Internet Service Providers

Without a service provider, there is no Internet. We take Internet for granted in 2020. It’s likely the first thing we connect with in the morning. Many of us, ashamedly so, check our email or the news or something on a Smartphone before even speaking to someone in the morning. It can also be the last thing we do everyday as well. No judgment here though, we’ve all fell into this “addiction” hole. But there is a service behind that connection that is critical to the Internet being such a stable force in our daily lives.

Getting online at home really took off during the 1990s. Internet service providers (ISPs) had bridged the technological divide and were finally able to provide reliable service at a decent price point. America Online (AOL) was one of the biggest providers, but there were others such as The Source and CompuServe. The dial-up connection was a laughable .0024 Mbps, but at that time there was nothing to compare it to. At such slow speeds users during much of the 90s were limited in the things they could do and experience online.

Speeds slowly picked up and the digital subscriber line (DSL), also known as broadband, pushed us even further. DSL could carry the Internet through phone lines at lightening speeds (compared to dial-up connections). ISPs latched on to DSL and competition got even fiercer. Cable residential broadband leapt on the scene in the late 90s, and this increased speeds even further.

Today the ISP offer is vast and robust. The options, depending on where you live and local laws, vary. Here are some national players and folks to keep on your ISP radar.

Viasat

If you live in a rural area, accessing DSL, cable, or fiber Internet can be challenging. Thankfully, we now have satellite Internet. A leading provider with satellite is Viasat. They have come a long way from initially featuring 10 Mbps download speeds to now up to 100 Mbps. Expect to pay anywhere from $50 to $100 per month (depending on the download speed and data cap), and satellite is the only reliable option if you’re living in a highly rural area.

Verizon Fios

For a super fast fiber connection, you can’t go wrong with Verizon Fios. Some of the fastest speeds on the market can be found with Fios, and the price is also highly competitive. The one exception with Fios is the Fios Gigabit Connection, which can only reach a top speed of 880 Mbps. But the other plans are solid. Word is Fios used to offer a public Wi-Fi hotspot network which apparently is no longer so. If Wi-Fi hotspots are a hot need for you, Xfinity and AT&T are better bets.

CenturyLink

When people talk about the “best all-around ISPs,” CenturyLink is typically in the conversation. Internet speeds range from 15 to 100 Mbps, while their fiber lines will shoot you up to 1,000 Mbps. In terms of speed per dollar you pay, CenturyLink beats out most of the competition. For all you TV streaming lovers, CenturyLink performs exceptionally well in this arena. They do put a cap (1 TB), but this is common with most ISPs. Don’t worry, it’ll be more than enough.

There are many more where these came from. Next time you roll through a day with uninterrupted service, take a moment to thank your ISP. The access for what you pay is massive, and without them, we’d be back to the fax machine.