How we rank internet providers
Our data sources, the weighted value score (with weights shown), and what we deliberately don’t claim.
We answer one question honestly: which internet providers serve a given city, how fast their top tiers are, what they cost where a price is published, and which represents the best value — with every input traceable to a public source.
A transparent 0–100 score from three real factors
- Max advertised speed & tier40%
- Starting price / value35%
- Local availability25%
Each factor is normalized 0–1 across the providers serving that city, then weighted and summed. Providers without a cleanly published price are scored at the neutral price-factor median — we never invent a number to score them, and the page marks them “see provider.” Fixed-wireless and satellite carry a small transparent penalty so a “best in city” list meant for wireline isn’t swamped by services that reach everywhere.
| Field | Source |
|---|---|
| Which providers serve a city | FCC National Broadband Map (Broadband Data Collection), 2025-06-30 vintage, plus each provider’s own published coverage. Public-record government data. |
| Max speed & connection type | Each provider’s own current residential plans page (2026-07). Uncopyrightable facts, cited per provider. |
| Starting price | The provider’s own published national starting rate where cleanly available (16 of 23 providers). Otherwise “see provider” — never estimated. |
| City population | U.S. Census 2020 (public-domain government data). |
- Availability tells you which providers serve a metro, not that a given plan reaches your exact address. Always check your address.
- Max advertised speeds are “up to” top tiers — not available at every address in the metro.
- Prices vary by address and change often; where a provider doesn’t cleanly publish one, we say “see provider” rather than guess.
- This is an MVP sample of major metros and major ISPs, not a census of every provider or address. We expand coverage over time.
How this was made: our editorial team compiled this from the FCC National Broadband Map and providers’ own published plans, with the help of AI drafting tools, then fact-checked it against the data before publishing.
Corrections: we correct errors promptly and update the reviewed date. Spot something off? Email [email protected].