What is the best internet provider in Orlando?

Orlando offers not only plenty of theme parks but also plenty of internet service providers for those of us who decide that vacations aren’t enough and move here for year-round enjoyment. Your options can vary wildly depending on your exact address, but Spectrum is the best internet provider in Orlando for most households, thanks to its wide coverage. Prices start at $25 and go up to $70.

Fiber internet from AT&T and Quantum Fiber are your next best bets for internet coverage, especially if you live in Orlando proper, while Verizon and T-Mobile offer cellular home internet services in Orlando over 5G airwaves. Verizon’s home internet coverage is mainly limited to the outlying areas, while T-Mobile covers in and out of the city well but may face slower speeds due to the perpetually overloaded towers near tourist areas.

Best internet in Orlando, Florida, in 2024

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Other available Orlando internet providers

• CenturyLink: DSL internet service from CenturyLink is an option throughout much of the regions surrounding Orlando to the north, west and south, but availability is scarce in the city. Service costs a flat $55 per month with no data caps or preset price increases, which are pretty appealing by home internet standards. Speeds will vary from address to address; in most parts of the coverage map, they won’t exceed double digits. Unless you have your own equipment, you’ll also need to spend $15 monthly to rent the gateway device that brings your home online.

• Quantum Fiber: With speeds that typically won’t surpass double digits, CenturyLink’s DSL plans are pretty ho-hum as far as home internet is concerned — but CenturyLink’s parent company, Lumen Technologies, also offers fiber internet service in the Orlando area, and that’s where things get interesting. Branded as Quantum Fiber, the service offers matching upload and download speeds of 500Mbps for $50 per month, equipment rental included. A faster gigabit plan with download speeds of 940Mbps is also available at some addresses for $35 monthly. Those plans don’t come with data caps or prescheduled price increases after one year, making them an excellent option — if they’re available at your address.

• Satellite internet: Satellite internet from Hughesnet or Viasat is available pretty much anywhere. Still, you shouldn’t expect fast speeds or low latency, given that your traffic needs to go to space and back. You shouldn’t expect value, either. Satellite internet often comes with steep equipment costs and tight data caps. Depending on your provider, it may also come with long-term service contracts. Your other option is Starlink, the satellite internet service from SpaceX and Elon Musk. It doesn’t come with soft data caps like Hughesnet and Viasat plans do, and the speeds will likely be a bit higher than either of those competitors. The upfront equipment cost of $349 and monthly rate of $120 are tough pills to swallow.

• Verizon 5G Home Internet: Verizon is putting more of a focus on 5G with its service, which means that the range of potential speeds at your address is notably higher than you’ll see from T-Mobile. That also means that fewer addresses will have the right kind of signal strength to even be eligible for service. If you’re planning on going with 5G, Verizon’s potential for faster speeds means it’s worth checking to see if it’s available at your address. This is especially true for existing Verizon mobile subscribers, who may be able to sign up for home internet service for $35-$45.

Cheap internet options in Orlando

In most cases, home internet starts at about $50 per month in Orlando, although some residents within Spectrum’s footprint will be able to sign up for internet service at $25 per month if they qualify for Internet Assist, which is the most affordable starting rate in the city. Here’s a look at how all of the top providers’ most affordable plans compare:

What’s the cheapest plan in Orlando?

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How fast is broadband in Orlando?

Among US metro regions, the Orlando area ranks 59th as far as median internet speeds go, with an average household download speed of 227Mbps as per the speed-testing site Ookla. (Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.) That’s just an average; how fast can things get in an ideal scenario?

Pretty darned fast, actually. Multiple providers in the Orlando area now claim to offer multi-gigabit speeds at select addresses with the right fiber wiring. They aren’t widespread yet, but here’s how those speeds stack up against the fastest plans from all of the top providers in the area:

Fastest internet plans in Orlando

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Orlando

Internet service providers are numerous and regional. Unlike the latest smartphone, laptop, router or kitchen tool, it’s impractical to personally test every ISP in a given city. What’s our approach? We start by researching the pricing, availability and speed information, drawing on our own historical ISP data, the provider sites and mapping information from the Federal Communications Commission at FCC.gov.

It doesn’t end there: We go to the FCC’s website to check our data and ensure we consider every ISP that provides service in an area. We also input local addresses on provider websites to find specific options for residents. We look at sources, including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power, to evaluate how happy customers are with an ISP’s service. ISP plans and prices are subject to frequent changes; all information provided is accurate as of publication.

Once we have this localized information, we ask three main questions:

1. Does the provider offer access to reasonably fast internet speeds?
2. Do customers get decent value for what they’re paying?
3. Are customers happy with their service?

While the answer to those questions is often layered and complex, the providers who come closest to “yes” on all three are the ones we recommend. When selecting the cheapest internet service, we look for the plans with the lowest monthly fee, although we also factor in things like price increases, equipment fees and contracts. Choosing the fastest internet service is relatively straightforward. We look at advertised upload and download speeds and consider real-world speed data from sources like Ookla and FCC reports.

To explore our process in more depth, visit our how we test ISPs page.

Internet providers in Orlando FAQ