Internet speed test: Which providers offer fastest service? A new report analyzes the US market

Editor’s note: This report was written by by Peter Holslin and edited by Rebecca Lee Armstrong at HighSpeedInternet.com.

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Millions of netizens take HighSpeedInternet.com’s speed test each year, and the results give us a comprehensive view of how internet speeds have been shaped by industry developments, technological advancements, and the global COVID-19 pandemic.

In this report, we draw on our speed test results to highlight the fastest internet providers in the United States in 2023. We also draw on our data to look at how many US-based internet users get speeds of 100 Mbps or faster on their home internet. With those insights, our report shines a light on whether America is ready for a new benchmark for broadband performance proposed by the Federal Communications Commission.

We’ve broken up this report into two sections. Each section addresses a key question:

1. What are the fastest internet providers in the United States?
2. Is it time to update federal broadband internet standards to 100 Mbps?

Part 1: What are the fastest internet providers right now?

The section below looks at which internet providers deliver the fastest speeds and just how fast those speeds are.

Google Fiber is the fastest internet provider, followed by Xfinity and Verizon

Let’s get right to the point: Google Fiber is the fastest internet provider in the United States.

Among national internet providers (which we define as serving five states or more), Google Fiber delivers the fastest average speeds to its customers on the most consistent basis, earning an integrated speed score (ISS) of 171.4. Google Fiber offers maximum advertised speeds up to 2,000 Mbps and reached average download speeds of 165.87 over the past 12 months.

Though it’s available in only 19 cities, Google’s flagship fiber-optic service has been the fastest internet provider since 2018, handily beating out all competitors every year. And soon it may see bigger gains as it unrolls new plans advertising 5,000 Mbps and 8,000 Mbps speeds.

But other providers have also shown impressive scores. Xfinity is the second-fastest internet provider, with max advertised speeds up to 1,200 Mbps and an ISS of 157.13. Verizon, MetroNet, and Cox take third, fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Fastest national internet providers, January 2022–January 2023

*Data effective 1/23/2023. Data taken from internet user results conducted on HighSpeedInternet.com’s speed test between January 9, 2022 and January 9, 2023. Not all speeds and packages available in all areas and are subject to change. The weighted speed score is not an actual internet speed.

WeLink takes the lead among regional internet providers

While major providers like Verizon Fios and Xfinity bubbled to the top of the list of fastest nationwide providers, several regional and local providers also distinguished themselves with fast speeds.

Over the past 12 months, the fastest regional provider (meaning any provider that serves fewer than five states) is WeLink. That’s according to results from our speed test tool taken between January 9, 2022, and January 9, 2023.

Based out of Lehi, UT, WeLink is a fiber internet provider that serves a handful of cities across the United States. The other providers on this list are member-owned internet cooperatives that serve populations in rural and smaller urban areas in parts of the South.

Fastest regional internet providers, January 9, 2022–January 9, 2023

The impressively high scores of all these providers makes clear that local and regional internet providers are fast becoming important players in the internet world. While larger internet providers may be able to deliver lower prices and more promos, local internet companies increasingly have a footprint in underserved areas, delivering faster speeds along with personalized customer service.

Pro tip:

Take our speed test to see what kind of bandwidth you have at home. You might be better off with a faster plan.

Which internet providers advertise the fastest speeds?

A growing number of fiber and cable internet providers have boosted their internet plans to new multigigabit speeds—including speed tiers reaching all the way up to 5,000 Mbps.

Here’s a breakdown of which providers unveiled multi-gig plans and when:

• Xfinity first introduced a 2,000 Mbps Gigabit Pro plan in 2015. The provider upped its Gigabit Pro plan to 3,000 Mbps in November 2021.
• Google Fiber announced a trial run for its 2,000 Mbps speed tier in September 2020. It will introduce 5,000 Mbps and 8,000 Mbps plans in early 2023.
• AT&T and Ziply both unveiled 2,000 Mbps and 5,000 Mbps plans in the first months of 2022.
• Frontier introduced a 2,000 Mbps plan in early 2022. It announced a 5,000 Mbps plan in January 2023.

Of course, most internet users don’t get gigabit speeds, most people don’t need those kinds of speeds. In fact, your home Wi-Fi doesn’t often reach the top speeds advertised by your internet plan. We discuss this issue further in the next section of this report.

Pro tip:

Sometimes you don’t need the fastest internet connection just because you can get it. Take a look at our “How Much Internet Speed Do I Need?” tool to get an idea of how much bandwidth is right for your household.

Part 2: Is it time to update the FCC’s broadband standards to a minimum speed of 100 Mbps?

With the internet increasingly a key part of everyday life, the federal government has pushed for internet service providers to do better. In the summer of 2022, Jessica Rosenworcel—the chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission—put out an official call to raise the federal speed minimums for broadband internet.

Currently, the FCC (the federal agency tasked with regulating internet policy) defines broadband internet as any connection with a minimum of 25 Mbps download speeds and 3 Mbps upload speeds. But in July 2022, citing the increased demand for fast internet in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rosenworcel called to raise that minimum to 100 Mbps download speeds and 20 Mbps upload speeds.¹

Are American internet providers prepared to consistently deliver on those proposed benchmarks? We took a look at five years’ worth of speed-test data to see.

Average download speeds in 2022 were over 100 Mbps for the first time

In 2022, the average download speed for internet users in the United States was 111.2 Mbps, according to our speed test.

That’s a massive jump from five years ago, when average download speeds were at 41.5 Mbps. That means download speeds have gone up by 168% in just five years, with more netizens getting 100 Mbps speeds or faster than ever before.

How much have internet speeds improved since 2018?

But only one out of three US-based internet users gets 100 Mbps speeds or faster

Despite the major gains that internet providers have made in recent years, the majority of Americans still don’t get speeds of 100 Mbps or faster. According to our speed test data, 32% of users get download speeds of 100 Mbps or faster.

That’s three times more users than in 2018, when just over 10% of internet users got speeds that fast on our speed test. Clearly there is still a lot of room for internet providers to improve their speeds before most Americans meet the proposed FCC benchmarks.

Interestingly, as the chart below shows, our data suggests that a large number of users are still coping with download speeds of 25 Mbps or slower. However, enough users get speeds close to 100 Mbps or over that number that it drives up the average. Also, while very few internet users get speeds of 500 Mbps or faster, those cases also bring up the overall average.

How many internet users get 100 Mbps speeds or faster?

According to our data, users saw a particularly drastic rise in speeds between the years of 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. These figures aren’t surprising, considering the pandemic was in full swing by March 2020, requiring an unprecedented number of internet users to seek out faster speeds to support remote work and school.

The rise in the number of users with 100 Mbps or faster speeds tapered off in 2021 and 2022. But if you filter the data by specific providers, the rise of users with 100 Mbps speeds in much more drastic terms.

Which internet providers deliver 100 Mbps+ speeds to the most customers?

*14.72% in 2019 (the first year T-Mobile 5G Home Internet is available)

Our speed test results suggest that fiber internet providers have seen some of the biggest gains in speeds. Windstream and Frontier—which both offer a mix of DSL and fiber-optic internet services—saw the biggest increase in users with 100 Mbps speeds between 2018 and 2022. These higher numbers reflect how fiber internet providers in general have pivoted away from antiquated services like DSL in favor of building up their fiber networks.

Cable providers like Mediacom and Cox have also shown drastic rises in the number of users with 100 Mbps speeds or faster.

More notably, T-Mobile showed an increase of 173% between 2019 and 2022. T-Mobile launched its 5G Home Internet service in 2019, and availability has vastly expanded since then—a development that has earned the provider top ratings in our annual customer satisfaction survey.

Interestingly, some fiber internet providers (notably Google Fiber, MetroNet, and AT&T) showed much smaller gains. However, that’s because these carriers were already delivering 100 Mbps speeds or faster to a large number of users to begin with. In 2018, well over a third of Google Fiber and AT&T’s speed tests were showing speeds of 100 Mbps or greater. Those numbers have only grown in the years since, with as much as 60% of the providers’ speed-test users now getting speeds in that range.

100 Mbps+ speeds—satellite internet providers

*Starlink launched its beta service in 2020, so that was the first year Starlink data was available on our speed test

Satellite internet providers are a different story. On the whole, very few satellite internet users get speeds of 100 Mbps or faster because satellite bandwidth itself is extremely limited.

Starlink, the much-talked-about satellite internet service run by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, gets the highest number of users with 100 Mbps download speeds or faster. Tellingly, though, Starlink actually saw a decrease in the number of users getting these speeds between 2020 and 2022—possibly due to the fact that the provider is expanding its availability and facing new challenges in serving more users.

Do you really need 100 Mbps speeds? For many, the answer is yes

While you can do a lot of things online with a tiny amount of bandwidth, most internet users end up needing 100 Mbps speeds or more to serve as a buffer as they multitask online and share their Wi-Fi connection with others. The more devices, activities, and users you have going at once, the faster your speeds need to be.

A 100 Mbps internet plan isn’t the fastest you can get—it’s pretty much the average. But for many users, 100 Mbps download speeds provide a sufficient amount of breathing room to handle bandwidth-taxing tasks with minimal slowdowns or technical glitches. By comparison, 25 Mbps download speeds are better suited for someone who lives alone or in a small household and spends less time streaming or making video calls.

What can you do with 100 Mbps that you can’t do with 25 Mbps?

• Comfortably share the same Wi-Fi with three or more users
• Make video calls and stream movies on four or more Wi-Fi devices at once
• Stream video in 4K/UHD on multiple screens
• Download or upload a 1.5 GB file in two minutes
• Host livestreams

You should also consider the fact that most internet plans that advertise 100 Mbps speeds tend to deliver slower speeds on a daily basis, due to limitations of your modem and router, the number of users on your Wi-Fi, and a range of other factors. So even if you’re paying for what you think is a 100 Mbps plan, you likely are getting less out of your connection.

What’s the fastest internet plan you should buy?

The fastest internet plan you should buy is 1,000 Mbps. Anything faster isn’t necessary for the majority of internet users—and high prices and limited availability make some of these plans out of reach anyway. Take a look at our “How much internet speed do I need?” tool to get a proper idea of the bandwidth you want at home.

According to our data, most people have much slower download speeds than 1,000 Mbps. On our speed test in 2022, only 3% of users saw download speeds of 500 Mbps or faster.

How many internet users get 500 Mbps download speeds or faster?

Methodology: How HighSpeedInternet.com made the Fastest Internet Providers report

We measure providers’ internet speeds using our own internet speed test. Millions of internet users take our test each year, and we recalculate the results every three months to generate an integrated speed score (ISS) for the top-performing internet providers.

We calculate the ISS by adding 90% of a provider’s average download speed to 10% of the provider’s average upload speed, a blend that reflects the relative importance of these different speeds to a user’s needs.

Most internet providers advertise only download speed as the standard-bearer for internet speed as a whole. We factor in upload speeds as well because they’re important to consider as internet users increasingly depend on upload bandwidth for Zoom, livestreams, and social media.

For this edition of our report, we also pulled data from 17 major internet service providers going back to 2018 in order to analyze internet speed trends over time. For each year, we looked at the number of tests that fell into specific speed ranges—25–99 Mbps, 100–499 Mbps, 500–999 Mbps, and 1,000 Mbps and faster.

Fastest internet providers—the raw data

The tables below offer a sampling of some of the raw data we used to calculate the fastest internet providers. There are a lot of ways to look at the fastest internet providers—and we chose these data points to show an accurate picture of how speed works, rather than simply relying on advertised numbers from providers.

Fastest average download speeds, major internet providers, January 9, 2022–January 9, 2023

Fastest average download speeds, regional internet providers, January 9, 2022–January 9, 2023

We used these average download speeds to help generate the integrated speed scores for the above sections on the fastest national internet providers and the fastest regional internet providers of the past 12 months. Some of the providers ended up ranking higher because we also factored in average upload speeds to generate our integrated speed score.

Percentage of internet users with speeds of 100 Mbps or faster