Best ISPs in Santa Clara, CA

What is the best ISP in Santa Clara?

CNET recommends Xfinity as the best Internet service provider in Santa Clara. Not only is it the most common cable provider in the area — except satellite providers like Huznet, Viasat and Starlink — also offers some of the lowest rates for home internet. You can also find AT&T Fiber, T-Mobile Home Internet and Ridge Wireless at most locations in Santa Clara, but it really depends on what’s available at your address.

Xfinity stands out from other competitors by offering the most accessible internet in Santa Clara. For just $20 per month, customers can reach download speeds of up to 150 megabits per second. If you need even more speed, Xfinity’s 300Mbps plan costs just $15 more per month and includes equipment rental.

Now if you are looking for the fastest connection in Santa Clara, you can’t go wrong with AT&T Fiber. The service offers 5 gigabit download and upload speeds for $250 per month. Although this may sound expensive, it is only about 5 cents per Mbpswhich is quite cheap for such high speeds. AT&T Fiber and Xfinity offer the next best plans in the area, with speeds of 2,000 Mbps, costing $150 and $80 per month, respectively.

The best internet in Santa Clara, CA

Source: CNET analysis of vendor data.

Source: CNET analysis of vendor data.

How to Find Internet Deals and Promotions in Santa Clara

The best internet deals and top promotions in Santa Clara 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.

Santa Clara ISPs like T-Mobile and Xfinity may offer lower introductory rates or streaming add-ons for a limited time. Others, such as AT&T and Verizon, maintain the same standard rates throughout the year.

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: 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 meet 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 gaming.
• 500 to 1000 Mbps allows three or more users to engage in high-bandwidth activities simultaneously.

How CNET chose the best ISPs in Santa Clara

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 FCC.gov.

It doesn’t stop there: We use the FCC’s website to verify our data and ensure that 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?

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. 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 also 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.

Santa Clara ISP FAQs