Best Internet Providers in Charleston, South Carolina

What is the best internet provider in Charleston?

CNET’s top choice for internet providers in Charleston is AT&T Fiber. With plans starting at $55 a month and fast speeds, reliable service, it’s a no brainer. But even if AT&T Fiber isn’t in your neighborhood, you’ve still got great alternatives. This includes Home Telecom and options from Xfinity and Spectrum. Prefer wireless? T-Mobile and Verizon both offer dependable 5G home internet across the city.

Charleston stands out for its broadband access. The FCC reports that every household in the city has access to speeds of at least 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload, with 98% able to get up to 250Mbps which is more than enough for streaming, remote work and gaming. That’s better than Columbia, where only 91% of households can access similar speeds. You won’t be left scampering for quality internet in Charleston.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Other available Charleston residential internet providers

Charleston has more ISPs than many other cities in the US, providing a rather extraordinary range of options. Here are some other providers worth considering.

• Home Telecom: This company covers about 9% of Charleston, with availability mostly in the Daniel Island area. Its fiber-optic plans offer 300Mbps, 500Mbps, 1 gig or 2 gig for $70, $80, $100 or $130 monthly — which is a bit more expensive than AT&T’s Fiber plans. But it’s a local outfit, equipment is included and there are no data caps or contracts.
• Satellite internet: We recommend avoiding satellite internet in Charleston, given that cheaper and faster options are widely available. Satellite internet is best for rural areas that cable and fiber don’t reach. If that’s where you live, Hughesnet and Viasat are the most prominent providers, although each requires a two-year contract. Elon Musk’s Starlink offers higher download speeds and lower latency, although it requires $499 for a standard installation, down to $349 right now, not including the monthly rate of $120 per month.
• Spectrum Internet: Charter Communications’ home internet service is available to about 5% of the area, mostly north of the city in Ladson and Summerville. There are three cable internet plans: 100Mbps for $30, 500Mbps for $50 per month and a gigabit offering for $70 per month. There are no data caps or contracts. Prices increase by $20-$30 monthly after the first year.
• Verizon 5G Home Internet: Like T-Mobile, Verizon uses its cellular network to wirelessly provide home broadband connections. But it’s only available to about 26% of Charleston households.

Pricing info on Charleston home internet service

The average starting price for internet in Charleston is around $46 per month — on par with other cities, including Austin, Dallas and Philadelphia. 

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Charleston broadband speeds

According to the FCC, 100% of Charleston residents have access to broadband internet and, even more impressively, more than 48% are eligible for gig speed connections (940-1,000Mbps) from either AT&T Fiber, Home Telecom, Spectrum or Xfinity. AT&T also offers multigigabit plans up to 5 gigs (5,000Mbps). 

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Charleston

Internet service providers are numerous and regional. Unlike the latest smartphone, laptop, router or kitchen tool, it’s impractical to personally test every ISP in a given city. What’s our approach? For starters, we tap into a proprietary database of pricing, availability and speed information that draws from our own historical ISP data, partner data and mapping information from the Federal Communications Commission at FCC.gov. We also cross check speeds with Ookla’s Speedtest.net. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

Because our database is not exhaustive, we go to the FCC’s website to check the primary data for ourselves and make sure we’re considering every ISP that provides service in an area. Plans and prices also vary by location, so we input local addresses on provider websites to find the specific options available to residents. We look at sources, including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power, to evaluate how happy customers are with an ISP’s service. ISP plans and prices are subject to frequent changes; all information provided is accurate as of our prepublication fact-check.

Once we have this localized information, we ask three main questions: 

1. Does the provider offer access to reasonably fast internet speeds? 
2. Do customers get decent value for what they’re paying? 
3. Are customers happy with their service? 

The answer to those questions is often layered and complex, but the providers who come closest to “yes” on all three are the ones we recommend. To explore our process in more depth, visit our page on how we test ISPs.

What’s the bottom line on Charleston internet providers?

Residents of Charleston have a variety of options when it comes to choosing a broadband provider. Xfinity covers nearly every address in the city, and some households can get faster upload speeds through fiber connections from AT&T and local provider Home Telecom. If it’s cheap internet you’re after, look no further than WOW — it has some of the lowest starting prices you’ll find anywhere in the US which don’t spike after 1-2 years of use.

Internet providers in Charleston FAQs

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