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:
Sick of slow internet? How to check you’re getting what you pay for
We all know the pain of “slow” internet: videos buffer, downloads take ages, and a single page can take forever to load. We wonder whether it’s our browser, our device, or the website we’re visiting.
It could be your Wi-Fi signal. Wireless networks are notorious for connection problems. Tap or click for ways to boost your Wi-Fi coverage for good, including changing the router’s channel, which hardly anyone does.
Use this 5G map to see if high speeds are in your area
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic slowing network upgrades and development down, the 5G expansion hasn’t stopped. And soon, you’ll be able to access the latest in wireless networking tech from anywhere in the country.
But why the buzz around 5G, and what makes it worth spending an upgrade cycle for your phone on? For starters, you’ll get internet speeds that are often faster than your Wi-Fi network wherever you go. Tap or click here to see how fast 5G is.