Brightspeed Internet Review 2025: Cost, Plans, and More
We put in the days researching Brightspeed to find out if it can compete against other internet providers.
Brightspeed has decent pricing, few surprises
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**Autopay required. Installation fee may apply. Limited availability in select areas. Prices may vary depending on location.
If Brightspeed’s internet plans look familiar, that’s by design. In 2022, Brightspeed bought out CenturyLink’s old DSL and fiber internet network across 20 South and Midwest states.
Brightspeed’s pricing largely aligns with other fiber ISPs, although it’s not without a few downsides. We’re always a fan of starting plans like Fiber 200 that start at under $50 monthly alongside Brightspeed’s Fiber 500 ($39/mo. with promotion) costing less than CenturyLink’s identical 500 Mbps ($50/mo.) plan before any deals Brightspeed has running (which currently puts the plan under $40). Still, its Fiber 1 Gig plan is significantly cheaper than competitors like AT&T and Verizon, whose comparable plans cost around $80 monthly.
On paper, Brightspeed’s fiber internet plans check off all the boxes we like to see from a fiber ISP:
- Unlimited data
- Flat-rate pricing (no annual price increases)
- No-contract service
What about Brightspeed’s DSL network?
However, Brightspeed’s approach to its legacy DSL network echoes other fiber ISPs with DSL networks: We’ll keep the lights on, but don’t expect more. Technically, Brightspeed’s DSL plan advertises speeds up to 20Mbps. But as with other DSL providers, your exact download speed depends on how extensive Brightspeed’s DSL network is in your area. If you’re near a major city, you might crack 30Mbps download speeds, but your download speeds will likely drop the farther you get from metro areas.
Our research found multiple Brightspeed DSL addresses in smaller suburban cities with download speeds of less than 15Mbps. You’ll quickly experience bandwidth problems at these speeds if more than a few people in your home want to stream videos. (That said, Brightspeed announced in 2024 that it would invest $2 billion into building out its fiber network, so we’ll see if these DSL addresses get fiber in the future.)
How reliable is Brightspeed internet?
| Test | Score |
|---|---|
| Average latency | 20.9 milliseconds |
| Internet reliability approval rating | 54% approval |
| Internet speed approval rating | 52% approval |
As part of our internet reliability research, we gathered data including speed test data from our partners at HighSpeedInternet.com to see how Brightspeed operates in the real world. Brightspeed’s average latency mark of 20.9 milliseconds fell in the middle of the pack alongside cable ISPs like Spectrum.
Conceringly, Brightspeed’s latency times didn’t improve when we separated them into DSL and fiber tests. (However, Brightspeed’s current Broadband Facts disclosure labels clock their typical fiber latency at below 5 milliseconds.)
- DSL latency: 20.5 milliseconds
- Fiber latency: 21.2 milliseconds
In practice, you won’t have problems checking TikTok on Brightspeed. Still, it won’t provide the low latency times you’d expect from newer fiber ISP networks like Verizon Fios, Quantum Fiber, or Frontier.
Similarly, Brightspeed’s aging DSL network heavily weighed down its results in our annual Internet Customer Satisfaction Survey, as barely half of respondents approved of Brightspeed’s internet speeds and reliability. Typically, we consider 70% to be a passing mark for an ISP in our survey. DSL customers made up a sizable portion of Brightspeed’s negative responses, as many of them cited issues like slow speeds and service downtime. (As always, DSL remains the absolute pits when it comes to home internet service.)
That said, Brightspeed has invested in its fiber network since we ran our survey last year. In January 2025, the ISP touted that its fiber network now covers 1.82 million homes against a total install base of 6.5 million customers across 20 states. We’ll see if these investments pay off in next year’s edition of our customer satisfaction survey.
The internet speed is decent. It has trouble keeping up when more than two people are using it at once. Goes out very easily due to weather.
Brightspeed internet offers decent deals and coverage
As a mid-major ISP, Brightspeed doesn’t necessarily have the piles of freebies and features offered by the bigger players, but that doesn’t mean they’ll leave you empty-handed. Here’s everything else you need to know about Brightspeed internet service.
Brightspeed internet availability
Brightspeed adopted a large chunk of CenturyLink’s network, so you likely live in Brightspeed’s coverage area if you previously had access to CenturyLink DSL or fiber service and live east of the Rocky Mountains. The following states are serviced by Brightspeed (although exact availability varies by address):
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Brightspeed internet deals
Every Brightspeed fiber internet plan includes a free modem, so you won’t have to pay additional hardware rental fees in addition to your internet bill.
Also, Brightspeed is handing out some great deals for a limited time. With 200 Mbps and 1 Gig, you’ll get a $20/mo. bill credit for 6 months, and with 500 Mbps and 2 Gig, you’ll get that same amount for a full year. Plus, you’ll get an additional $100 reward card with 1 Gig and a $200 reward card with 2 Gig.
Brightspeed internet and phone bundles
Brightspeed doesn’t offer TV service, but you can still add a landline phone with Brightspeed Digital Voice, which starts at an additional $30 per month.
What do real Brightspeed customers think of Brightspeed?
As part of our annual Internet Customer Satisfaction Survey, we talk to thousands of internet customers every year to see how they feel about their internet providers. Chalk it up to Brightspeed’s frustrated DSL customers, its relative newness, or a combination of the two, but Brightspeed customers had a gear to grind with the provider, which fell into the bottom quarter of our surveyed ISPs.
- Only 53% of Brightspeed customers were satisfied with their internet service.
- 49% of respondents had an enjoyable time dealing with Brightspeed customer service.
- 55% of respondents were satisfied with their customer support experience.
When it comes to customer service, Brightspeed generally doesn’t have the arsenal of bigger companies. As a mid-sized provider, Brightspeed lacks retail stores for in-person troubleshooting, and these support gaps tend to carry over to customer concerns about Brightspeed. Installation and phone support issues are among the most common complaints from Brightspeed customers on social media.
But on the bright side (*wink*), Brightspeed’s fiber customers tend to be far more satisfied with their internet service than DSL customers. As with most fiber internet users, the Brightspeed fiber subscribers we surveyed shouted out fiber’s superior speed, reliability, and price. (Brightspeed and Brightspeed DSL customers alike are likely counting the days until they can toss their DSL network out the window.)
I also live in Eastern NC […] We were one of the first areas to get fiber and they had my address wrong in their system, it would change it from "street" to "avenue" (which didn’t exist) and it would tell me that only DSL is available…For the past year I called and called and got nowhere to get my address corrected. I found the escalation form [...] and filled it out with a detailed description of my issue. Emailed [Brightspeed’s] team back and forth for about 2 weeks before they "exhausted" all of their resources and could not help me. Then I searched up Brightspeed's executive leadership team and guessed at their email naming convention […] and sent an email to every executive at Brightspeed with a description of my problem. A couple of them actually replied and got me in contact with someone from their "customer advocacy group". I worked with a wonderful individual on that team for about three weeks and they finally got the right person involved and got my address corrected so I was able to order their fiber. I’m currently on the 200/200 plan for $39 a month and it’s great.
Brightspeed internet FAQ
What is Brightspeed?
Brightspeed is a regional internet provider that offers DSL and fiber internet service to six million customers across 20 states in the South, Midwest, and East Coast. Brightspeed is based in North Carolina.
How fast is Brightspeed internet?
Brightspeed’s internet plans offer download speeds between 10Mbps and 1,000Mbps. But your day-to-day speeds will normally fall lower than your plan’s top listed speed, which is normal for any internet provider.
Who owns Brightspeed?
Brightspeed is an internet company that is independently owned by private equity group Apollo Global Management. Brightspeed is not owned by CenturyLink or its parent company Lumen Technologies.
Is Brightspeed part of CenturyLink?
Brightspeed is not part of CenturyLink. In October 2022, Brightspeed purchased parts of its network across 20 states from CenturyLink’s parent company and inherited its customers.
Why you should trust us
To evaluate Brightspeed, we spent more than a week analyzing its plans and pricing compared to competitors like AT&T, Spectrum, and Frontier. We also analyzed internet speed data from our partners at HighSpeedInternet.com and surveyed hundreds of real-life Brightspeed customers during our annual Internet Customer Satisfaction Survey series to see how Brightspeed internet performs in the real world. We also drew from our existing internet coverage to see how far your dollar would go on Brightspeed.
Check out our How We Rank page for more information on our methodology.
Disclaimer
*Ltd avail/areas. Ltd time offer; qualifying, new Brightspeed customers only. Subj to change. Promotion offered through bill credit. Std rates apply after promotion period. Select plans only.
