High Speed Internet Services, Providers and Reviews

Broadband high speed Internet service has become almost common place in homes across North America and in many other countries around the world. In the early 2000's consumers started to embrace the Internet and a small percentage of homes were paying $10 a month for dial-up. In a relatively short period of time we have seen a huge shift from dial-up to Broadband of one type or another. This has been made possible by the incredible leaps that providers have made technology wise, and in some cases in their improved infrastructure. The availability increases every year. Rural areas that may have never considered such a service now have options like Satellite, helping to make North America connected.

This section of our site provides informational resources for our visitors who want to learn more about this technology, what the options are and how they work. Use the below links to access either residential or business service information, depending on your needs, or simply scroll down the page.

Residential Broadband

For the people who are new to Broadband, the term is used to describe any kind of high speed Internet access service (this includes DSL and Cable, more on this below). There are many reasons why Broadband solutions are a much better choice over a dial up modem. Read our Guide to learn more about this technology and our History article to learn about how it all started.

DSL

DSL is an acronym for Digital Subscriber Line and is provided over ordinary copper telephone lines. This type of service is typically targeted at the residential market but can also be an option for small businesses. DSL is generally considered the lower cost option but is also typically associated with lower speeds when compared to the Cable option. For more information on what it is, how it works, various configuration set-up diagrams and its main advantages and disadvantages, please read our what is DSL guide.

Cable

This is another popular option today for both homes and small businesses. With this technology, the service is carried over your cable TV line. If you already have cable TV in your house then the chances are high that your provider will also support Broadband access for an additional fee. Costs tend to be higher than with DSL but Cable often boasts much higher bandwidth's (speed). For more information on what it is, how it works, configuration set-up diagrams, and its main advantages and disadvantages, please read our what is Cable guide.

FiOS

FiOS is an acronym used by Verizon/Frontier for their Fiber Optic Service offering. Verizon/Frontier service over 5 million customers in the USA with their FiOS Internet service. FiOS Internet is symmetric, meaning that the uplink and downlink speeds are equal, unlike the popular Cable and DSL offerings. You can learn more about this technology in our what is FiOS guide. We also created a Frontier versus Comcast Internet comparison guide to help our visitors see how these two large Internet service providers match up.

Satellite

What happens if you live in a rural area where there is no Cable TV connection to your house or no support for DSL via a telephone line? This is where a Satellite Internet service can be a good option. A Satellite link is used, from a mounted Satellite dish at your residence to an orbiting Satellite and then back down to a station on Earth, to provide the connection. This solution tends to be costly due to the infrastructure used and can be limited in bandwidth. This technology suffers from an inherent delay, which is OK for data transfer but can cause issues if you are considering a VoIP phone service. For more information on what it is, how it works, and its main advantages and disadvantages, please read our what is Satellite guide.

Internet Provider Reviews

Internet provider reviews submitted by users can be a useful tool. Regardless of what technology you are considering (DSL, Cable, Satellite) it is worth the additional effort to read them before you make your choice. One condition to note though is that users are typically more motivated to add a negative response than a positive one.

The summary table below includes all the service providers for which we have received a review. Each review includes the users comments about their experience with the service, as well as their selected ratings of reliability, speed consistency, service features, customer service and more.

You can write your own review of your experience with your providers service.

Business Broadband

Broadband solutions for businesses come in many different flavors in terms of the physical interface used to transport the data, the data speed available to you and of course the cost. Solutions for businesses include DSL, Cable, T1, T3, Ethernet and more. You can learn more about business service solutions with our business high speed data solutions explained guide.