Best Internet Providers in Lima, Ohio

What is the best internet provider in Lima, Ohio?

Spectrum is the best internet provider in Lima. The cable internet network covers 92% of the city and also offers the cheapest plans in the area at $30 per month. It’s not a perfect service, thanks to significant price increases after a year, but it’s still an easy choice for fast and reliable internet in Lima.

Brightness speed is the fastest internet provider in Lima, followed by TSC. Both offer symmetrical fiber optic internet but have relatively lower coverage compared to Spectrum. Brightspeed offers the fastest speeds, up to 2,000 Mbps, while TSC tops out at 1,000 Mbps. In addition to symmetrical prices, these two providers also have no price increases or contracts.

If you have a smaller household that doesn’t connect many devices at once, T-Mobile Home Internet is a great alternative to Spectrum. It’s not exactly cheap at $50 a month, but T-Mobile’s prices don’t skyrocket after a year or two like Spectrum does, and you can get discounts by bundling a cell phone plan.

For rural residents who can’t get Spectrum or T-Mobile, I recommend looking at satellite service providers like Starlink. It’s much faster than DSL Internet or other satellite providers, but you’ll need to purchase a satellite dish in advance for at least $349.

Best internet in Lima, Ohio

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How to find internet deals and promotions in Lima

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

Internet providers in Lima, such as Spectrum and T-Mobile Home Interent, may offer lower introductory prices or streaming add-ons for a limited time. However, others, including TSC and Starlink, have the same standard prices all 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, streaming low-quality video.
• 5 to 40 Mbps gives you higher quality video streaming and video conferencing.
• 40 to 100 Mbps should give one person enough bandwidth to meet the demands of modern telecommuting, video streaming and online gaming.
• With 100 to 500 Mbps, one to two people can simultaneously participate in high-bandwidth activities such as video conferencing, streaming and online gaming.
• With 500 to 1,000 Mbps, three or more people can perform high-bandwidth activities simultaneously.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Lima

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. So 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.

But it doesn’t end there. We go to the FCC’s website to check our records and make sure we’re considering every ISP that provides service in a given 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?

Although the answers to these questions are often layered and complex, we recommend the providers who come closest to ‘yes’ to all three questions. 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. (Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

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

Frequently asked questions about internet providers in Lima