Best Internet Providers in Helena, Montana (2023)

FAQs

Can you get good internet in Montana? ›

Quality of internet access in Montana

100% of Montana has access to the minimum recommended broadband speeds, but less than 20% of the state has access to gigabit speeds: Residents with broadband access (speeds at or over 25/3 Mbps): 100%

Montana has an average Internet speed of 8.45 Mbps. This is two thirds slower than the national average of 12.55 Mbps. On a local area, the 5 cities with the fastest internet speeds in Montana are: Great Falls – 12.68 Mbps.

According to FCC, Iowa is the only Midwestern state with virtually complete access to high-speed internet. Every county is covered by download speeds of 25 megabits per second (Mpbs), which the agency defines as “baseline” broadband.

Transports Fiber Map

BroadbandMT members have installed over 25,000 miles of fiber optic infrastructure in Montana.

The best alternative to satellite internet is 5G/4G LTE home internet service from Verizon or T-Mobile or fixed wireless service from Rise Broadband. DSL internet is also a cheaper alternative to satellite internet. But if you live in a remote area, satellite internet might be your only (and best) option.

Google Fiber is the fastest internet provider, followed by Verizon and Xfinity. Let's get right to the point: Google Fiber is the fastest internet provider in the United States.

Fastest internet provider FAQ

Xfinity provides the fastest home internet speeds—6,000 Mbps—for a major ISP. This Gigabit x6 plan will cost you a whoppin' $299.95 per month, though, so you might consider saving some cash by going with its cheaper 1,000 Mbps internet plan, which is only between $60.00 and $70.00 a month.

What state has the best internet in US? ›

Here's their full list of 50 U.S. states and internet index rankings in 2022. New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New York deliver the best value for internet services.

Maryland and Virginia have the fastest internet in the US, with average internet speeds of 506.7 Mbps and 505.6 Mbps, respectively. Other states with notably high average internet speeds include the District of Columbia (473.8 Mbps), Delaware (469.7 Mbps), and Washington (451 Mbps).

A good internet speed is anywhere between 25 and 100 Mbps. (Mbps means Megabits per second, by the way.) Speeds of 25 Mbps allow up to 2 devices to stream, surf the web and check emails. 50 to 100 Mbps allow a few more people to stream in HD or even 4K, stream music, game, browse social media, and work from home.

Simply put, internet speeds in the 100–200 Mbps range are ideal for most households since they can handle common activities like streaming and video chat for two to five users at once.

A recent state-by-state survey of internet access has found that Montana has the worst internet service in the nation with data transmission speeds only slightly better than half the national average.

Xfinity's fiber-optic internet plan is $299.95 per month.

How Much Does Starlink Cost? Starlink offers three different packages. Starlink internet costs $110 per month with a $599 one-time equipment fee. Starlink RV internet costs $135 per month with an up-front $599 equipment fee.

Who has the slowest internet speed? ›

Turkmenistan has the slowest broadband in the world with an average speed of just 0.77Mbps.

AT&T is rated highly in customer satisfaction for residential internet service. The company is known for internet reliability and fast speeds, even at peak times. In fact, AT&T Internet tops the Forbes 10 Best Internet Providers of 2023 list.

An Ethernet connection is generally faster than a WiFi connection and provides greater reliability and security.

Why is fiber internet better than broadband? Fiber optic internet is currently the fastest, most-reliable internet service available. Fiber increases download and upload speeds and offers users faster access to various media types and larger file sizes.

Speed: AT&T offers speeds up to 5,000 Mbps while Spectrum goes up to 1,000 Mbps.

How fast are AT&T's internet speeds? AT&T delivers internet speeds that range anywhere from 25 Mbps to 5,000 Mbps, depending on the plan and type of internet connection you have. AT&T customers experience average download speeds of 120 Mbps and upload speeds of 312 Mbps, according to our speed test results.

Spectrum is a highly-rated internet service provider. Spectrum ties for fifth in our rating of the Best Internet Service Providers of 2023, and does a good job at balancing cost with performance.

If you want the most secure Internet provider, then go with Verizon Fios. A strong competitor to Verizon Fios is Google Fiber. Google Fiber, as the name suggests, also offers fiber optic Internet. They offer incredibly fast speeds — up to 1,000 Mbps — and a secure connection.

Do I Need a Modem and a Router? If you wish to use WiFi or connect numerous devices, you'll need both a modem and a router. You can only connect one computer at a time because most modems only have one LAN Ethernet connector, but a modem won't provide the same level of protection as a router.

Is fiber or cable Internet better? ›

Verdict: Fiber is the best connection

Get fiber if it's available for a reasonable price in your area. It's more reliable than cable in most cases and (for now) has faster upload speeds. But if you don't have access to fiber or you don't need gigabit speeds, cable is certainly the best alternative.

With just 79.8% of households with any internet access, Mississippi has the lowest rate among all 50 states.

The report ranked Maryland as the best overall state for broadband internet, followed by New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Washington. The rankings considered overall access to broadband, access to low-cost broadband, download and upload speeds, and access to fiber-optic service.

Here's their full list of 50 U.S. states and internet index rankings in 2022. New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New York deliver the best value for internet services.

Maryland and Virginia have the fastest internet in the US, with average internet speeds of 506.7 Mbps and 505.6 Mbps, respectively. Other states with notably high average internet speeds include the District of Columbia (473.8 Mbps), Delaware (469.7 Mbps), and Washington (451 Mbps).

First, the rural areas with high internet speeds: Boardman, OR (103.8Mbps), Madisonville, LA (101.7Mbps), Rifle, CO (96.7Mbps), Pulaski, VA (96.6Mbps), Seaford, DE (96.4Mbps), Ware, MA (92.0Mbps), Barnegat, NJ (90.1Mbps), Lock Haven, PA (89.5Mbps), Cotati, CA (89.0Mbps), Valley, AL (86.6Mbps), Winchester, CA (85.9Mbps) ...

Xfinity: Xfinity from Comcast is the winner for the fastest internet service. In some areas, you can find speeds as fast as 2,000 Mbps, or 2 Gbps. That's twice as fast as the 1 Gbps you'll find in many metropolitan areas.

What is average internet speed for home? ›

Simply put, internet speeds in the 100–200 Mbps range are ideal for most households since they can handle common activities like streaming and video chat for two to five users at once.

Ziply Fiber holds the title for fastest multi-state ISP, with a 10,000Mbps plan starting at $300 per month. Google Fiber recently introduced an 8,000Mbps plan in select areas for just $150 per month with the intent to roll the plan out to all service areas later this year.

Alaska has the slowest average Internet speeds of 17.03 Mbps. Speeds under 20 Mbps take longer periods for downloads and only works best for single-user streaming. Following Alaska for the slowest Internet speeds in the country are Mississippi (24.77 Mbps), Idaho (25.30), Montana (25.70), and Maine (26.05).

The correct answer is Dial-up service.

Freedom House Index: internet freedom in selected countries 2022. In 2022, Iceland was the worldwide leader in terms of internet freedom. The country ranked first with 95 index points in the Freedom House Index, where each country received a numerical score from 100 (the freest) to 0 (the least free).