CableTV.com’s Best of the Best Awards 2025: Home Internet
In our 2025 Best of the Best Awards, our editors ranked dozens of home internet providers across the U.S. using insights and data from real customers.
Who is the best home internet provider?
As part of CableTV.com’s annual Best of the Best series, we draw from resources including our internet reviews, hands-on testing, customer satisfaction surveys, and interviews with thousands of real-life internet customers to see which internet service providers (ISP) come out on top.
CableTV.com’s top home internet providers for 2025 are Google Fiber, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Xfinity. Wondering why they made the cut? Let’s break down the stats.
What do real customers think of our top internet providers?
| Provider | Overall satisfaction | Price satisfaction | Customer support | Customer loyalty* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Fiber | 83% approval | 79% approval | 82% approval | 85% approval |
| T-Mobile 5G Home Internet | 80% approval | 79% approval | 78% approval | 81% approval |
| Verizon 5G Home Internet | 86% approval | 75% approval | 80% approval | 82% approval |
| Verizon Fios | 82% approval | 63% approval | 74% approval | 76% approval |
| Xfinity | 80% approval | 65% approval | 71% approval | 74% approval |
*Averaged score for respondent’s likelihood of staying with an ISP and recommending them to someone else in CableTV.com’s 2025 Internet Customer Satisfaction Survey.
Every year, we talk to more than 8,000 home internet customers during our Internet Customer Satisfaction Survey to find the providers who consistently overdeliver and make sure their customers are happy. All five of our top ISPs stuck around the 80% approval mark in all three categories, which is generally our baseline for a top internet provider.
Customer support satisfaction aligns heavily with internet tech type. This is why Xfinity’s cable internet and its middling 71% approval score was a step down from headliners like Google Fiber, which also earned a first-place finish for customer satisfaction in J.D. Power’s 2024 internet satisfaction survey. As for internet performance, our top providers kept things straightforward: They delivered fast and reliable internet for customers.
How fast are our top internet providers?
| Provider | Advertised download speeds | Internet performance* | Average latency (overall ranking) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Fiber | 1,000–8,000 Mbps | 84% approval | 23.9 ms (15th) |
| T-Mobile 5G Home Internet | 87-415 Mbps | 77% approval | 40.7 ms (28th, 2nd among 5G ISPs) |
| Verizon Fios | 300–2,300 Mbps | 85% approval | 9.5 ms (2nd) |
| Xfinity | 150–2,000 Mbps | 79% approval | 16.6 ms (9th) |
| Verizon 5G Home Internet | 85–1,000 Mbps | 85% approval | 34.4 ms (26th, 1st among 5G ISPs) |
*Average of ISP’s speed and reliability satisfaction scores on CableTV.com’s 2025 Internet Customer Satisfaction Survey.
Google Fiber, Verizon Fios, and Verizon 5G Home Internet led the pack in internet performance satisfaction, but none of our top providers were slouches. Xfinity’s top-five ranking in our 2025 survey was fueled by its high internet performance ratings, as the ISP upgraded its base download speeds across the board this year.
I also analyzed thousands of speed test results from our partners at HighSpeedInternet.com to track latency, which refers to how quickly data travels from a website to your computer. Latency is important if you regularly play online games or make video calls. Verizon Fios led the pack among our providers with a sub-10 millisecond latency mark, while our other providers rounded out the top 10.
CableTV.com’s Best of the Best Award winners for home internet up close
Between 5G, fiber, and cable internet, there are more options than ever these days for home internet service. Our top providers clear the bar for customers in areas like speed, performance, and value.
Find out why we named Google Fiber, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Xfinity as our top ISPs of 2025.
Best of the Best: Google Fiber
Fiber internet’s already best-in-class for home internet, so how does a fiber ISP further separate itself from the pack? Google Fiber nabbed our Best of the Best Award by outperforming the competition on every major front.
Cost is one of the key factors we use when determining the Best of the Best Award, and it includes more than the price on your bill. Of course, ISPs that charged less for internet landed higher in our rankings than expensive ISPs.
But I also factored in details like contract fine print, hidden fees, and historical price increase trends over time. Every ISP can offer a great sale deal, but the best ISPs won’t hike your price every 12 months or make you pay extra to extend your discounts. Google Fiber checks off all of these boxes thanks to its straightforward pricing and rates that are lower than competing fiber ISPs.
We considered each ISP’s performance, which can be broken down into several fields:
- In our annual Internet Customer Satisfaction survey, we ask subscribers if they’re happy with their ISP’s customer support, speeds, and internet reliability.
- We analyze each provider’s average latency time according to FCC disclosures or speed test data from our partners at HighSpeedInternet.com
- We also subscribe and test out a home internet provider’s service to see how well it works in person.
Google’s latency and performance satisfaction marks were slightly behind Verizon Fios. But overall, Google Fiber’s other survey wins in areas like customer service helped it take our top spot (although Verizon Fios is no slouch itself).
What do real customers think about Google Fiber?
Google Fiber has been consistent with my Internet service. They help me address any IT issues related to my Internet. The customer service representatives go out of their way to help address any questions, concerns, or problems you may have with your Internet.
Best Bang for Your Buck: T-Mobile 5G Home Internet
How far is your dollar going when it comes to your ISP? T-Mobile 5G Home Internet won our Best Bang for Your Buck Award thanks to its strong value on a few different fronts.
Of course, we gave the most points to ISPs that offered low prices, zero extra fees, and plans with no annual price hikes. Additionally, we gauged customer price satisfaction during our Internet Customer Satisfaction Survey: Did customers feel like the quality of their internet service was worth the price they paid? Did they feel like they were overpaying compared to the competition?
Finally, I considered each ISP’s range of deals and saving opportunities. These can include everything from signup bonuses for new customers to service bundle discounts.
T-Mobile landed on top here because of the sheer number of ways you can save with the provider. Along with standard benefits like flat-rate pricing, you’ll get a sizable $15.00 monthly cell phone bundle discount that’s easier to qualify for compared to Verizon’s similar discount. Plus, T-Mobile beat out Verizon 5G Home Internet in our survey for price satisfaction, and the provider offers a bounty of included deals for new and existing customers.
Best of the Best for Reliability: Verizon Fios
Are you consistently getting the internet you’re paying for, or is your connection constantly slow and/or out of service? We used several metrics to show why Verizon Fios won our Best of the Best for Reliability Award.
In our initial stages, we drew on the hands-on testing experience from our reviews and informal channels like social media. Additionally, we utilized latency data from HighSpeedInternet.com and internet reliability satisfaction data from our customer internet survey to rank ISP internet quality.
I also analyzed thousands of customer interview quotes to gauge how individual customers felt about their ISP. Our top ISPs kept customers online, while the worst providers took days to fix outage issues.
Verizon Fios was one of the few ISPs that combined low latency times alongside high customer satisfaction ratings for internet speed and reliability—it was one of only five ISPs to crack the 80% mark in both areas. Thanks to Verizon’s efficient fiber network, your data won’t have to detour through servers across the country to reach its destination—you’ll consistently get the speed and uptime you’re paying for on Verizon Fios.
What do real customers think about Verizon Fios?
Verizon Fios offers high-quality service and has a great network. The price is reasonable for the quality of the service offered.
Best of the Best for Cable: Xfinity
In 2025, I won’t blame you if cable internet feels like settling for second place compared to fiber. But considering cable internet has far greater availability than fiber internet, it’s likely the sole internet option in your neighborhood. And if you have to get cable internet, Xfinity earned our Best of the Best for Cable Award for several reasons.
Our criteria for this award were in line with our Best of the Best Award for Google Fiber: Our top cable provider needed to offer affordable pricing, strong customer service, and excellent internet performance. Cable’s generally a step behind fiber internet on most of these fronts, but the best cable ISPs still managed to get passing grades.
Xfinity had average scores in areas like customer support and price satisfaction, but it ranked a shocking third in overall satisfaction and sixth in internet performance satisfaction. Both marks helped Xfinity leap above competitors like Spectrum and Cox. Xfinity’s fine print may be annoying, but when it comes to performance, the ISP remains the best among cable ISPs.
Best of the Best for 5G: Verizon 5G Home Internet
5G is the newer kid on the block when it comes to home internet, but we didn’t have to reinvent the wheel when it came to anointing Verizon 5G Home Internet as our Best of the Best for 5G Award winner. As with our other ISP awards, we placed a huge priority on factors like value, performance, customer service, and scores in our Internet Customer Satisfaction Survey.
However, our decision-making process also had to weigh the unpredictability of 5G home internet in several areas. 5G ISPs are rolling out coverage on a city-by-city basis, so availability varies widely. Similarly, download speeds can be heavily impacted by factors like tower capacity and local network traffic.
As a result, I emphasized internet reliability and approached it differently compared to our other ISP awards. In addition to evaluating our Internet Customer Satisfaction Survey results for internet speed and performance, I also analyzed more than 260,000 HighSpeedInternet.com speed test results to see what download speeds 5G home internet customers were getting in the real world.
Verizon 5G Home Internet was a step behind T-Mobile in price satisfaction. But the provider swept categories like overall and performance satisfaction over T-Mobile, and it offers faster minimum download speeds in qualifying regions. All of these factors helped Verizon take the top spot among 5G ISPs this year.
What do real customers think about Verizon 5G Home Internet?
Verizon 5G home internet can be faster than other service providers. Also, there are no contracts. On the downside, upload speeds are not as fast as fiber.
Best of the Best for Gaming: Verizon Fios/Xfinity
Gamers need the fastest and most reliable internet connections because you don’t want to drop out of your party in the middle of a game or be weighed down by bad lag. To determine the winners for this category, we drew from sources like the research and hands-on testing we conducted as part of our standard reviews.
What’s more, we relied on our Internet Customer Satisfaction Survey results, along with latency data from HighSpeedInternet.com and the FCC, to determine which ISPs offer optimal performance for gaming. The top-rated ISPs led our polling for internet speed and reliability satisfaction. With these providers, you can download games in minutes and maintain uptime.
We also placed equal weight on each provider’s average latency times. Low ping times are crucial to a good gaming experience, as the best ISPs maintain efficient server networks that’ll prevent your data from being routed halfway across the country every time you start a new match.
Verizon Fios and Xfinity earned our Best of the Best for Gaming Awards for fiber and cable ISPs, thanks to their strong results across the board. Verizon Fios ranked first in overall internet performance thanks to its top-five satisfaction scores and leading 9.5-millisecond average latency time. As for Xfinity, the cable ISP trounced competitors like Spectrum and Cox in our polling and had a respectable 16.6-millisecond latency mark.
