Best Internet Service Providers in Honolulu, Hawaii

What is the best internet provider in Honolulu?

Hawaiian Telcom is the best internet provider in Honolulu. The service offers affordable monthly prices, nearly symmetrical upload and download speeds, and price guarantees of up to three years for some plans. However, once the promotional period ends, all plans will increase by $15 per month, with the cheapest plan increasing after one year.

If you’re looking for fast plans, Spectrum is the fastest internet provider in Honolulu, with download speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps. Spectrum’s upload speeds are much slower and its price increases are even more extreme than Hawaiian Telcom’s – two factors contributing to the provider’s below-average customer satisfaction scores. According to the latter US Customer Satisfaction IndexSpectrum lagged four points behind the sector average.

Spectrum offers the cheapest plan in the area, a $30 per month plan for 100 Mbps. However, if you do not want to have to deal with price increases or hidden costs, T-Mobile Thuis Internet is one of the most customer-friendly internet providers in the country. The speeds don’t reach the same heights as the other two ISPs on our list, but most customers haven’t had a problem. T-Mobile also has the highest customer satisfaction score of all non-fiber providers in the country.

Best internet in Honolulu, Hawaii

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Other available internet providers in Honolulu

• Satellite internet: Outside of our top three picks, the only other internet providers in Honolulu with widespread availability are satellite providers Viasat and Starlink. Viasat’s unique plan is contract-free, so you don’t have to worry about being tied to an installment agreement. However, Viasat unleashed has a steep monthly price and includes an 850 GB soft cap. Starlink has faster speeds of up to 220 Mbps, while Viasat only reaches 150 Mbps. The Standard plan comes with unlimited data, but you have to pay $349 to purchase the satellite dish before activating the service.

Cheap Internet Options in Honolulu

The average monthly setup cost in Honolulu is about $46. Spectrum offers the cheapest internet in Honolulu, with plans starting at $30 per month. But after a year, that price rises to $50. If you don’t want to worry about price increases, T-Mobile Home Internet is the only provider in Honolulu that doesn’t automatically increase its rates, and you can get it for just $40 a month if you bundle with a qualifying cell phone plan. Some households can also take advantage of low-income internet programs available in Honolulu.

What is the cheapest internet plan in Honolulu?

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How to Find Internet Deals and Promotions in Honolulu

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

Honolulu internet providers such as Hawaiian Telcom and Spectrum may offer lower introductory prices or streaming add-ons for a limited time. Others, including T-Mobile Home Internet, charge the same standard prices all year round.

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

How fast is Honolulu broadband?

According to the latest speed test data from OoklaHonolulu residents receive average download speeds of 242 Mbps and upload speeds of 36 Mbps. This is good for 64th among the top 100 most populous cities in the US and slightly lower than Hawaii as a state. Spectrum and Hawaiian Telcom have gig-speed plans available in Honolulu.

Fastest Internet Plans in Honolulu

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 Honolulu

Internet providers are numerous and regional. Unlike the latest smartphone, laptop, router, or kitchen tool, it’s impractical to personally test every Internet provider in a given city. So what is our approach? To start, we use a proprietary database of pricing, availability, and speed information that is based on our own historical ISP data, partner data, and Federal Communications Commission mapping information on FCC.gov.

This guide uses an internal artificial intelligence tool called RAMP, which is trained on our own writing and uses our database to generate content about specific ISPs that our writers can use in determining and presenting our choices for a particular guide . For more information about how our teams use (and don’t use) AI tools, see CNET’s AI policy.

Because our database is not exhaustive, we go to the FCC’s website to check the primary data ourselves and make sure we are considering every ISP that provides service in a given area. Plans and prices also vary by location, so we enter local addresses into provider websites to find the specific options available to 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 as of our pre-publication fact check.

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?

While the answers to these questions are often layered and complex, the providers that come closest to “yes” to all three questions are the providers we recommend. When selecting the cheapest internet service, we look for 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 take into account real-world speed data from sources such as Ookla And FCC reports.

To explore our process in more depth, visit our page on how we test ISPs.

What’s the final word on internet providers in Honolulu?

There aren’t many internet service providers operating in Honolulu, but those that do have them are widely available and offer good value for money. The best ISP in the area is Hawaiian Telcom, a fiber optic internet provider with one of the cheapest plans in the area. Spectrum offers slightly faster download speeds than Hawaiian Telcom, but upload speeds are dramatically slower and the price increases significantly after a year. T-Mobile Home Internet is a wireless alternative in the area that comes with a price guarantee, but it doesn’t get the same speeds as Hawaiian Telcom or Spectrum.

Frequently asked questions about internet providers in Honolulu