Best Internet Providers in Eau Claire, Wisconsin

What is the best internet provider in Eau Claire?

If you are looking for wide coverage and reasonable prices in an internet provider, CNET recommends Spectrum as the best internet provider in Eau Claire. Spectrum offers plans ranging from $50 to $70, plus speeds up to 1 gigabit and a free modem at all tiers.

AT&T Fiber and T-Mobile Home Internet are also available to select households in Eau Claire, and both are worth a look if Spectrum doesn’t serve your address, or simply isn’t the right ISP for you. If you live in the lake rural parts of the area and do not have access to these major carriers, we recommend West Wisconsin Telecom. It’s another solid residential broadband internet provider.

The average starting cost for home internet in Eau Claire is $56 per month, but a few ISPs offer plans that are cheaper than that. Mediacom’s Prime Internet 100 is the most affordable service in the region, costing just $35 per month, but it’s only offered to a limited percentage of the city. You’re better off with Spectrum or Verizon 5G Home Internet, both of which offer $50 plans with download speeds of up to 500 and 300 megabits per second, respectively.

If you’re looking for the fastest connection, AT&T Fiber is the fastest provider in this small Wisconsin town. AT&T Fiber offers two multi-gigabit plans: 2,000 Mbps for $125 or 5,000 Mbps for $225 per month.

Best Internet in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 2024

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How to find internet deals and promotions in Eau Claire?

The best internet deals and top promotions in Eau Claire depend on what discounts are available during that period. Most offers are short-lived, but we regularly review the latest offers.

Eau Claire internet providers such as Spectrum and Mediacom may offer lower introductory prices or streaming add-ons for a limited time. Others, like AT&T and Verizon, have the same standard prices year-round.

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

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

What is a good internet speed?

Most internet plans can now handle basic productivity and communication tasks. If you’re looking for an internet plan that’s suitable for video conferencing, video streaming, or gaming, you’ll have a better experience with a more robust connection. Here you will find an overview of the recommended minimum download speeds for different applications, according to the FCC. Please note that these are guidelines only and internet speed, service and performance will vary by connection type, provider and address.

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

• With 0 to 5 Mbps you can handle the basics: surfing the web, sending and receiving email, and streaming low-quality video.
• 5 to 40 Mbps gives you higher quality video streaming and video conferencing.
• 40 to 100 Mbps should give a single user enough bandwidth to meet the demands of modern telecommuting, video streaming and online gaming.
• With 100 to 500 Mbps, one to two users can simultaneously participate in high-bandwidth activities such as video conferencing, streaming and online gaming.
• With 500 to 1,000 Mbps, three or more users can perform high-bandwidth activities simultaneously.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Eau Claire

Internet 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 is our approach? We’ll start by researching the price, availability, and speed information, based on our own historical ISP data, carrier sites, and Federal Communications Commission mapping information at FCC.gov.

It doesn’t stop there: we go to the FCC’s website to check our data and make sure we’re taking into account every ISP that provides service in an area. We also enter local addresses on provider websites to find specific options for residents. We look to sources, including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and JD Power, to evaluate how satisfied customers are with an ISP’s service. ISP plans and prices are subject to frequent changes; all information provided is accurate at the time of publication.

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

1. Does the provider offer access to reasonably high internet speeds?
2. Do customers get a good price for what they pay?
3. Are customers satisfied with their service?

The answers to these questions are often layered and complex, but the providers that come closest to ‘yes’ to all three questions are the ones we recommend. When selecting the cheapest internet service, we look at the subscriptions with the lowest monthly amount, but we also take into account things such as price increases, equipment costs and contracts. Choosing the fastest internet service is relatively easy. We look at advertised upload and download speeds and also consider real-world speed data from sources such as Ookla (Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis) and FCC reports.

Visit our page on how we test ISPs to explore our process in more depth.

Internet Service Providers in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Frequently Asked Questions