Ziply Fiber Review: Comparing Plans, Pricing and Availability

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Ziply Fiber home internet rating

How we calculated our rating

Pros

• Straightforward, competitive pricing
• No data caps, contracts or credit checks
• Dedication to fiber expansion, even in rural areas

Cons

• Lots of room to grow fiber service

Ziply Fiber Review

In the world of home internet, Ziply Fiber is simply one of the fastest providers. If your address is serviceable for its fiber offerings, then you may have access to its gig and multi-gig plans. Its DSL service may be available, but we recommend you look elsewhere if fast speeds are what your household is looking for. Besides speed, there are some service details that are worth mentioning before you sign up.

Ziply Fiber has a relatively small service area compared to other major providers, with serviceability spanning parts of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Still, the ISP stands for having some of the lowest introductory rates of any ISP and the fastest speeds you'll find nationwide, up to 50,000 megabits per second.

Ziply Fiber is still the new kid on the block but has quickly become serious competition for larger internet service providers. In 2020, Ziply Fiber acquired Frontier Communication's Northwest region and has since expanded into "100 new markets, with 1,700 miles of new fiber lines," according to its website. Being a local provider it mainly operates in rural areas of four states, Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana, Ziply Fiber offers DSL and fiber internet options at very competitive prices. Let's take a look at those prices.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Ziply Fiber internet plans and pricing (Oregon market)

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

It's important to note that Ziply Fiber prices vary by market. The chart above reflects the prices in the Oregon market. If you're considering Ziply Fiber for home internet, one thing you are likely to notice is the impressive selection of plans and their value. For instance, Ziply Fiber currently offers the 100Mbps plan for $10 monthly in the first three months, which will increase incrementally over time. Once the three months are up, your plan will jump to $20 a month and $50 after that. As you've also noticed from the chart, speeds are ridiculously fast, offering a 50,000Mbps speed tier, making Ziply Fiber one of the cheapest and fastest internet providers I've encountered.

The plan variety alone makes Ziply Fiber worth checking out. There are seven fiber speed tiers to choose from, each of which offers symmetrical download and upload speeds, a significant advantage of fiber internet service compared with other connection types, such as cable. However, some households may only be eligible for the DSL plan, which tops at 115Mbps. Depending on the speeds available at your address, actual speeds may not reach 115Mbps.

Ziply Internet, a DSL-based service, is also worth considering in rural areas where cable or fiber connections are unavailable. There's only one plan -- $60 a month for the fastest speeds available -- so the overall value of Ziply Internet will largely depend on the available speeds at your address.

Which Ziply Fiber plan is best?

Ziply Fiber's cheapest plan advertises maximum speeds of 100Mbps over a fiber connection. That's enough for light streaming and browsing on two, maybe three devices, but I wouldn't rely on it for much more than that. For context, the Federal Communications Commission defines broadband as a connection delivering at least 100Mbps down and 20Mbps up. Ziply Fiber currently offers lists this tier at an extremely cost-effective $10 monthly rate for the first three months and will jump to $20 for the year. After that, you'll pay $50 monthly in the second year.

The upgrade to 300Mbps will better support HD streaming, online gaming and working from home on multiple devices at once, but to get the best bang for your buck, I recommend skipping the first two plans and going straight for the gig.

Ziply Fiber's broadband label for its Gig plan shows a $50 monthly cost for the first year and $90 thereafter.

Ziply Fiber

Ziply Fiber's gigabit plan is lower priced than most fiber or cable providers at $50 a month, and it offers significantly greater value than the 100/100 and 300/300 plans.

The same goes for its 2-gig speed tier. Even after the standard monthly pricing goes into effect (increasing from $60 to $95 after 12 months), the plan is still cheaper than what I currently play for a single gig with my ISP. If I lived in a Ziply Fiber market, this is the plan I would get.

As for the faster speed tiers of 5, 10 and 50Gbps, those speeds are there if you want them but generally are more expensive, and most households don't even need that much speed. Read our guide to learn how much speed your household actually needs.

Ziply Fiber Wi-Fi, fees and service terms

Ziply Fiber fees and service terms largely favor the customer. Wi-Fi equipment fees are lower than most providers and come with whole-home connectivity, while unlimited data and no contract requirements eliminate the risk of surprise hidden costs.

Ziply Fiber

Wi-Fi 7 routers now available plus Whole Home Wi-Fi

At $15 a month, Ziply's equipment lease fee is on par with most providers and is optional. You can use your equipment to skip the fee. However, Ziply Fiber's equipment, a Wi-Fi 7 router, is ahead of many ISPs. Whole Home Wi-Fi service is included with your rental, which comes with mesh Wi-Fi Extenders as needed to provide whole-home coverage. For customers who sign up for the 1 and 2-Gig plans, Ziply Fiber has a limited-time offer until Jan. 15 that includes the equipment for the first month.

Ziply Fiber service terms and fees won't add to your bill

Most DSL and fiber-optic internet providers do not have data caps or contracts, and Ziply Fiber is no different. Customers can comfortably anticipate their initial costs and monthly pricing with no data caps, contracts or credit checks. Installation is also included at no extra cost for new customers, as is the first month of service. 

All that said, most providers will offer unlimited data, contract-free service, free installation and some promotional offers like gift cards or streaming services. Still, there's a lot to like about an internet provider that offers relatively straightforward pricing without arbitrary contracts or data caps -- Ziply Fiber delivers that.

Ziply Fiber (purple) and Ziply Internet (pink) are available in parts of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

FCC

Where can you get Ziply Fiber?

At present, Ziply Fiber's DSL and fiber services are available in only four states and you can find Ziply Fiber in parts of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Around 30% of the networks Ziply Fiber acquired from Frontier Communications consisted of fiber-optic lines. Since then, Ziply Fiber has aggressively expanded its fiber footprint to more than 50% of its coverage area.

A Ziply Fiber spokesperson told CNET that the company plans to reach 80% fiber coverage in the coming years. If and when the company reaches 80% fiber coverage, it will have brought fiber connections to more than 1.5 million residents in the Northwest who did not otherwise have one under Frontier, including many residents of rural areas.

Ziply Fiber expansions have thus far included small towns such as Tekoa, Washington and Troy, Montana, both with populations of under 1,000, and more prominent cities throughout the Northwest.

Fiber expansion lightens the load on DSL networks

The arrival of fiber-optic service is exciting news for those who can get it, but it can also be somewhat of a blessing in disguise for Ziply Internet (DSL) customers who can't. 

A Ziply Fiber spokesperson tells CNET that "every customer who moves off of the copper network improves the capacity, reliability and exhibited speed for those who remain, so our goal is to move as many people as possible to fiber as quickly as possible to improve service for everyone." 

In other words, fiber expansion is a win-win for Ziply customers, although perhaps some more than others. Either way, Ziply Fiber seems genuinely invested in improving service for everyone in its service area, and I like that. 

Ziply Fiber vs. cable internet competitors

I've compared Ziply Fiber to other DSL and fiber-optic providers thus far, but it's unlikely that you'll find those providers in the same service areas as Ziply Fiber. What's more likely is that you'll have the option of Ziply Fiber and cable internet from Spectrum, Xfinity or others.

A good rule of thumb is that cable is better than DSL and fiber is better than cable. If Ziply Fiber service is available in your area, I'd consider it over cable. Still, if Ziply Internet is my only option, I'd likely look at cable first, depending on what DSL speeds are available. 

Ziply Fiber can deliver gig download speeds, as can most major cable internet providers, but the fiber-optic connection comes with the advantage of symmetrical upload and download speeds. As a result, you'll get a better connection for working and learning from home with Ziply Fiber versus a cable connection. Fiber-optic service also has better reliability and connection quality than cable.

As for pricing, Ziply Fiber plans are priced lower than most cable providers. Xfinity does offer a 150Mbps plan for around $20 per month, but customers may be required to sign a one-year contract to get the lowest price. On the other hand, Spectrum has a lower equipment fee than Ziply Fiber, along with unlimited data and contract-free service. However, Ziply Fiber has lower starting rates of around $10 to $20 in the first year.

In short, Ziply Fiber will likely present cheaper plan options, faster upload speeds and better reliability than cable internet.

Ziply Fiber customer satisfaction can improve

Ziply Fiber isn't listed individually in customer satisfaction reports from the American Customer Satisfaction Index or J.D. Power, so I turned to the Better Business Bureau for insight into what actual customers think of the service so far.

Ziply Fiber earned an "F" rating, which is not good. This might have something to do with the unresolved complaints from customers. Even in an industry where customer satisfaction is notoriously low, Ziply Fiber's BBB customer review score shows that there is room for improvement.

Summing it all up

Ziply Fiber has low pricing and fast multi-gigabit speeds. It also features unlimited data and no contracts. The downside is that coverage is very limited across the country. So, it all really boils down to whether its fiber services are available at your address.

As for Ziply Internet, the DSL service, the value of your plan will depend on the actual speeds available at your location. Your DSL service could improve as Ziply's fiber footprint expands, but the best outcome of all would be for fiber to make its way to your address and eliminate the need for DSL altogether.

Ziply Fiber FAQs