Where does your ISP fall among the fastest and slowest in the country?
Do you work from home? Is someone in your house a hardcore gamer? Do you stream high-definition content from multiple devices simultaneously? All these factors will help determine if you’re paying too much for internet speed. Here’s what you need to know.
Not all internet service providers are created equal, but which one’s are the fastest? See where yours lands on the list below.
How the competition stacks up
Network speed affects everything you do online, from how quickly a webpage loads to how smoothly you stream your favorite shows.
A study by Ookla revealed the fastest internet service providers across the U.S. by their median download speed. See where your ISP falls on the list:
- Spectrum: 234.8 Mbps.
- XFINITY: 232.85 Mbps.
- Cox: 219.20 Mbps.
- Optimum: 195.97 Mbps.
- Frontier: 190.15 Mbps.
- Verizon: 186.45 Mbps.
- AT&T Internet: 179.78 Mbps.
The fastest states
Here are the top 10 fastest internet speeds and ISPs at the state level:
| State | Median download speed (Mbps) | Fastest ISP |
| 1. Delaware | 226.65 | XFINITY |
| 2. Rhode Island | 226.38 | Verizon |
| 3. Connecticut | 225.93 | Frontier |
| 4. New Jersey | 224.21 | Verizon |
| 5. New York | 215.50 | Verizon |
| 6. Massachusetts | 214.45 | XFINITY |
| 7. Maryland | 213.88 | VERIZON |
| 8. Florida | 212.24 | – |
| 9. New Hampshire | 211.63 | XFINITY |
| 10. North Carolina | 208.51 | Google Fiber |
NOTE: Results were too close to statistically determine the fastest ISP in some states.
The fastest cities
The study also examined the 100 most populous cities to determine which had the fastest internet speeds and providers. Here are the top 10 results:
Will hooking up two or more routers speed up my internet?
Faster internet is coming, but not fast enough. But there are things you can do to get a better connection at home. I’ll show you how to speed things up.