If you’ve been following the news recently, you’ve probably seen all the headlines about inflation. From groceries to gas, it feels like everything’s getting more expensive these days. But is this true when it comes to home internet prices?
CableTV.com dug into our internet plan database and crunched the numbers to discover the full story. Keep on reading to find out the truth behind internet costs.
Methodology
At CableTV.com, we’ve been covering home internet, cable TV, and streaming services since 2007. For this piece, we charted the prices for 71 internet plans across 24 major internet service providers (ISPs) since 2020.
We used the following criteria for our search strategy:
Plan type
For each provider, we tracked the prices for the same budget, midrange, and premium internet plans over time. Typically, we defined each tier as an ISP’s 100 Mbps, 300 Mbps, and 1 Gbps plan. If an ISP’s plans changed or didn’t fall within these tiers, we defaulted to how the provider had each plan priced at the time.
Sticker price
We used the advertised price for each plan as our data point. Of course, this isn’t the full picture when it comes to home internet costs. Many ISPs may include hidden charges such as equipment fees or promotional pricing (where your internet price increases after 12 months).
Given regional pricing and promotional period differences among ISPs over time, it’d be extremely challenging to keep non-sticker pricing consistent and inflation-adjusted across all 24 ISPs in this study. Still, we think that sticker price is a useful historical indicator that shows what ISPs felt customers would pay over time.
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Is internet getting more expensive than ever? Here’s what we found out.
One fact was clear no matter how you sliced it: ISPs are charging less for internet over time. In the chart below, we’ve tracked internet price trends by technology type.
Home internet prices have been going down
As shocking as it may seem, average internet prices have actually gone down by nearly $15 per month since 2020.
| Year | Average internet plan monthly price* |
|---|---|
| 2020 | $67.03 |
| 2021 | $63.16 |
| 2022 | $57.91 |
| 2023 | $57.25 |
| 2024 | $52.86 |
| 2025 | $53.44 |
*Excluding premium satellite internet plans.
Average home internet plan prices (by price tier among major ISPs)
| Provider | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T (budget) | $50.00 | $35.00 | $55.00 | $55.00 | $55.00 | $55.00 |
| AT&T (median) | n/a | $45.00 | $65.00 | $65.00 | $65.00 | $65.00 |
| AT&T (premium) | $49.99 | $60.00 | $80.00 | $80.00 | $80.00 | $80.00 |
| Verizon Fios (budget) | $39.99 | $39.99 | $49.99 | $49.99 | $49.99 | $49.99 |
| Verizon Fios (median) | $59.99 | $59.99 | $69.99 | $69.99 | $74.99 | $74.99 |
| Verizon Fios (premium) | $79.99 | $79.99 | $89.99 | $89.99 | $89.99 | $89.99 |
| Cox (budget) | $59.99 | $59.99 | $49.99 | $49.99 | $50.00 | $50.00 |
| Cox (median) | $79.99 | $79.99 | $59.99 | $59.99 | $70.00 | $55.00 |
| Cox (premium) | $99.99 | $99.99 | $99.99 | $99.99 | $110.00 | $95.00 |
| Xfinity (budget) | $34.99 | $34.99 | $19.99 | $19.99 | $19.99 | $40.00 |
| Xfinity (median) | $64.99 | $44.99 | $39.99 | $25.00 | $35.00 | $55.00 |
| Xfinity (premium) | $84.99 | $84.99 | $79.99 | $60.00 | $65.00 | $70.00 |
| Spectrum (budget) | $49.99 | $49.99 | $49.99 | $49.99 | $50.00 | $50.00 |
| Spectrum (premium) | $109.99 | $109.99 | $79.99 | $89.99 | $70.00 | $70.00 |
| Optimum (budget) | $39.99 | $45.00 | $39.99 | $40.00 | $40.00 | $40.00 |
| Optimum (median) | n/a | $65.00 | $59.99 | $60.00 | $50.00 | $50.00 |
| Optimum (premium) | $69.99 | $80.00 | $79.99 | $70.00 | $60.00 | $70.00 |
We’d attribute this trend to several factors. As ISPs and customers transitioned from DSL to fiber internet, their networks became similarly well-established. Cable internet’s not the new kid on the block anymore, and customers won’t pay a premium for commonplace technology.
In the past few years, increased ISP competition has also massively reduced pricing. In the satellite internet space, Starlink’s dominance led to Hughesnet all but shuttering its consumer internet program. Starlink and Viasat also introduced sub-$100 monthly plans that make them accessible to even more rural internet shoppers.
5G home internet providers like Verizon and T-Mobile 5G Home Internet have become viable cable internet alternatives in terms of performance and price. In particular, T-Mobile 5G Home Internet blew past multiple cable ISPs in our customer satisfaction survey series for price and overall satisfaction. Similarly, J.D. Power found that wireless internet customers typically pay $72 monthly compared to wired internet customers, who have an average $81 monthly bill. As a result, the best ISPs have adjusted their pricing accordingly to keep customers around.
Hear from real home internet customers
[T-Mobile provides] a very reliable network at a pretty competitive price. They're certainly cheaper than my previous service provider, and I've noticed fewer service outages with them as well.
Home internet’s just another utility
Between school, work, and play, fast internet service has become increasingly essential for any household. These days, home internet isn’t a boutique service—it’s as important as phone, power, or electric service to keep your home operating smoothly.
CableTV.com’s historical pricing data for internet plans also reflects the acceleration of these trends post-pandemic. Since 2020, the number of premium internet plans offered by ISPs—which we’ve defined as costing more than $60 monthly—has decreased by nearly 17%.
| Year | Percentage of premium internet plans offered by ISPs |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 47% |
| 2021 | 45% |
| 2022 | 44% |
| 2023 | 40% |
| 2024 | 32% |
| 2025 | 31% |
The downward pricing trajectory for gigabit and midrange internet plans, alongside increasing home internet demands, helped fuel this trend.
100 Mbps used to be enough bandwidth for most people, and faster plans were accordingly priced. For example, Xfinity’s 300 Mbps plan had a starting monthly price of $64.99 in 2020. But in 2025, you’ll quickly hit a 300 Mbps internet plan’s ceiling if more than a few family members want to watch 4K Netflix, manage their smart home devices, or take Zoom calls.
Thanks to factors like growing network capacity and the emergence of fiber internet, multi-gigabit internet has increasingly become the baseline for a premium internet plan by cost and performance. These plans sport transfer speeds of more than 2,000 Mbps and have price tags that regularly blow past the $150 mark.
Thankfully, these high-end plans have brought other prices down across the board. By comparison, Xfinity’s same 300 Mbps plan costs only $40.00 monthly today. (That said, some ISPs have bucked these trends. Google Fiber’s 1 Gbps plan has had the same $70 price tag since 2012, which underlines Google Fiber’s sterling reputation and regional footprint.)
Customers are watching their bills (but they’re also spending more)
That said, there are always a few bad apples in the bunch, and it’s no different among ISPs. To pick a few examples, AT&T and Verizon’s prices are generally higher than other fiber ISPs, while Cox is one of the few ISPs that has increased its prices over time.
For these customers, the upsides of faster internet performance or a lack of competition likely make them stick around as subscribers. However, flatter internet costs don’t mean that consumer bills are getting any cheaper.
- As we’ve previously reported, streaming services have regularly raised their prices to account for higher operating and content licensing costs. With more households moving exclusively towards streaming, these costs have become increasingly unavoidable.
- ISPs have worked to tamp down on surprise price increases—Xfinity and Optimum were among the providers to roll out extended price-lock offers in 2025—but internet price creep still exists on the margins. In 2025, only 26% of ISP plans had starting pricing below $40. While this split has remained steady over the past few years, it reflects how much ISPs have relegated the budget internet market to their prepaid or government subsidized plans. For many providers, the only way to get a sub-$40 internet bill is to bundle services like cell phone service with your internet plan.
- Accordingly, customers have been increasing the amount they spend on home internet. As the Tech Policy Institute pointed out, average household internet spending has increased from $55 per month in 2016 to more than $70 monthly now.
Hear from real home internet customers
[Cox has] a near monopoly in my area regarding speed, so they just raise the price nearly every year because they know you have little choice.
What it means for home internet customers
When it comes to internet pricing, the question of whether or not prices have increased is an issue of perspective. While sticker pricing has come down, you’re not wrong if it feels like your monthly bill has gotten higher and higher.
While your dollar will continue to go farther thanks to ISP network improvements and price competition, factors like fine-print fee trickery, small price increases, and a lack of budget internet options mean that it’s no guarantee your bill will get lower. As always, make sure to examine your bill with a fine-toothed comb to avoid promotional pricing and hidden fee charges. And if worst comes to worst, you can always shop around if your ISP’s prices have remained painfully stuck in 2020.
