds between 25-100Mbps and unlimited data for $99 a month. Elon Musk's Starlink has also begun expanding into Tallahassee and offers plans starting at $120 with no contracts and speeds from 100 to 250Mbps.

Pricing info on Tallahassee home internet service

The average starting price in Tallahassee is about $54, though most of the ISPs in the city offer starting prices lower than that. Starlink’s high starting price drives up that overall average starting price, though.

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Cheap internet options in the Tallahassee metro area

Xfinity offers the cheapest overall plan at $35 for a 150Mbps plan. However, it isn't necessarily the best cost per Mbps. T-Mobile's home internet plan nets out to 20 cents per Mbps if you get the top-end download speed. Xfinity and Metronet are both about 40 cents per Mbps for their cheapest plans.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

Fastest internet providers in Tallahassee

Though Tallahassee does offer some fiber providers, there aren’t a lot of high-speed options in the city. Tallahassee doesn’t rank in the nation's top 100 cities for internet speed, and speed tests put its median download at just under 266Mbps. Florida as a whole has a median download speed of 292Mbps.

Metronet, Xfinity and CenturyLink/Quantum Fiber all offer gigabit plans in Tallahassee. As for multigigabit plans, Quantum Fiber, Metronet and Xfinity offer that in the area. If you’re looking for fiber plans with symmetrical upload and download speeds, though, Metronet is going to be your best bet -- the ISP offers plans up to 5,000Mbps for $110 per month. 

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

What’s the final word on internet providers in Tallahassee?

There are a few really good ISP options in Tallahassee, so it depends on where you live and what you need as to what your best option may be. Metronet’s fiber plans are great, but they aren’t available to more than half the folks in Tallahassee. Xfinity, however, is widely available and has budget-friendly options starting at just $20 per month. And for rural customers who rely on satellites, there’s plenty to choose from.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Tallahassee

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. So 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.

But it doesn’t end there. We go to the FCC’s website to check our data and ensure we’re considering every ISP that provides service in an area. We also input local addresses on provider websites to find specific options for residents. To evaluate how happy customers are with an ISP's service, we look at sources including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power. ISP plans and prices are subject to frequent changes; all information provided is accurate as of the time 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 answer to those questions is often layered and complex, the providers who come closest to “yes” on all three are the ones we recommend. 

To explore our process in more depth, visit our How We Test ISPs page.

Internet providers in Tallahassee FAQs