Best ISPs in Great Falls, Montana

What is the best ISP in Great Falls?

Multiple ISPs cover Great Falls, Montana, but for many, Spectrum will be the best choice for home internet. Spectrum has the largest broadband coverage in Great Falls and offers two plans. The lowest starts at $50 per month for 500Mbps; the second gets you 1Gbps for $70.

Spectrum is the only cable Internet provider in Great Falls, but fiber service may be available from Quantum fiberKDS or 3 Rivers, depending on where you live. However, Quantum Fiber presents the best value and local coverage of the three fiber availability from any ISP is scarce in Great Falls. Brand Fellow Lumen Technologies CenturyLink is available in much of the area, but you’ll probably want to pass on the slow, choppy speeds that come with DSL service.

If fiber isn’t available and you’re looking for an alternative to Spectrum’s wired internet, fixed wireless may be an option. Several wireless Internet service providers serve the area, including KDS and Amaze Wireless, but T-Mobile Home Internet and Verizon 5G Home Internet are the only ones capable of broadband speeds of at least 100Mbps down and 20Mbps up.

Source: CNET analysis of vendor data.

Source: CNET analysis of vendor data.

How to Find Internet Deals and Promotions in Great Falls

The best internet deals and promotions in Great Falls depend on what discounts are available during that period. Most deals are short-lived, but we’re often on the lookout for the latest deals.

Great Falls Internet providers like T-Mobile Home Internet may offer lower introductory rates or other incentives for a limited time. Many, including Spectrum and Quantum Fiber, have the same standard rates throughout the year.

For a more extensive list of deals, see our guide to the best internet deals.

Source: CNET analysis of vendor data.

What is a good internet speed?

Most internet connection plans can now handle basic productivity and communication tasks. If you’re looking for an Internet plan that can include video conferencing, streaming video, or gaming, you’ll have a better experience with a more stable connection. Here’s an overview of recommended minimum download speeds for different apps, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Note that these are guidelines only and that internet speed, service and performance will vary by connection type, provider and address.

For more information, see our guide to how much internet speed do you really need?.

• 0 to 5 Mbps lets you handle the basics: surfing the web, sending and receiving email, and streaming low-quality video.
• 5 to 40 Mbps gives you higher quality video streaming and video conferencing.
• 40 to 100 Mbps should provide a single user with enough bandwidth to satisfy the demands of modern telecommuting, video streaming and online gaming.
• 100 to 500Mbps allows one or two users to simultaneously engage in high-bandwidth activities such as video conferencing, streaming and online gaming.
• 500 to 1000 Mbps allows three or more users to engage in high-bandwidth activities simultaneously.

How CNET chose the best ISPs in Great Falls, Montana

Internet service providers are numerous and regional. Unlike the latest ones smartphone, laptop, router or kitchen toolit is not practical to personally test every ISP in a given city. What is our approach? We start by researching pricing, availability, and speed information, drawing on our own historical data from ISPs, provider sites, and mapping information from the Federal Communications Commission on FCC.gov.

It doesn’t stop there: We go to the FCC website to check our data and make sure we account for every ISP that provides service in an area. We also enter local addresses on provider websites to find specific options for residents. We look at sources including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and JD Power to gauge how satisfied customers are with an ISP’s service. ISP plans and prices are subject to frequent change; all information provided is accurate at the time of publication.

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

1. Does the provider offer relatively fast internet access?
2. Are customers getting decent value for what they pay?
3. Are customers satisfied with their service?

The answer to these questions is often layered and complex, the vendors that come closest to saying yes to all three are the ones we recommend. When choosing the cheapest internet service, we look for the plans with the lowest monthly fee, although we also take into account things like price increases, equipment fees and contracts. Choosing the fastest internet service is relatively easy. We look at advertised upload and download speeds and consider real-world speed data from sources like Ookla and FCC reports. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

To explore our process in more depth, visit our how we test ISPs page.

Internet Service Providers in Great Falls, Montana Frequently Asked Questions