ISPs: Reviews

Updated March 2009

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Best ISP

*Est. $50 to $145 per month Compare Prices

While not available in all areas, Verizon's FiOS fiber-optic network gets the highest customer satisfaction, reliability and speed scores in major surveys. For $50 per month, download speeds are rated at 10 Mbps, compared… with 3 Mbps to 6 Mbps speeds of most cable and DSL. Verizon's upstream speeds, which determine how quickly you can send e-mail, photo and video files, are far faster as well. The upshot is that if FiOS is available in your area, it's easily the best Internet service provider. A faster 20 Mbps plan (*est. $60 per month) and even a 30 Mbps plan (*est. $145 per month) are also available, and you can save money by bundling Internet service with phone and/or TV.

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Expert & User Review Sources:

J.D. Power & Associates: J.D. Power and Associates polls 17,000 people to rate customer satisfaction of broadband Internet providers by region. Verizon ...

PC World: PC World surveys 6,463 readers to measure customer satisfaction about ISPs. There are eight specific categories plus overall ...

PCMag.com: More than 40,000 people used an applet to help PC Magazine measure ISP speeds, and Verizon's FiOS network is easily the fastest. ...

ConsumerReports.org: There's good general advice on the free main page, but the ratings are behind a subscribers-only wall. Verizon is the only ...

Computerworld.com: Computerworld surveys 1,163 people and Verizon FiOS wins by a wide margin, with customers liking its reliability, speed and ...

PCMag.com: PC Magazine's readers rate ISPs according to many categories (fees, speed, reliability, customer service, etc). If it is ...

BroadbandReports.com: More than 1,100 user reviews give Verizon FiOS a very high average score (it received a Gold award), especially on connection and ...

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Fastest cable Internet service

Cablevision Optimum Online

*Est. $30 to $40 per month Compare Prices

Though only available in some areas on the East Coast, Cablevision's Optimum Online service has blazingly fast speed of up to 30 Mbps for a modest price. Connection reliability and customer service are also above average,… according to PC World. If Optimum Online isn't available in your area, Cox Cable is a well-recommended alternative that's more widely available, and other cable companies such as Wow!, Insight and Bright House get top ratings in certain geographic areas. (See our Full Report.)

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Expert & User Review Sources:

J.D. Power and Associates: J.D. Power and Associates polls 17,000 people to rate customer satisfaction of broadband Internet providers by region. In the ...

PC World: Based on a survey of nearly 6,500 readers, Cablevision takes first place here, too, with above-average ratings for connection ...

PCMag.com: Cablevision takes first place among cable ISPs in yet another big subscriber survey -- this one based on only about 6,000 users, ...

PCMag.com: More than 40,000 readers responded to PC Magazine's online survey to measure ISP speeds. Cablevision's Optimum Online is the ...

ConsumerReports.org: Based on ratings from over 34,000 readers of Consumer Reports, Cablevision Optimum Online is ranked here in comparison with 11 ...

BroadbandReports.com: This chart changes weekly, with Cablevision Optimum Online not listed at the time of this report. In late 2007, however, about ...

Epinions.com: More than 160 user reviews give Cablevision Optimum Online a relatively high average rating (four out of a possible five stars), ...

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Budget DSL

AT&T Basic DSL

*Est. $20 to $35 per month Compare Prices

Reviews say cable is faster than most DSL service, but if you want broadband but don't want to pay $40 or more per month, AT&T Basic DSL is a good compromise. It isn't nearly as fast as cable or fiber optic, but at about… 768 Kbps, this basic DSL service is 15 times faster than a dial-up connection. AT&T in the South (formerly BellSouth) gets somewhat better ratings than the AT&T Yahoo! version, but prices and features are the same. If you want more speed, AT&T DSL also offers other speed options, up to 6 Mbps (*est. $35 per month).

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Expert & User Review Sources:

J.D. Power and Associates: J.D. Power and Associates polls 17,000 people to rate customer satisfaction of broadband Internet providers by region. AT&T ...

PCMag.com: AT&T South, formerly BellSouth, earns a top rating among DSL providers based on a survey of about 6,000 broadband users that ...

PC World: Based on a survey of nearly 6,500 readers, PC World magazine ranks AT&T Yahoo! second among DSL providers, outperforming ...

PCMag.com: More than 40,000 people used an applet to help PC Magazine measure the speed of their Internet connection. AT&T Yahoo! ranks ...

ConsumerReports.org: AT&T and two ISPs now merged into it -- BellSouth and SBC Yahoo! -- are ranked separately in this older review, compared with ...

Computerworld.com: Based on a smaller survey of 1,163 readers of Computerworld, AT&T ranks below average, and fares especially badly when it comes ...

BroadbandReports.com: About 5,500 user reviews give various AT&T regional DSL services high average scores (Silver awards). They get a B in most ...

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Dial-up ISP

Juno

Free up to 10 hours per month Compare Prices

If your needs amount to occasionally checking your e-mail or a little Web surfing, reviews recommend Juno as the best low-cost dial-up ISP. The first 10 hours a month are free (though you have to put up with ads). If you… use more hours than that you'll be charged $10 per month. The other main drawback is that phone support, normally free from ISPs, costs $1.95 per minute. NetZero offers similar terms and features and provides good speed for a dial-up ISP, but one survey ranks it lower than Juno for connection reliability.

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Expert & User Review Sources:

J.D. Power and Associates: J.D. Power and Associates polls 17,000 people to rate customer satisfaction of dial-up Internet providers. United Online, owner ...

ConsumerReports.org: Editors offer some good general advice on the free page of this report, but the ratings are only available to subscribers. Juno ...

Viewpoints.com: Ten users review Juno at this independent review site, with about 60 percent quite satisfied. Complaints focus on the software, ...

PCMag.com: More than 40,000 people participate in this survey of ISP speed and service. While NetZero is the fastest of the three dial-ups ...

Epinions.com: About 600 people review NetZero here, giving it a mediocre average score, but most of the reviews are several years old. The ...

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