Best Internet Providers in Charleston, South Carolina - CNET
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I live just under 200 miles from Charleston, South Carolina, and let me be transparent: The last thing on my mind when I visit is my broadband options. I’m usually focused on fluffy biscuits, sandy beaches and bustling markets. But Charleston residents have a solid lineup of cable and fiber internet service choices offered by a wide variety of providers.
What is the best internet provider in Charleston, SC?
One hundred percent of Charleston households have access to a broadband connection (defined as 25 megabits per second download and 3Mbps upload speeds), according to the Federal Communications Commission, and 98% are eligible for plans that offer download speeds up to 250Mbps. That's unusual. In South Carolina's capital city of Columbia, for example, 92% have access to internet plans that fast, which would allow a household of four to comfortably stream shows, work from home and game simultaneously, per FCC guidelines.
CNET considers speeds, pricing, customer service and overall value to recommend the best internet service in Charleston across several categories. Our evaluation includes referencing a proprietary database built over years of reviewing internet services. We validate that against provider information by spot-checking local addresses for service availability. We also do a close read of providers' terms and conditions and, when needed, will call ISPs to verify the details.
Despite our efforts to find the most recent and accurate information, our process has some limitations you should know about. Pricing and speed data are variable: certain addresses may qualify for different service tiers, and monthly costs may vary, even within a city. The best way to identify your options is to plug your address into a provider's website.
Also, the prices, speed and other information listed above and in the provider cards below may differ from what we found in our research. The cards display the full range of a provider's pricing and speed across the US, according to our database of plan information provided directly by ISPs. At the same time, the text is specific to what's available in Charleston. The prices referenced within this article's text come from our research and include applicable discounts for setting up automatic payments each month -- a standard industry offering. Discounts and promotions might also be available for signing a term contract or bundling multiple services.
To learn more about how we review internet providers, visit our full methodology page.
Our take - There are two options for fiber internet service if you live in Charleston: local provider Home Telecom, which services just over 7% of the area, or AT&T Fiber, which has a broader reach and offers faster, multigigabit plans in some areas.
Our take - WideOpenWest, also known as WOW, offers nearly as many cable service options as Xfinity -- and some at considerably lower prices. If you're looking for a viable alternative to one of the big national brands, WOW is well worth a look.
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Speed range
75 - 2,000Mbps
Price range
$20 - $120 per month
Our take - Comcast’s home internet brand, Xfinity, services the most households of any cable ISP in the country and covers more of Charleston than any other provider. (Satellite internet is technically available to 100% of residents but is far inferior to the cheaper, faster cable connections CNET recommends.)
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Speed range
72 - 245Mbps
Price range
$50 per month
Our take - This provider uses its cellular network to offer a wireless home internet plan that's the highest rated (among non-fiber providers) in the 2023 American Customer Satisfaction Index survey.
Other available Charleston residential internet providers
Charleston has more ISPs than many other cities in the US, providing a rather extraordinary range of options. Here are some other providers worth considering.
Home Telecom: This company covers about 7% of Charleston, with availability mostly in the Daniel Island area. Its fiber-optic plans offer 300Mbps, 500Mbps or 1 gig for $70, $80 or $100 monthly -- which is a bit more expensive than AT&T's Fiber plans. But it's a local outfit, equipment is included, and there are no data caps or contracts.Satellite internet: We recommend avoiding satellite internet in Charleston, given that cheaper and faster options are widely available. Satellite internet is best for rural areas that cable and fiber don't reach. If that's where you live, Hughesnet and Viasat are the most prominent providers, though each requires a two-year contract. Elon Musk's Starlink, which offers higher download speeds and lower latency, may soon be a more viable option: The company's availability map says it will expand to Charleston in 2023. Spectrum Internet: Charter Communications' home internet service is available to about 5% of the area, mostly north of the city in Ladson and Summerville. There are three different cable internet plans: 300Mbps for $50 per month, 500Mbps for $70 monthly and a gigabit offering for $90 per month. There are no data caps or contracts. Prices increase by $30 monthly after the first year.Verizon 5G Home Internet: Like T-Mobile, Verizon uses its cellular network to wirelessly provide home broadband connections. It offers higher maximum download speeds than T-Mobile (1,000Mbps vs. 245), but it's only available to about 12% of Charleston households.
Susanne Neumann/Getty Images
Pricing info on Charleston home internet service
The average starting price for internet in Charleston is around $43 per month -- on par with other cities, including Austin, Dallas and Philadelphia.
What are the cheapest internet plans in Charleston?
Show more (3 items)
Source: CNET analysis of provider data.
Charleston broadband speeds
According to the FCC, 100% of Charleston residents have access to broadband internet and, even more impressively, more than 30% are eligible for gig speed connections (940-1,000Mbps) from either AT&T Fiber, Home Telecom, Spectrum or Xfinity. AT&T also offers multigigabit plans up to 5 gigs (5,000Mbps).
What are the fastest internet plans in Charleston?
How CNET chose the best internet providers in Charleston
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. So what's 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 the Federal Communications Commission at FCC.gov.
This guide leverages an in-house artificial intelligence tool called RAMP, which is trained on our own writing and uses our database to generate content about specific internet service providers that our writers can use in determining and presenting our picks for a given guide. Check CNET’s AI policy for more information about how our teams use (and don’t use) AI tools.
Because our database is not exhaustive, we go to the FCC's website to check the primary data for ourselves and make sure we're considering every ISP that provides service in an area. Plans and prices also vary by location, so we input local addresses on provider websites to find the specific options available to 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 our prepublication fact-check.
Once we have this localized information, we ask three main questions:
Does the provider offer access to reasonably fast internet speeds? Do customers get decent value for what they're paying? Are customers happy with their service?
While the answer to those questions is often layered and complex, the providers who come closest to “yes” on all three are the ones we recommend. To explore our process in more depth, visit our how we test ISPs page.
What’s the bottom line on Charleston internet providers?
Residents of Charleston have a variety of options when it comes to choosing a broadband provider. Xfinity covers nearly every address in the city, and some households can get faster upload speeds through fiber connections from AT&T and local provider Home Telecom. And If it’s cheap internet you’re after, look no further than WOW -- it has some of the lowest starting prices you’ll find anywhere in the US.
Which is the best internet service provider in Charleston?
It depends on where you live. AT&T Fiber is a solid choice -- and CNET's top pick --- but it's not available to all households; most residents will have to settle for the provider's DSL connection. If that's the case, there are better options in that price range. Xfinity covers the greatest number of addresses but comes with data caps and temporary discounts. T-Mobile Home Internet offers no data caps, no price increases and free equipment rental -- but its download speeds top out under 300Mbps, which might be insufficient for households with multiple users.
Which is the cheapest internet provider in Charleston?
Charleston’s cheapest internet provider is WOW, whose 100Mbps cable internet plan costs $20 per month. Its gigabit plan, which offers 1,000Mbps, and costs $50 monthly, is one of the best values in the US.
Yes. AT&T Fiber offers three plans for up to 1 gig in several areas and up to 5 gigs in others. Local provider Home Telecom offers three fiber plans with strong coverage penetration in the Daniel Island area.
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