Best ISPs in St. Paul, MN

What is the best ISP in St. Paul?

According to CNET, Quantum fiber is the best internet service provider in St. Paulthanks to fast, symmetrical speeds at a reasonable price. Plus, you won’t have to worry about equipment fees, data caps or contracts. The downside is that it’s only available to about half of St. Paul residents. Fortunately Xfinity and T-Mobile Home Internet both are solid backup options.

Xfinity has the cheapest internet in St. Paul overall, with plans starting at just $20 per month. Keep in mind that prices can jump a lot after a year or two, but some plans come with contracts to get that low price. If that sounds like a hassle, T-Mobile has a super simple option: one $60 per month plan with no price hikes, hidden fees, or data caps.

The best internet in St. Paul, MN

Source: CNET analysis of vendor data.

Other ISPs available in St. Paul

• Nextera Communications: Nextera offers fixed wireless Internet in St. Paul, but it’s an undesirable combination of expensive and slow. Plans start at $125 per month for just 10/3Mbps speeds, and that’s with a two-year contract. Another minor annoyance: Nextera makes you fill out a form to see how much its plans cost, and you’ll have to wait for it to email you to find out. This is one of the rare situations where I would choose a satellite provider instead.
• Satellite internet: Technically you can get satellite internet from HughesNet and Viasat anywhere in St. Paul, but I would only recommend it if your only other option is Nextera. Both ISPs have slow speeds, high prices, and data caps that make things like streaming TV and working from home unrealistic. of SpaceX Starlink satellite Internet gives you faster speeds, but is expensive at $120 a month for service, plus $599 up front for the equipment.
• Verizon 5G Home Internet: Like T-Mobile, Verizon 5G Home Internet uses its cellular network to offer home Internet service in St. Paul. It’s not as widely available in the city as T-Mobile, but it gets faster speeds, and you can save by connecting to an eligible Verizon cell phone plan.

Cheap internet options in St. Paul

St. Paul residents can expect to find a range of internet prices between $20 and $70 per month. That’s a much lower starting price than most cities offer, and that’s thanks to Xfinity’s ultra-cheap Connect and Connect More plans. Note that these are introductory prices and prices will increase after 12 or 24 months of the contract.

Source: CNET analysis of vendor data.

How to Find Internet Deals and Promotions in St. Paul

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

St. Paul ISPs like Xfinity may offer lower introductory rates or streaming add-ons for a limited time. Many, including Quantum Fiber, T-Mobile and Verizon, maintain the same standard rates throughout the year.

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

How fast is broadband on St. Paul?

According to Ookla Speed ​​Test DataSt. Paul ranks 80th out of the 100 most populous cities in the US when it comes to internet speed. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.) Residents experienced average speeds of 198Mbps for download and 23.6Mbps for upload in the city, with Xfinity the fastest provider. This is actually slightly higher than the neighboring ones Minneapoliswhich ranks 91st.

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 meet the demands of modern telecommuting, video streaming and online gaming.
• 100 to 500Mbps allows one or two users to engage in high-bandwidth activities such as video conferencing, streaming and online gaming at the same time.
• 500 to 1000 Mbps allows three or more users to engage in high-bandwidth activities simultaneously.

How CNET chose the best ISPs in St. Paul

Internet service providers are numerous and regional. Unlike the latest ones smartphonelaptop, 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 database of pricing, availability, and speed information that draws from our own historical ISP data, partner data, and mapping information from FCC.gov.

This guide uses an in-house artificial intelligence tool called RAMP, which is trained on our own writing and uses our database to generate ISP-specific content that our writers can use in determining and presenting our choices for given guidance. Check it out CNET’s AI policy for more information on how our teams use (and don’t use) AI tools.

Since our database is not exhaustive, we go to the FCC website to check the primary data ourselves and make sure we are considering every ISP that provides service in an area. Plans and prices also vary by location, so we enter local addresses on provider websites to find the specific options available to 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 our fact checking prior to 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, the providers that come closest to saying yes to all three are the ones we recommend. When it comes to 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.

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

What’s the final word on ISPs in St. Paul?

Internet in St. Paul is hit or miss. Overall, residents get some of the lowest average speeds of any city in the country, according to Ookla Speed ​​Test Data. That doesn’t mean there aren’t good options. About half the city can get service from Quantum Fiber, which is an easy choice if you can get it. Xfinity offers the cheapest internet in St. Paul and is available almost everywhere, but be prepared for steep price increases. T-Mobile is another good backup option with a simple price that never goes up, but speeds aren’t as fast as our top two picks.

Internet Providers in St. Paul FAQ