The Perfect Internet Plan Doesn't Exist, Or Does It?
What is the perfect home-internet plan? A new survey from HighSpeedInternet.com figured it out based on the opinions of 1,002 US adults who have made at least one internet-plan switch in the past three years. Most customers covet a fiber-to-the-home connection running a minimum of 650 megabits per second, costing about $50 a month, preferable a little less.
Why is that the sweet spot? Because the plans most people have now are far too expensive.
The pandemic, of course, played a part. A third of the respondents want faster and cheaper connections, probably because they're working from home.
The other key takeaway: Plans are utterly baffling to the average consumer.
More than half of survey respondents think they've been taken advantage of by an ISP. Imagine any other business where that would be tolerated; it's the very definition of monopoly privilege.
The people who want labels on their internet pipes might at least get some help. The FCC is pushing to require ISPs to put "nutrition labels" on their broadband: that is, clearly disclose speeds, prices, data caps, and other pertinent information.
When HighSpeedInternet asked people what they thought was the best type of internet connection for home (not mobile, so cellular 5G didn't factor into this), 48% said fiber. But a quarter went for cable as the best. Satellite internet was at 17%, well ahead of DSL at 11%, likely because of all the hullabaloo about Starlink.
For more, read our roundup of the Fastest ISPs in the United States from 2021; it will be getting a 2022 update in June.
(Turn off your VPN and any streaming video for best results.)
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