Rise Broadband Review 2023: Plans, Prices, and More

Is Rise Broadband good?

For rural broadband customers with limited options, Rise Broadband can be a decent compromise if you can’t get cable internet and don’t want to pay a premium for satellite internet.

Rise doesn’t offer the fastest internet speeds, but its plans are surprisingly affordable and straightforward for a non-cable internet service provider (ISP). We’d recommend Rise if your house can get a reliable connection to Rise’s network and faster cable or DSL internet plans aren’t available in your area.

Rise Broadband pros and cons

Jump to:

• Internet packages
• Bundles
• Availability

Rise Broadband internet plans and prices

*For the first 12 months.
Data effective as of publish date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

Rise’s basic 25 Mbps Internet plan doesn’t offer many frills. But for $25 monthly during your first year, it’s a decent option for small households who need the internet only for emails or checking the news.

Like with most rural internet providers, Rise’s listed plans aren’t necessarily its available plans. Your available Rise plans depend on your address, so you may get both Rise speed options or only its 25 Mbps tier.

But no matter which plan you qualify for, you’ll pay surprisingly competitive prices with Rise. Rise’s prices are comparable to cable and DSL providers, and unlike many of these competitors, you won’t be locked into a contract or see a surprise price hike. You’ll pay only an additional $10 monthly after your first year.

Rise’s standard plans also come with a 250 GB data cap. It’s not the most generously sized cap—for reference, CenturyLink has waived its DSL data cap—but it can be workable if your household isn’t regularly downloading Minecraft updates or streaming the latest Only Murders in the Building episode on Hulu.

Rise will send notifications when you hit 75% and 90% of your data cap before charging $5 per 10 GB of overage data (up to $200), but you can upgrade to an unlimited plan at any time.

We’d ultimately recommend Rise’s 50 Mbps unlimited data internet plan if your address qualifies for the package. With the plan, you’ll get unlimited data along with faster download speeds that’ll support several Netflix streams or Zoom calls at the same time.

Compare Rise Broadband internet prices

* For the first 12 months.
** Requires 2-yr. contract.
† Speeds up to 100 Mbps.
†† Prices and availability vary by location. Installation fees, monthly equipment lease fees, and taxes may apply. After 100 GB of High-Speed Data usage, you still have unlimited access to Standard Data, which may result in slower speed.
Data effective as of publish date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change

For most households, Rise’s biggest issue will be its limited speed offerings. We typically suggest an internet plan with a minimum download speed of 100 Mbps if your house has multiple people who transfer large files or stream Netflix shows in 4K. Depending on your area, there’s a chance you’ll be able to get speeds above 100 Mbps from Rise, but it’s not likely.

Rise’s 50 Mbps plan can be serviceable for a family, but we’d recommend its 25 Mbps plan only if your household has minimal internet needs like checking emails or getting WhatsApp messages.

Admittedly, comparing Rise’s speeds to cable internet providers is a slight apples-to-oranges scenario. Rise’s speed limitations are baked into its technology and it’s not trying to compete with cable ISPs.

But at the same time, Rise’s internet speeds topping out at 50 Mbps puts a hard ceiling on its versatility. If you’re a rural internet shopper trying to get service for a large family, your main options are going to be regularly hitting the bandwidth ceiling of Rise’s 50 Mbps plan, paying a premium for Viasat’s 100 Mbps internet plan, or crossing your fingers and waiting for a cable ISP like Xfinity to come to your neighborhood.

Rise Broadband bundles

Rise doesn’t offer TV service, so your only bundle option will be the ISP’s VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone service, which costs an additional $35.00 per month. Currently, with Voice there is a ten-dollar-off promo, making the service $25.00 per month for the first three months. Rise phone service, which can’t be purchased by itself, also comes with features including a free phone number transfer from your old landline provider, free international calls, and e911 service.

Rise Broadband availability

Rise’s main coverage area is throughout the Rocky Mountain region, Southwest, and Midwest. You may be able to get Rise service if you’re in these 16 states:

Rise’s regional coverage can vary depending on your state. For instance, Rise’s footprint in Utah covers the northern end of the state, so you’ll be out of luck if you’re far outside of the greater Salt Lake City region.

Final take

Do Rise’s internet options elevate the ISP above the competition?

We’re big fans of Rise’s affordable internet plans, which come with straightforward pricing and no contracts, though we wish its download speeds didn’t top out at only 50 Mbps. You’ll generally get faster and cheaper service from cable or DSL ISPs. But if those providers aren’t available in your area, Rise can be a strong option for customers seeking rural internet service.

Rise Broadband FAQ

Methodology

Our experts analyzed the numbers to figure out how Rise Broadband stacked up against competing fixed wireless, cable, DSL, and satellite internet providers. We also crunched the numbers from more than 330,000 HighSpeedInternet.com speed test results collected over the past year to see how consistently Rise Broadband delivered internet service compared to the competition.

For more information on our methodology, check out our How We Rank page.