Internet speed: Up to 100–5,000 Mbps
Price: $55.00–$180.00/mo.
Data cap: 1,024 GB–unlimited
Fiber-optic plans are our hands-down picks with any internet provider, including AT&T—if you can get it. In many areas, AT&T’s service still uses DSL (digital subscriber line) technology on copper lines.
We recommend AT&T Fiber Internet 300 for most folks. Its high speeds, included Wi-Fi gateway, and unlimited data make it a great choice for streaming TV and working from home. Although AT&T’s Hyper-Gig Speed plans are flashy, most people don’t need that much bandwidth.
But if AT&T offers only DSL service in your area, you may want to consider your other options.
Want a little something-something to make your AT&T internet plan even sweeter? Check out regular AT&T internet perks, or see if it’s offering anything special this month on our list of major internet deals.
| Package |
| Best DSL plan Internet 100 |
| Our recommended plan Internet 300 |
| Fastest internet plan 5 Gig Internet |
Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
*Plus taxes. Price after $5/mo. Autopay & Paperless bill discount.
AT&T’s best internet speeds vary by area. On its copper DSL network, AT&T offers speeds up to 100 Mbps (megabit per second), though some rural areas might find that number much, much lower.
On AT&T’s fiber internet network, you can get speeds up to 5,000 Mbps—that’s five times faster than the Gigabit internet everyone’s been ga-ga over for years.
But AT&T’s 5 Gig Internet plan has way more internet speed than most folks need. We say skip the massive price tag and go for the more modest Internet 300.
Even at 300 Mbps internet speeds, you and your family will be able to stream TV, game online, or video chat at home. And if you find 300 Mbps doesn’t meet your needs after all, you can always upgrade later.
AT&T’s top competitors include Earthlink, Spectrum, and Xfinity.
Earthlink actually uses AT&T’s network to provide internet services, but charges extra for its hands-on customer service policies. While it’s not cheap, Earthlink is a good option if you don’t feel taken care of by AT&T’s customer service.
Spectrum’s cable internet is a stellar alternative to AT&T’s DSL internet. It can reach speeds up to 940 Mbps, and its entry level plan is cheaper than AT&T’s (if you’re not paying the extra $5 a month equipment charge). However, AT&T Fiber has better upload speeds, and its mid-level plans are a bit cheaper than Spectrum’s, so stick with AT&T Fiber if you have the option.
Xfinity, like Spectrum, offers cable internet, which you should definitely consider over AT&T’s DSL connection. Even though it doesn’t have AT&T Fiber’s fast upload speeds, you might get more bang for your buck with an Xfinity internet plan depending on the deals available where you live. Just consider buying an Xfinity-compatible modem to avoid the $14 a month Wi-Fi gateway equipment cost.
When AT&T released its Hyper-Gig plans with speeds up to 5 Gbps, it also took the time to raise all its internet prices. But since it also went back to including its $10 equipment charge right in the advertised price, most plans didn’t actually change much.
So while AT&T’s prices now look similar to most of its competitors’, you should remember Xfinity charges $14 per month for its modem/router combo, and Spectrum charges $5 per month for a Wi-Fi router rental.
Since internet service providers and their prices vary by area, we can’t say which offers the best price on the speeds you want for your home. Instead, you can enter your zip code below to find your internet provider options and links to their sites for the deals they offer in your neighborhood.
| Price* | Download speeds up to | Upload speeds up to | Connection type | |
| $55.00/mo. | 100 Mbps | 20 Mbps | DSL | View plan |
| $55.00/mo. | 300 Mbps | 300 Mbps | Fiber | View plan |
| $65.00/mo. | 500 Mbps | 500 Mbps | Fiber | View plan |
| $80.00/mo. | 1,000 Mbps | 1,000 Mbps | Fiber | View plan |
| $110.00/mo. | 2,000 Mbps | 2,000 Mbps | Fiber | View plan |
| $180.00/mo. | 5,000 Mbps | 5,000 Mbps | Fiber | View plan |
Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
*Plus taxes. Price after $5/mo Autopay & Paperless bill discount.
Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
*With 12-month promo discount. Taxes and fees apply.
When you get an AT&T internet plan, you can add home phone for an additional monthly price. AT&T Phone plans use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to let you place calls using your internet connection.
If you make a lot of international calls, consider AT&T Phone Unlimited International Plus. This plan offers discounted per-minute rates on international calls (other than those to Canada and Mexico, which are included in your unlimited calling).
Rather than VoIP, we’re fans of placing international calls through online video call services. But if a home phone makes it easier for you and your family to place calls in an emergency, having one can offer some real peace of mind.
AT&T beefed up a lot of its copper DSL network by hybridizing it with fiber lines. Fiber-optic delivers service over microscopic glass strands as pulses of light, and using this tech to carry data over long distances improves your speeds even if the data slows over the copper DSL lines that connects your house to the network.
If you live in a hybrid-DSL area, you can get speeds up to 100 Mbps on your AT&T internet plan. But in rural areas that are further from the fiber network, your internet might be as slow as 768 Kbps (0.768 Mbps). Yikes.
But AT&T’s fiber-optic network keeps expanding, and in 65 metropolitan areas, AT&T now offers speeds as high as 5 Gbps (5,000 Mbps)—that’s over 6,000 times faster than AT&T’s slowest DSL speed.
If you’re a real speed fiend, you should know that the 5 Gig Internet plan can only get up to 4.7 Gbps on any one wired device. But most of us use the internet on more than one device at a time (we know you scroll through Instagram while watching Netflix). So it’s likely you’re already spreading that bandwidth love between your devices, and the 4.7 Gbps shortcoming shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.
AT&T internet service includes an AT&T Wi-Fi Gateway modem/router, which can be set up for full smart home coverage. Some compatible smart home devices include the following:
Since so many simultaneously connected devices can eat a lot of internet bandwidth, we’d recommend only AT&T’s higher-speed fiber internet plan for running a smart home.
If you’re in an area that’s wired for AT&T’s fiber-optic internet service, we recommend it—whatever speed your home needs, AT&T Fiber’s Hyper-Gig Speeds should cover it.
DSL internet networks were built on old phone copper wires, and they’ve essentially hit their peaks of speed and stability. That said, they still work, and AT&T’s DSL service is among the better internet hookups available—just keep an eye out for fiber arriving in the neighborhood.
CableTV.com spends hundreds of hours researching internet providers like AT&T. We compare plans, pricing, features, reliability, promotions, test the checkout process, and more, then offer our expert analysis to our readers to enhance and inform their buying experience. For more on our methodology, see our How We Rank page.
AT&T internet runs from $55.00 a month to $180.00 per month, depending on your plan.
AT&T’s DSL internet service comes with a monthly 1 TB (terabyte) data cap, which is a pretty high ceiling for the average user. To reach 1 TB in a month, you’d have to stream over 400 HD movies on Netflix, or the entirety of Friends six times on HBO Max. Challenge accepted.
AT&T’s Fiber internet service doesn’t have a data cap, so you can take your time enjoying Central Perk.
Like all US fiber-optic internet providers, AT&T hasn’t yet built fiber infrastructure in every state—new tech rollouts take time. But AT&T Fiber is available in major cities in these states:
