2026 City Internet Review: Methodology

Internet service is a privatized utility for people in the U.S., and we think it’s those people who should decide what’s important.

Our Annual City Internet Service Provider Review uses our internet service provider (ISP) datasets to take an accurate and comprehensive snapshot of the internet landscape in a specific region. Using a mix of customer feedback and thoughtful analysis from our team of internet experts, we then select the appropriate elements to build scores in five key areas:

• Best Overall
• Best Value
• Fastest
• Customer’s Choice
• Most Trusted
• Easiest Switch

The primary goal of this analysis is to provide valuable provider insights in sync with the perspectives and needs of internet customers.

About our data

Our regional reviews rest on four proprietary datasets and two public datasets:

• Region-specific performance data from the HighSpeedInternet.com speed test
• Regional Customer Satisfaction Surveys
• HighSpeedInternet.com’s Internet Plan Index
• FCC provider coverage data

Speed test data

At HighSpeedInternet.com, we have our own speed test (also available via Android and iOS mobile apps), which collects millions of ISP performance data points every year. In the 2024 calendar year, the tool averaged approximately 45,000 tests per day. Of this data, we weighed download speed results most heavily in our scoring.

*For the 2026 regional awards, Quantum Fiber measurements may contain CenturyLink speed test results. This is due to the way the test assigns a provider to the test data. The same entity, Lumen, operates Quantum Fiber and CenturyLink.

Regional Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Every year, HighSpeedInternet.com surveys thousands of internet customers to see how their providers stack up. We conduct a large 10,000+ customer national customer survey and an additional 1,000+ regional customer survey for every metro we review (Austin, Denver, etc.).

We ask customers to rate their provider’s speeds, pricing, reliability, customer service, and overall quality. On top of ratings, customers also answer more specific questions, such as how often they experience outages and whether or not their provider has raised their rates.

Aside from provider performance, we inquire how customers feel about internet service in general and what factors have the most impact on their experience. These insights help us create balanced scores that are faithful to real-world customer needs and wants. For example, our methodology places the highest priority on pricing and value because that’s what customers say matters most year after year. Likewise, the next most influential factor is internet performance because, again, our data suggests that’s the next most important factor to customers. These priorities make our annual reviews a genuinely customer-centric analysis.

Internet Plan Index

At HighSpeedInternet.com, it’s our job to know providers inside and out. We maintain a comprehensive database of hundreds of internet plans from every major internet provider in the U.S. We track every detail of every plan, including prices, speeds, data caps, terms, and policy. The index is essential for comparing the combined value of provider offerings.

Score composition

After compiling and analyzing our data, we handed out six awards for each metro we studied. The provider that is best for one customer might not be a good fit for another. We highlight the providers who outshine the others in the various categories customers are concerned about.

Best Overall

Because internet service quality is multi-dimensional, our methodology considers every aspect of a provider, including:

• Plan value
• Real-world performance
• Plan features
• Customer satisfaction levels.

Then, we use survey data to determine which factors mean the most for you, the customer. Finally, our team of internet experts takes all that data, analysis, and customer feedback to create a balanced and meaningful measurement of a provider’s overall quality.

Score composition (approx.): 44% pricing and value, 38% regional speed and performance, 18% regional customer feedback

Best Value

Our value methodology looks for the providers that offer the best deals, with a strong preference for plans that make the most sense for the average household. We did this because it was an obvious cue from our research and customer survey findings. Money matters, and when inflation is on the rise, millions of households look for budget-conscious solutions to everyday expenses, including their internet bill.

We start by gauging plan value with a cost-bandwidth ratio. Plans with advertised speeds below 940Mbps carry the most weight as we consider these plans to have the most impact. For plans with speeds of 940Mbps and above, score influence starts to drop dramatically. Gigabit plans and above are not only considerably beyond the needs of the vast majority, but their prices often don’t fit with households on any kind of budget.

In an effort to further favor affordability, we apply a flat reward to any ISP with an internet plan for $50 or less and to any that provides unlimited data with 50% or more of its plans.

Score composition (approx.): 50% regional customer price feedback, 35% pricing, 15% affordability and policy

Fastest

When customers think of internet speed, the overwhelming majority think of download speed: the performance metric most indicative of technical service quality. That’s why we use download speed—and only download speed—to determine our speed scores. Our fastest ISP award in each region goes to the provider with the fastest average download speed in that region, period. We collected this data from the HighSpeedInternet.com Speed Test (August 1, 2024 through July 31, 2025).

Score composition: 100% average download speed

Customer’s Choice

In each HighSpeedInternet.com regional customer survey, we ask internet customers to think on all the aspects of their internet service and assign ratings for their internet provider. These ratings reveal how much a customer values their ISP and serves as our best gauge of provider approval and popularity. In each region, the ISP with the highest average customer rating receives that region’s Customer’s Choice Award.

Score composition: 100% average customer rating

Most Trusted

In each regional survey, we ask customers to rate their trust in their ISP. The provider with the highest trust rating receives the region’s Most-Trusted award.

Score composition: 100% average customer trust rating

Easiest Internet Switch

In each regional survey, we ask customers to rate their experience when switching to their current provider. The ISP that receives the best onboarding feedback receives that region’s Easiest Switch award.

Score composition: 100% customer onboarding feedback

Tie-breakers

• To break a tie in the regional overall score, the win goes to the ISP with faster average download speeds in the region.
• To break a tie in the regional trust rating, we use data from a separate question, in which we also ask customers if they agree that their ISP is trustworthy.
• To break a tie in the onboarding score, the win goes to the ISP with the highest average customer ratings.

Providers