Best ISPs in Horseheads, NY

What is the best ISP in Horseheads, NY?

It is located just outside the Finger Lakes in the northern part of the state New YorkHorseheads offers its residents more than one decent internet access option. But Internet spectrum remains CNET’s pick for Best Internet Service Provider in Horseheads, despite the increase in its price. The ISP offers wide village availability, direct pricing and reliable speeds compared to fixed wireless providers or satellite internet. According to the latest data from Federal Communications CommissionSpectrum is available to 93% of Horseheads, meaning if you live within the city limits, you’re likely eligible for Internet service from Spectrum.

If your house qualifies for fiber from Empire Access, you can’t go wrong with a fiber connection. Empire Access offers the fastest internet speeds in the city, up to 2000Mbps download and upload for some lucky residents. It also offers two other plans: $50 per month for 500Mbps and $70 for 1000Mbps. These are decently affordable prices coming out at a cost per Mbps from the 10th and 7th century respectively.

If your address doesn’t qualify for fiber from Empire Access and you’d rather cut the cable cords, Verizon and T-Mobile offer significant 5G home internet imprint in Horseheads. Based on wider availability, Verizon 5G Home Internet is the best fixed wireless option in town. Verizon’s 5G internet service is available to 92% of the city compared to T-Mobile Home Internet 56%, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Verizon offers faster speeds than T-Mobile’s home internet, topping out at 1,000 Mbps in some areas. Besides offering faster speeds and being more widely available than T-Mobile’s home internet, Verizon’s 5G home internet also comes with a few perks like a two- to three-year warranty depending on the plan you choose and streaming add-ons package for just $10 extra per month.

If you are on the hunt for cheap internetyour best bet is to bundle your fixed wireless Internet plan with an eligible phone plan from T-Mobile or Verizon, which can lower your monthly costs by $10 to $25, depending on the provider. Otherwise, most Internet plans in Horseheads start at $50 per month. After the end of Affordable Connection ProgramNew York, newly authorized ISPs offer Internet at low cost from $15 per month for qualified low-income householdsbut while we wait for this law to go into effect, some providers are already offering several discounts to qualifying households. Spectrum Internet accessfor example, offers 50Mbps for just $25 per month to eligible households participating in eligible government assistance programs. T-Mobile offers low-income students 100GB of free Internet access a year Project 10 millionand Verizon offers discount options to lower your monthly costs as low as $20 in some cases with Verizon Forward. If none of these discounts apply to you and you’re still looking for a more affordable Internet option in Horseheads, your best bet is to negotiate your price with your ISP.

Source: CNET analysis of vendor data.

Source: CNET analysis of vendor data.

How to Find Internet Deals and Promotions in Horseheads

The best internet deals and top promotions in Horseheads depend on what discounts are available at any given time. Most deals are short-lived, but we’re often on the lookout for the latest deals.

Horseheads ISPs like Spectrum and Verizon may offer lower introductory rates or streaming add-ons for a limited time. Others, including Empire Access and T-Mobile Home Internet, have the same standard rates year-round.

For a more extensive list of promotions, 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 FCC. 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: web browsing, sending and receiving emails, 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 Horseheads

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? For starters, we tap into a proprietary pricing, availability, and speed database that draws from our own historical ISP data, peer data, 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 answers to these questions are often multi-layered and complex, but 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. (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.

ISPs in Horseheads FAQ