Best Internet Providers in San Francisco

What is the best internet provider in San Francisco?

San Francisco may be the city of cable cars and diverse cultures, but it also has lightning-fast internet speeds and cheap deals from ISPs. Sonic is CNET's pick for the best internet service provider in San Francisco. It's the best internet option for most households because it offers symmetrical speeds thanks to its fiber network, as well as straightforward pricing.However, Sonic isn't available everywhere in the city. If you're outside Sonic's coverage areas, AT&T Fiber, Verizon 5G Home Internet and Xfinity are all solid alternatives, depending on which ISP is available at your address.

Looking for the lowest-priced plans in the area? Xfinity and Astound Broadband tie for the cheapest internet service in San Francisco, both starting at $20 per month. Astound offers the better value -- especially since San Fran residents can currently choose any speed between 300 megabits per second and 1,500Mbps, and pay only $20 under Astound's network.

If you're hunting for the fastest speeds in the city, you can get speeds of up to 10,000Mbps, which Sonic offers for $50 per month. AT&T Fiber also offers multi-gigabit plans in the Bay Area but speeds max out at 5,000Mbps.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Other available internet providers in San Francisco

Astound Broadband: Also known as Wave, Astound Broadband is a cable internet option available throughout San Francisco. Download speeds start at 300Mbps and top out at 1,500Mbps, and SF residents can currently pick any speed for only $20 per month. Astound offers outstanding values at first glance, all plans offer upload speeds no higher than 50Mbps, which doesn't match fiber internet standards. Still, the pricing offers good value per megabits per second.

Etheric Networks: Etheric boasts a vast fixed wireless coverage map, with service covering the entire Bay Area and stretching as far south as Salinas. Etheric Networks offers residential internet service through a wireless connection to the company's hardwired infrastructure. You'll need to schedule a free site survey at your home to see if Etheric is even an option at your address, and while the company doesn't post its prices online, a 2021 Etheric blog post explaining why the service costs more than Comcast gives a good indication that it skews on the expensive side.

Google Fiber Webpass: None of the Bay Area metros are Google Fiber cities -- for that, you'll need to head south to Orange County. San Francisco and Oakland are home to scores of buildings equipped with Google Fiber Webpass. This fixed wireless service uses antennas to send a high-speed signal to multi-dwelling buildings like apartment complexes. Speeds up to a gigabit are possible at some addresses for a flat rate of $70 per month or $63 for a yearly plan.

Monkeybrains: Monkeybrains is a local provider of fixed wireless internet services operating in San Francisco since 1998. When you sign up, the company will install an antenna on the roof of your building and run an Ethernet cable into your home -- plug in a router, and voila, internet access. Your speeds will depend on the strength of the signal at your address, and you shouldn't expect anything blazing fast: advertised speeds range between 20 anf 50Mbps. At a flat rate of $35 per month, Monkeybrains might be worth a call if nothing else is available.

Raw Bandwidth Communications: Raw Bandwidth utilizes a mix of internet technologies to get businesses and residential addresses online and even offers private line service with up to gigabit speeds. Residential service is available in much of San Francisco and surrounding areas, but most homes in that coverage map will have to settle for DSL or even dial-up service, making this an outdated option for Bay Area residents. Speeds won't get any faster than 100Mbps under the best circumstances and will likely be much lower. Still, with no data caps and no prescheduled price increases, Raw Bandwidth might be a good fit for homes requiring basic connectivity for checking email and light browsing.

Unwired: Unwired is another local fixed wireless internet provider, advertising services for residents, business owners and people on the move. The service starts at $55 a month but shoots up to $145 a month. Unwired doesn't advertise speeds on their website, but users report getting between 6 and 70Mbps on various plans, which isn't exactly a great value or technically an internet connection, according to the FCC. Still, if you're on the move or you're looking for a temporary internet service, Unwired might be just the thing for you.

Satellite internet: Satellite internet from Hughesnet or Viasat is available pretty much anywhere. Still, you shouldn't expect fast speeds, low latency or value -- satellite internet often comes with steep equipment costs, tight data caps and long-term service contracts. Starlink, the satellite internet service from SpaceX and Elon Musk, is your third option. It doesn't offer the same universal availability as Hughesnet or Viasat and costs $120 per month, plus $349 for the equipment.

T-Mobile Home Internet: For $50 to $70 per month, T-Mobile can connect eligible addresses to the internet over the same wireless airwaves used for mobile connections, including 5G airwaves. The service offers better overall availability than Verizon since it leans on 4G/LTE airwaves as well, but that also means that average speeds are slower, with downloads ranging from 72 to 245Mbps and uploads ranging from 15 to 31Mbps. There are no data caps or contracts with T-Mobile, so it's an appealing option for rural customers in the coverage map without access to faster fiber or cable plans.

Cheap internet options in San Francisco

If you're trying to keep your internet bill as low as possible, you won't need to spend much more than $50 per month with any of San Francisco's top providers. With Xfinity, available just about everywhere, the cheapest plan available nets you download speeds of up to 150Mbps and upload speeds of up to 100Mbps for just $20 per month during the promo period. Astound Broadband also offers any of its tiers for $20 per month, granting you download speeds up to 1,500Mbps.

What's the cheapest internet plan in San Francisco?

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How to find internet deals and promotions in San Francisco

The best internet deals and top promotions in San Francisco depend on what discounts are available during a given time. Most deals are short-lived, but we look frequently for the latest offers. 

San Francisco internet providers, such as Sonic, Xfinity and Astound Broadband, may offer lower introductory pricing or streaming add-ons for a limited time. Others, including AT&T and Verizon, run the same standard pricing year-round. 

For a more extensive list of promos, check out our guide on the best internet deals.

How fast is San Francisco broadband?

Although multiple fiber and cable providers cover the Bay Area, San Francisco's internet speeds are relatively slow. The city ranks 72nd on Ookla's list of the cities in the US with the fastest internet speeds, a few spots ahead of Los Angeles and Sacramento, and clocks a median download speed of 215Mbps. (Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

If you're looking for more speed than the SF average, you have many options and ISPs to choose from. Sonic offers the fastest connection in San Francisco, delivering speeds up to 10Gbps in select areas for $50 per month. If you can't get Sonic at your address, AT&T Fiber, Xfinity and Astound Broadband also offer gigabit and multi-gigabit plans.

Fastest internet plans in San Francisco

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

What's 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 accommodate videoconferencing, streaming video or gaming, you'll have a better experience with a more robust connection. Here's an overview of the recommended minimum download speeds for various applications, according to the FCC. Note that these are only guidelines and that internet speed, service and performance vary by connection type, provider and address.

• 0 to 5Mbps allows you to tackle the basics: browsing the internet, sending and receiving email and streaming low-quality video.
• 5 to 40Mbps gives you higher-quality video streaming and videoconferencing.
• 40 to 100Mbps should give one user sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the demands of modern telecommuting, video streaming and online gaming. 
• 100 to 500Mbps allows one to two users to simultaneously engage in high-bandwidth activities like videoconferencing, streaming and online gaming. 
• 500 to 1,000Mbps allows three or more users to engage in high-bandwidth activities like videoconferencing, streaming and gaming.

For more information, refer to our guide on how much internet speed you really need.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in San Francisco

Internet service providers are numerous and regional. Unlike the latest smartphone, laptop, router or kitchen tool, it’s impractical to personally test every ISP in a given city. What’s our approach? We start by researching the pricing, availability and speed information, drawing on our own historical ISP data, the provider sites and mapping information from the Federal Communications Commission at FCC.gov.

It doesn’t end there: We use the FCC’s website to check our data and ensure we consider every ISP that provides service in an area. We also input local addresses on provider websites to find specific options for residents. We look at sources, including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power, to evaluate how happy customers are with an ISP’s service. ISP plans and prices are subject to frequent changes; all information provided is accurate as of publication.

Once we have this localized information, we ask three main questions:

1. Does the provider offer access to reasonably fast internet speeds?
2. Do customers get decent value for what they’re paying?
3. Are customers happy with their service?

The answers to those questions are often layered and complex, but the providers who come closest to “yes” on all three are the ones we recommend. When selecting the cheapest internet service, we look for the plans with the lowest monthly fee, although we also factor in things like price increases, equipment fees and contracts. Choosing the fastest internet service is relatively straightforward. We look at advertised upload and download speeds and consider real-world speed data from sources like Ookla and FCC reports.

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

What's the final word on internet providers in San Francisco?

If your home is wired for fiber, you're in good shape. Along with fast speeds, fiber internet offers some of the best value in broadband, with costs per Mbps that typically fall well below what you'll get with cable, fixed wireless, DSL or satellite. Service from Sonic costs a flat $50 per month and nets you whatever the best possible speeds are at your address, making it a tremendous value for homes with wiring capable of hitting 10Gbps. Meanwhile, AT&T is more flexible with its fiber service, allowing users to pay less for lower speeds. If fiber isn't available at your address, sticking with a cable provider like Xfinity or Astound Broadband is your next best option.

Internet providers in San Francisco FAQ