Best Value Internet Provider of 2025: Astound

Internet pricing is anything but straightforward, and you’ll find a catch in nearly every internet plan. Additionally, we tend to accept our internet bills like any other utility: as unmovable, annoying—but necessary—costs tacked onto our budgets. Many customers end up overpaying, locked into term contracts and autopay arrangements that keep them from taking a hard look at what they’re getting for their money.

But the internet isn’t like other utilities: You can switch from one internet service provider (ISP) to another to maximize your savings with price locks and promotional rates. Switching to Astound can cut your monthly internet bill to $19.99, saving you hundreds of dollars annually. That’s why we named it this year’s Best Value ISP.

Internet plan pricing has become so convoluted that customers often cannot discern a good internet deal from a poor one. Things are so confusing, in fact, that the government has enforced broadband labels that mandate ISPs spell out plan details more plainly. But even so, choosing an internet plan that offers the most bang for your buck remains a tricky task.

Very few internet plans use static pricing, instead baking price hikes into most contracts. You can find flat-rate plans without price hikes, but these services are commonly too expensive or too slow. Plus, your prices could still increase; the ISP simply raises costs for all customers.

So, how do you find a good internet deal in 2025? The best way is to disregard most of the marketing terminology and focus on how much you’ll pay over time—don’t let ISPs dictate where your attention goes. We recommend you think of it in years, not months.

Our value methodology prioritizes obtaining a clear picture of exactly how much money you’ll spend. We thoroughly analyzed the pricing and value of all the country’s major internet providers. Our analysis goes much deeper than a simple pricing comparison, but accurately assessing ISP value demands you start by discerning the barebones value proposition of each provider. We aim to prevent internet customers from wasting money on high monthly rates. This is the reasoning that led us to this year’s Best Value ISP: Astound, an ISP that focuses on providing huge and immediate savings for its customers.

When judging internet plan value, we first examine an ISP’s basic service offerings. What does the service provide, and for how much? Astound’s services immediately jump out as the best value for internet customers.

Astound’s pricing is in a league of its own, with rates close to a third of the price of much of the competition. It’s not a slow service, either, with cable and fiber internet plans that pack a ton of speed for your money. Astound has one of the best megabit-to-dollar ratios in the country—and certainly the highest for entry and mid-tier plans. When compared to other internet services, we found that Astound can save internet customers over $1,000 in their first two years of service.

Astound prices and plans

Astound’s 600Mbps mid-tier plan is comparable to high-tier plans from many ISPs, and it goes for just $35 per month. Most ISPs don’t offer anything for as low as $35 per month, but Astound provides a plan with more than enough speed for most American households.

The savings are most obvious when comparing Astound’s pricing to other providers. The table below shows how much further your dollar goes with Astound and how this ISP hits the sweet spot between performance and pricing. Every other service is either too slow or too expensive in comparison, and none are as affordable as Astound.

Google Fiber, for example, packs a ton of speed, but the monthly rate is too high for many customers to justify, especially since most customers would never utilize that much bandwidth. T-Mobile’s pricing almost gets in Astound’s ballpark, but it provides far slower speeds (as low as 87Mbps) while still being more expensive. Compared to Astound, most ISPs charge more, and often for a less-adequate service.

Fast internet service for less than $20/mo.

Astound’s plan roster starts at an incredibly low $19.99 per month. That’s about the same price as a standard Netflix subscription or three drinks at Starbucks. It’s a rate even lower than the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) mandated ($29.99) for ISPs to participate in its low-income connectivity initiative. That starter plan gets you 300Mbps speeds, which is enough bandwidth to connect a typical family home without issue.

Just how much money this pricing saves you over a few years is eye-opening. We compared the total customers pay annually for comparable plans from the biggest ISPs to what they would pay with Astound. The table below shows how much customers save over the first two years of service compared to other internet providers (before taxes and fees).

Astound’s prices vs. the national average

Customers using comparable cable internet services from the nation’s biggest ISPs would save over $1,000 with Astound in the first two years of their service.

I applied this same logic to my internet service by referencing my internet billing statements from the last two years. I found I would have personally saved approximately $940 had I been an Astound customer. My internet service would have also been faster over those two years. My comparison included the full promotional pricing period offered by my ISP. Had it not, my potential savings would be even higher.

Astound customers save a lot of money because of Astound’s lengthy price locks. Your rate is set for the first two years, and there’s no term contract. That’s all the benefits of a contract without the commitment.

Price locks and promo periods are nothing new. Many ISPs employ them, but they are usually far shorter; the shortest we’ve seen is three months long. A year is the norm, but even the promo rates from most ISPs are two to three times as much as Astound’s plan pricing. It’s the combination of low rates and long price locks that sets Astound apart.

Dedication to budget options

Many ISPs offer a lot of internet speed for your dollar. If this were all we looked at, fiber providers with 5 and 8Gbps plans would easily take the crown. While these high-bandwidth internet plans technically offer a good deal, they are usually priced above the average household’s internet budget.

This is why our methodology places a much higher emphasis on plans that make sense for the average household. That isn’t to say we don’t reward ISPs like Google Fiber and AT&T for offering so much speed for the money; we do. But we also check to see if those ISPs have anything for customers on tighter budgets, and unfortunately, most do not. Thankfully, Astound, with its $19.99 starting rate, is very different in this regard.

But Astound didn’t stop there. In May 2024, Congress ceased funding the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which had become a connectivity lifeline for low-income households. Although ACP internet plans were facilitated by ISPs, they were funded by the government. So when this funding disappeared, it’s no surprise that most ISPs held up their hands and notified ACP recipients that their affordable internet plans would be no more after June 2024.

Astound stepped up for its ACP customers, launching its own low-income program before the ACP shutdown: Astound Internet First. The program provides eligible customers with internet service for as low as $9.95 monthly, and it even offers a free unlimited data mobile line for the first year. There are no credit checks, contracts, or installation fees, making it as easy as possible for its former ACP customers to stay connected.

We love to see Astound’s dedication to low-priced internet plans and low-income households. It’s one of the biggest things we search for in our value methodology. When it comes to offering high-quality internet service for any budget, no ISP does it better than Astound.

Data fees and installation

Internet providers are notorious for inflating bills with data fees, especially cable internet providers. Customers are commonly given a data cap and charged extra when they go over. My bill has increased by as much as $60 for using too much data.

Astound doesn’t do data caps, and all plans have unlimited data. Other ISPs do offer unlimited data internet plans but they can come  at a high cost, typically around $30 extra per month, depending on the provider. Unlimited data is one of the key requirements for customers to truly get the most out of their internet plan. Astound’s willingness to add unlimited data to its plans that already feature extremely low rates enhances an already great deal.

New internet customers are often hit with a hefty installation fee, which usually adds about a hundred dollars to your first bill. Astound offers free installations to its customers, continuing its dedication to offering high-value internet plans.

Fast internet plans don’t have to be expensive

Astound proves that decent connectivity doesn’t have to break the bank by delivering high-quality internet connections at a fraction of the price of its competitors. With Astound, you get the speeds you need with unlimited data, and you can start your service without any term commitments. If you’re lucky enough to live within the Astound service area, there isn’t any reason you shouldn’t be taking advantage of its low rates and subsequent savings on your internet bill.

Disclaimers