AT&T vs. Spectrum: Which Internet Provider Is Best for You?

Compare AT&T and Spectrum head to head

AT&T has been building up its fiber internet network in recent years, and packages like Fiber Internet 1000 give you all the bandwidth you could want at an affordable price. Spectrum, a cable internet provider, also offers fast speeds and a robust connection. It’s a great choice for people in areas where you can’t find AT&T’s less-accessible fiber coverage.

Pros and cons: AT&T vs. Spectrum

Jump to: Plans and pricing | Extra fees | Customer ratings | Bundles | Internet connection types | Data caps | Contracts | Installation | Availability

Jump to:

• Plans and pricing
• Extra fees
• Customer ratings
• Bundles
• Internet connection types
• Data caps
• Contracts
• Installation
• Availability

Plans and pricing: AT&T vs. Spectrum

AT&T plans and pricing

AT&T offers multiple packages, most of them using excellent fiber connections. You can even get a 5,000Mbps plan—the fastest speeds currently available to homes from any major provider in America.

Overall, the prices are reasonable. We do think it’s worth jumping to the 1G Internet plan if it’s offered where you live—it delivers superior speeds, letting you do practically anything online at a reasonable price.

But if the 1G Internet plan isn’t available, you’ll be good to go with the Internet 300 plan. It’s much faster and gives you more data than what you can get from similarly priced plans from competitor internet service providers (ISPs).

If you’re living in a rural area, check out AT&T’s Fixed Wireless Internet plan, which is designed for customers with limited internet options. It gives you up to 25Mbps speeds, making it a suitable alternative to satellite internet, which is often the only other option in many rural areas. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll have a relatively stringent data cap of just 350GB per month. Still, that’s better than what you’d get from many satellite plans.

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Spectrum plans and pricing

Spectrum keeps it simple with three high-speed plans that range from up to 300 to 1,000Mbps (wireless speeds may vary).

The prices are a bit higher than what you’d get from AT&T, and you won’t get the fast upload speeds that you can get from one of AT&T’s fiber plans. While fiber gives you symmetrical speeds—meaning both download and upload speeds are the same—cable internet delivers much slower uploads than downloads.

Spectrum’s handful of offerings makes choosing a plan easy. You can’t go wrong with the Spectrum Internet® plan—that’s an excellent speed for a fair price. Spectrum’s new discounted pricing for the Internet Gig plan makes it more competitive with AT&T’s 1G Internet plan, but it’s still slightly more expensive. The price increases to $114.99 per month by the third year of service, too.

Extra fees: AT&T vs. Spectrum

Data as of 1/4/23. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

Spectrum doesn’t charge a modem fee each month. Instead, you have a monthly WiFi access fee whether you have Spectrum’s standalone router or its wireless gateway. Spectrum also encourages new customers to use the cheaper self-install kit first due to COVID-19, but the more expensive pro install option is available if needed.

AT&T also gives you a break on installation costs if you decide to install it yourself, but you’ll have to pay more for the activation fee than you would with Spectrum. AT&T’s modem/router gateway device is free with a fiber plan.

There’s a good chance that you won’t have to worry about early termination fees with either of these providers. Most of AT&T’s internet packages run month to month at this point, so that’s not a fee you need to worry about. Spectrum doesn’t have contracts at all, but you’re obligated to keep its service for at least one month before you cancel the service to get the 12-month discounted pricing.

But AT&T does charge $15 per month (up to $180) for canceling plans that have contracts.

Customer ratings: AT&T vs. Spectrum

AT&T and Spectrum both performed well in our annual customer satisfaction survey, getting upper-tier rankings for overall satisfaction. But Spectrum does better in reliability and speed, coming in first for speed out of 13 providers. AT&T’s speed scores are a bit lower, but the provider has much better rankings for price.

In our survey, an impressive 92% of Spectrum customers said their internet speeds “always” or “usually” meet their needs—above the average of 88%. And 60% of Spectrum customers “never” or “rarely” experienced service outages.

Although AT&T leans slightly above average in some categories, the provider’s fiber customers seemed happier with their service compared to AT&T’s DSL and fixed wireless customers. A total 62% of customers “never” or “rarely” experience outages, while 92% of AT&T’s fiber customers said their internet speeds “always” or “usually” meet their needs—making their satisfaction even with Spectrum.

Best mobile and internet bundles

AT&T and Spectrum both offer discounts and deals when you bundle your internet with phone plans. AT&T has a wide range of wireless plans, and you can get 25% per month off a qualifying phone plan when you also have an AT&T fiber internet plan.

Spectrum meanwhile recently has started offering phone plans through its MVNO branch, Spectrum Mobile. The Spectrum Mobile Ultimate plan costs just $45.00 per month and gives you 20GB per month of premium data that you can use for browsing, streaming, gaming, and hotspotting. The Ultimate plan costs $29.99 per month when you have two or more lines, and you can pay $10 more per month for an additional 10GB of data. (You need a Spectrum Internet plan to sign up for Spectrum Mobile.)

Best TV and internet bundles

Spectrum doesn’t offer discounted bundles. Instead, you can pair its TV Select service with one of its cable internet plans. Both services have discounted pricing for 12 months, but all premium channels are extra. You’ll also see a broadcast surcharge of up to $21 on your bill each month.

AT&T discontinued its bundle packages with internet and DIRECTV. You can still get DIRECTV, but you’ll have to order them separately because no bundle deals are available.

Internet connection types: AT&T vs. Spectrum

AT&T Internet comes in three flavors, depending on the plan you choose: fiber, DSL or fixed wireless. Fiber is much faster and more reliable than other types of connections, although it’s not always available. DSL is an old-school copper connection that runs over a telephone landline, making it widely available but slow. Fixed wireless is mostly useful for rural areas or neighborhoods with poor internet connections, giving you a nice option that isn’t slow satellite.

Spectrum is a cable internet provider, but its core network consists of fiber. Spectrum uses a hybrid fiber-coaxial system to deliver a more stable internet connection than providers that use 100% coaxial cable networks. You still get the asymmetrical cable internet speeds, but peak time slowdowns are now mostly due to heavy traffic within your home rather than your neighbors.

Data caps: AT&T vs. Spectrum

AT&T and Spectrum both give you unlimited data on their internet packages so you can browse, stream, and attend Zoom meetings as much as you like all month long without hitting a limit.

The one place where you should watch for a data cap is with AT&T’s Fixed Wireless Internet plan. Unlike its fiber internet plans, AT&T’s fixed-wireless package—mainly geared toward rural customers—gives you 350GB per month as a data cap, which is not a whole lot.

The overage fee for AT&T’s Fixed Wireless Internet plan is $10 for every 50GB you go over. And that fee isn’t prorated, so you’ll have to pay that whole $10 even if you go over by just one or two gigs.

Spectrum may enforce a data cap in the near future, however. Parent company Charter Communications signed a seven-year deal with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2016 that prohibits data caps, but the agreement ends in May 2023.¹

Contracts: AT&T vs. Spectrum

AT&T and Spectrum both give you a break when it comes to contracts—there are none. That means you can cancel your service any time after the first month and won’t be hit with an early termination fee (ETF). Very nice.

Installation: AT&T vs. Spectrum

Spectrum definitely gives you a sweeter deal when it comes to installation prices. But due to COVID-19, Spectrum encourages new customers to opt for the self-install kit first, which is cheaper than AT&T’s kit. Pro installs are still available if you need a new installation, a modem moved, and so on.

AT&T’s installation options are obviously less expensive, and if your home isn’t wired for fiber AT&T offers deals from time to time to waive installation costs. Take a look at the best internet deals to see if you can rustle up an installation bargain.

Availability: AT&T vs. Spectrum

AT&T and Spectrum are both some of the country’s biggest internet providers. AT&T’s network is accessible to 44% of the US population, with coverage centered around the Midwest, the South, and California. Spectrum can reach 39% of the population, with its biggest availability in New York, California, and Texas.

Final call: Which has better service, AT&T or Spectrum?

AT&T is the best bet out of these two providers, but only if you can get a fiber-optic plan. The provider’s fiber packages get you fast, symmetrical speeds at an affordable price, with no data caps or contracts. But AT&T’s DSL is slow and not quite worth the money. If that’s all you can find from AT&T, stick to Spectrum. Wherever you are in Spectrum’s service area, you can get you top speeds for a good price or a relatively cheap plan if you’re on a budget.

Methodology

Our HighSpeedInternet.com editorial team bases our analyses on customer input from our annual customer satisfaction survey, results from our speed test tool, and proprietary internet provider data on speeds and pricing. To strengthen our research, we look closely at provider contracts to get hard-to-find information on price hikes, data caps, and extra fees, and we keep tabs on the latest news reports and online reviews. When applicable, we also rely on our personal experiences testing these services.

Additional resources

• Your Guide to AT&T Internet Installation
• Your Guide to Spectrum Internet Installation
• AT&T vs. CenturyLink
• Xfinity vs. Spectrum