Best Internet Providers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Global News Avenue

For the residents of Steel City, Verizon Fios Voted Best Internet Provider in Pittsburgh by CNET. It’s at the top of our list due to its wide coverage and speed. If you are one of the very few Pittsburgh residents not covered by Verizon Fios, unlimited and T-Mobile Home Internet is a solid alternative, but you’ll see price increases and slower speeds, unlike Verizon Fios.

CNET considers high-speed internet, pricing, customer service and overall value when recommending the best internet services in Pittsburgh. We also randomly check local addresses for service availability. Additionally, we carefully read the provider’s terms and conditions and call the ISP to verify the details if needed.

However, our process has some limitations. Pricing and speed figures are variable: Some addresses may qualify for different service levels or special discounts, and monthly charges may vary even within the same city. The best way to determine your choice is to visit the provider’s website and enter your address.

Please note that the prices, speeds, and other information listed above and in the provider cards below may differ from what we found in our research. Based on our database of plan information provided directly by ISPs, these cards show the full range of pricing and speeds from providers across the United States. At the same time, this text is specific to what is available in Pittsburgh. The prices quoted in this article are from our research and include applicable discounts for setting up automatic payments each month – which is standard industry offering. Other discounts and promotions may also apply for things like signing a contract or bundling a mobile phone plan.

To learn more about how we review internet providers, visit our full Methodology page.

Top Internet Providers in Pittsburgh

There are three main options for Internet in Pittsburgh: Verizon Fios, Xfinity, or T-Mobile Home Internet. The only other ISPs available in the city are Verizon 5G Home Internet (not very widespread) and satellite providers (not very good).

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

Other Pittsburgh Residential Internet Providers Available

Aside from the three providers highlighted above, Pittsburgh doesn’t have many other internet options. Here are all other ISPs operating in the city:

• satellite internet: No matter where you live in the country, satellite internet is always an option – just not a great one. HughesNet and Viasat It’s slow, has small data caps, and costs a lot, but it’s everywhere in Pittsburgh. Starlink will give you faster speeds and lower latency, but it’s more expensive: you’ll have to pay $499 for the device, and plans start at $120 per month.
• Verizon 5G Home Internet: Like T-Mobile Home Internet, Verizon offers wireless Internet plans using its massive 5G network. It’s not very widespread in Pittsburgh, but it’s worth a look if you hit a dead end elsewhere.

Pricing information for Pittsburgh home internet services

Pittsburgh has five internet plans starting at $50 or less, on par with nearby areas cleveland, columbus and Philadelphia. Xfinity’s $35-per-month plan is one of the cheapest in the country, but that’s only temporary—the price jumps to $90 after a year. T-Mobile and Verizon’s introductory plans are less affordable at $50 per month, but both prices are locked in for at least two years.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

How fast is broadband in Pittsburgh?

Pittsburgh offers five gigabit speed plans, which are comparable to other similarly sized cities. According to Ookla speed test dataPittsburgh ranks 73rd among the 100 most populous cities in the United States in terms of average internet speed. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET Ziff Davis.) Residents averaged 215Mbps download speeds and 52Mbps upload speeds, while the country as a whole had download speeds of 253/39Mbps. Verizon Fios is the fastest provider in the city, with average download speeds of 234Mbps.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

What’s the final decision about Pittsburgh internet providers?

No matter where you live in Pittsburgh, you should have access to some good internet providers. Verizon Fios is the best of them all. It gives you symmetrical upload and download speeds, no additional equipment fees, and you don’t have to worry about price increases after a year. Xfinity offers fast download speeds, but extremely slow upload speeds, and all plans see significant price increases after one to three years. T-Mobile is an affordable backup option, but households with multiple people may need more bandwidth.

CNET How to Choose the Best Internet Provider in Pittsburgh

Internet service providers are numerous and regional. different from the latest cell phone, laptop, router or kitchen toolsit is impractical to personally test every ISP in a specific city. What is our approach? We started by looking at pricing, availability, and speed information, using our own historical ISP data, provider sites, and map information from the Federal Communications Commission: fcc.gov.

It’s not over yet. We went to the FCC’s website to check our data and make sure we accounted for every ISP offering service in a certain area. We also enter local addresses on provider websites to find specific options for residents. To assess customer satisfaction with ISP services, we looked at sources including the US Customer Satisfaction Index and JD Power. ISP plans and prices may change frequently; all information provided is accurate as of publication time.

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

• Does the provider offer reasonably fast internet speeds?
• Are customers getting value for money?
• Are customers satisfied with their service?

While the answers to these questions are often layered and complex, we recommend the provider that comes closest to a “yes” on these three questions.

To explore our processes in more depth, visit our How we test ISPs Page.

Pittsburgh Internet Providers FAQs