ISPs Reviews

Choosing an Internet service provider (ISP) is a lot like choosing a cell-phone service. There are many regional differences since cable broadband service piggybacks onto your cable TV service; dial-up, DSL and broadband fiber depend in part on the reliability of your local phone company. Accordingly, massive customer surveys are one of the best ways to evaluate Internet service providers. Consumer Reports polled more than 34,000 subscribers, asking about the best ISPs. J.D. Power and Associates solicited responses from over 16,000 residential ISP customers, including both dial-up and broadband (cable and DSL) users. PC World and PC Magazine also survey readers to find the best -- and fastest -- ISPs.

Last year, America Online (AOL) claimed nearly 20 percent of the dial-up ISP market. But the rise of cable broadband has pushed AOL (*est. $10 per month for dial-up) to an 11 percent share, though it’s still the largest dial-up provider. AOL receives average or below average scores in customer surveys on almost every ISP performance measure, including reliability, support and overall satisfaction. EarthLink and Juno get higher customer satisfaction ratings for dial-up.

Comcast is the largest provider of cable Internet service (*est. $43 per month). And, for many people, Comcast is the only cable ISP available in their area. But in subscriber surveys, owners are less satisfied with Comcast cable service than others. Comcast receives below average scores in all four regions of the U.S. in J.D. Power's survey. In PC World's satisfaction survey, Comcast does a little better, bagging an "average" rating. Although Comcast cable service is relatively fast, it gets below average ratings from customers for reliability, cost and support. Speeds are typically 6.0 Mbps download/384 Kbps upload, though speeds up to 16 Mbps/2 Mbps are available in some areas. Read more about ISP speeds further below.

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

Customers are pretty ecstatic about Verizon FiOS fiber-optic broadband, but the service area is limited right now. AT&T scores well for its low-cost DSL plan. EarthLink dial-up gets good reviews, but AT&T’s basic DSL package is less expensive and faster. If you want free dial-up access, Juno is one option, but your access is limited to ten hours per month. At $11 per month, PeoplePC dial-up is less expensive than EarthLink dial-up and AT&T's basic $15 DSL. Cablevision's Optimum Online and WOW! get good grades, but availability is limited. EarthLink Cable also scores well, but concerns about technical support muddy the picture.