Here's what you need to know about Sparklight's five internet plans.
At first, Sparklight’s no-contract plans and high download speeds make it look like an ideal internet provider. But watch out for its restrictive data caps—those could end up costing you more than you’d expect.
Data as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
The Internet 200 package is a good choice if you stream TV online. Your home will have enough data to stream full HD shows up to 10 hours a day, plus do other fun things like check social media and play video games.
Keep in mind that if you have a lot of people at home or if you stream 4K movies, you’ll use up 700 GB of data a lot faster than most.
If that sounds like you, you might want to try Internet Gig. It comes with more than twice as much data (1,500 GB) as Internet 200 and download speeds up to five times faster. It’s a great way to avoid running into data caps, but it’s undeniably pricey.
| Package | Price | Download speeds up to | Upload speeds up to | Data cap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet 50 | $40.00/mo.* | 50 Mbps | 3 Mbps | 1,000 GB | View plan |
| Internet 200 | $65.00/mo.* | 200 Mbps | 20 Mbps | 700 GB | View plan |
| Internet 300 | $70.00/mo.* | 700 Mbps | 20 Mbps | 1,200 GB | View plan |
| Internet 400 | $85.00/mo.* | 400 Mbps | 30 Mbps | 1,200 GB | View plan |
| Internet 600 | $95.00/mo.* | 600 Mbps | 40 Mbps | 1,500 GB | View plan |
| Internet Gig | $115.00/mo.** | 1,000 Mbps | 50 Mbps | 1,500 GB | View plan |
Data as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
Each of Sparklight’s internet plans come with painfully restrictive data caps. Data caps aren’t an unusual practice—many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use them to discourage users from downloading super huge files that will eat up bandwidth and slow download speeds for their neighbors.
The thing is, most ISPs have 1,000 GB data caps. That’s enough data for you to stream 10 hours of TV every day, and then some.
So if you use the internet like it’s 2020 and not 1998, you’ll probably run into overage fees. That’s $10 for every 100 GB you go over your data plan, with a price cap of $50 per month.
Go over your data allowance too many times, and Sparklight reserves the right to bump you up to a more expensive plan whenever it sees fit. It’s not nice, and it’s not fair, but it is in the user agreement, so you agree to it (in the most technical sense) when you sign up.
If you don’t want a pricey high-speed plan that comes with more data, you can bow to Sparklight’s data caps by carefully monitoring your internet usage. You can check the numbers on your online customer portal, but that will, ironically, cost data to do. And you’ll definitely need to start depriving yourself of binge-watching Netflix Originals.
Data effective as of publish date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
A good way to get around data caps is bundling your internet package with TV. You’ll still have data caps, but you won’t need to stream to watch all your favorite shows. We hope you didn’t plan on cutting the cord any time soon—Sparklight will have you lassoed in its wires like the villain of a Spaghetti Western.
In a less mustache-twirling move, Sparklight will save you a fistful of dollars on your bundled services for the first six months you’re signed up. The Standard Cable with Internet 200 bundle will save you $5 per month compared to what you’d pay for the services separately.
But not all of Sparklight’s bundles will save you money—some might even cost you a few dollars more. Also, the fastest Sparklight internet speed—1,000 Mbps in Internet Gig—isn’t available in a bundle. To learn about all of Sparklights available bundles, check out our Sparklight bundles review.
Sparklight doesn’t have any deals going on right now, but we’ll let you know here if that changes.
If you plan on using the internet, you can’t get away with signing up for Sparklight’s cheapest plan. Go with Internet 200 or a faster plan, or else you’ll probably run into some serious data-cap fines. If you have a large household and already know you’ll have a lot of demand on your Sparklight Wi-Fi network, go for Internet Gig.
If Sparklight hasn’t struck your fancy, check out if there’s a better provider in your area by searching with your ZIP code in the box below:
To find out how Sparklight stacked up against the competition, we broke down Sparklight’s internet plans in areas including price, download speeds, and upload speeds. We also used our annual internet customer satisfaction survey to see what real Sparklight internet customers thought about the ISP.
To learn more about our methodology, check out our How We Rank page.
Sparklight, previously known as Cable ONE, sells cable (or broadband) internet, which uses coaxial copper cables to deliver your cat pictures and memes.
Depending on the package you get, you can get up to 50, 200, 400, 600, 700, or 1,000 Mbps download speeds.
Sparklight doesn’t include unlimited internet data with its packages. If you exceed your plan’s data cap, Sparklight charges $10 a month for an extra 100 GB, up to 400 GB for $40 a month. If you exceed even that cap, Sparklight slows your connection to a crawl for the rest of the data cycle.
Sparklight claims not to throttle internet connections. But if you use over the 5 TB in a data cycle, Sparklight will slow your connection to around 10 Mbps until the next data cycle begins.
Go for a data allowance of 600 GB. Everyone in your household will be able to stream 1080p TV up to a cumulative of 10 hours daily, with data left over for all your other internet activities.
Pay attention to the video quality of the shows you stream—you could be using up to 7.2 GB of data per hour. More exactly, 720p uses 0.9 GB per hour, 1080p uses 1.5 GB an hour, and 4K Ultra HD uses 7.2 GB per hour.
Disclaimer
*Equipment, taxes, fees, and any applicable surcharge extra. $10 charge for each add’l 100GB; Up to $30/mo
**Equipment, taxes, fees, and any applicable surcharge extra. Actual speeds vary and are subject to equipment limitations. Wi-Fi speeds will be substantially lower. Up to $30/mo.
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