Best ISPs in Pittsburgh, PA

For the residents of Steel City, Verizon Fios is CNET’s top pick for best ISP in Pittsburgh. It gets the top spot on our list because of its wide coverage and fast speeds. If you’re one of the few Pittsburgh residents outside of Verizon Fios coverage, Xfinity and T-Mobile Home Internet are solid alternatives, but you’ll see price increases and slower speeds unlike Verizon Fios.

When recommending the best Internet service in Pittsburgh, CNET considers high-speed Internet, pricing, customer service, and overall value. We also check local addresses for service availability. In addition, we carefully read the terms and conditions of the providers and, when necessary, we will call the ISPs to verify the details.

However, our process has some limitations. Price and speed data are variable: certain addresses may be eligible for different levels of service or special discounts, and monthly costs may vary even within a city. The best way to identify your options is to visit the provider’s website and enter your address.

Note that the prices, speed and other information listed above and in the provider maps below may differ from what we found in our research. The maps show the full range of provider pricing and speeds in the US, according to our database of plan information provided directly by the ISP. At the same time, the text is specific to what is offered in Pittsburgh. The prices shown in the text of this article come from our research and include applicable discounts for setting up automatic payments each month – an industry standard offering. Other discounts and promotions may also be available for things like tying in a contract or bundling with a cell phone plan.

To learn more about how we review ISPs, visit our full methodology page.

Best ISPs in Pittsburgh

There are three main options when it comes to Internet in Pittsburgh: Verizon Fios, Xfinity, or T-Mobile Home Internet. The only other internet providers available in the city are Verizon 5G Home Internet (not very widely available) and satellite providers (not very good).

Source: CNET analysis of vendor data

Other available residential internet providers in Pittsburgh

There aren’t many other internet options in Pittsburgh other than the three providers highlighted above. Here are all the other ISPs operating in the city:

• Satellite internet: No matter where you live in the country, satellite internet is always an option – it’s just not a very good one. HughesNet and Viasat they have slow speeds, meager data caps, and high costs, but they’re available all over Pittsburgh. Starlink will give you faster speeds and lower latency, but it’s even more expensive: you’ll need to shell out $499 for equipment, and plans start at $120 per month.
• Verizon 5G Home Internet: Like T-Mobile Home Internet, Verizon is using its extensive 5G network to offer wireless Internet plans. It’s not widely available in Pittsburgh, but it’s worth checking out if you’re stuck elsewhere.

Information on home internet prices in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh has five internet plans starting at $50 or less, which is on par with the area Cleveland, Columbus and Philadelphia. Xfinity’s $35-a-month plan is one of the cheapest you’ll find anywhere in the country, but it’s only temporary — the price jumps to $90 after a year. T-Mobile and Verizon’s introductory plans aren’t quite as affordable at $50 a month, but the price is fixed for both for at least two years.

Source: CNET analysis of vendor data

How fast is broadband in Pittsburgh?

Five gig speed plans are available in Pittsburgh, which is comparable to other cities of its size. According to Ookla speed test dataPittsburgh ranks 73rd out of the 100 most populous US cities in terms of average internet speed. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.) Residents get an average of 215Mbps download and 52Mbps upload speeds, compared to 253/39Mbps for the country as a whole. Verizon Fios is the fastest provider in town with an average download speed of 234Mbps.

Source: CNET analysis of vendor data

What’s the final word on ISPs in Pittsburgh?

No matter where you live in Pittsburgh, you should have access to several good ISPs. Verizon Fios is the best of the bunch. It gives you symmetrical upload and download speeds, doesn’t charge for extra equipment, and you won’t have to worry about your price going up after a year. Xfinity provides fast download speeds, but upload speeds are extremely slow, and the price increases dramatically after one to three years for all plans. T-Mobile is an affordable backup option, but homes with more than a few people may need more bandwidth.

How CNET chose the best ISPs in Pittsburgh

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 end there. We go to the FCC website to check our data and make sure we’re considering every ISP that provides service in an area. We also enter local addresses on provider websites to find specific options for residents. To gauge how satisfied customers are with an ISP’s service, we look at sources including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and JD Power. 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:

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

While the answers to these questions are often multi-layered and complex, the vendors that come closest to saying yes to all three are the ones we recommend.

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

ISPs in Pittsburgh FAQ