Best Internet Providers in Santa Ana, California

What is the best internet provider in Santa Ana, California?

There aren’t many internet provider options in Santa Ana, surprisingly. After looking into the available options, AT&T Fiber topped our list as the best internet provider in Santa Ana for most households. While it doesn’t have the best coverage, it does have the fastest speeds in the city by far, and it’s also the only fibre provider in the area, meaning you get the same upload and download speeds, which is ideal for working from home or gaming online. It also has some of the most affordable and straightforward pricing you’ll find from an ISP.

If you are looking for the lowest prices, Spectrum has the cheapest internet plans in Santa Ana for $50 a month. That’s not exactly cheap, at only $5 less per month than AT&T Fiber, but Spectrum is available almost everywhere in the city and is a solid option to have as a default. The biggest downside is that Spectrum raises its prices significantly after a year or two.

If you don’t want to worry about these built-in price increases, Verizon 5G Home Internet is the best wireless internet provider in Santa AnaThere’s no guarantee your rates won’t go up, but unlike Spectrum, they won’t come on time and they probably won’t be as extreme.

Best Internet in Santa Ana, California

Source: CNET analysis of carrier data.

Source: CNET analysis of carrier data.

How to Find Online Deals and Promotions in Santa Ana, California

The best internet deals and top promotions in Santa Ana depend on what discounts are available at any given time. Most deals are short-lived, but we regularly check for the latest offers.

Internet providers in Santa Ana, such as Verizon 5G Home Internet and AT&T Fiber, may offer lower introductory prices or streaming add-ons for a limited time. Others, including Spectrum, maintain the same standard pricing year-round.

For a more comprehensive overview of all promotions, check out our guide to the best online deals.

Source: CNET analysis of carrier data.

What is a good internet speed?

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

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

• With 0 to 5 Mbps you can perform basic tasks: surfing the web, sending and receiving email, and streaming low-quality videos.
• 5 to 40 Mbps gives you higher quality video streaming and video conferencing.
• 40 to 100 Mbps should provide enough bandwidth for a single user to meet the demands of modern teleworking, video streaming, and online gaming.
• With 100 to 500 Mbps, one or 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 participate in high-bandwidth activities simultaneously.

How CNET Picked the Best Internet Providers in Santa Ana

Internet service providers are numerous and regional. Unlike the latest smartphone, laptop, router, or kitchen utensil, it’s impractical to personally test every ISP in a given city. So how do we approach this? We start by examining pricing, availability, and speed information, drawing on our own historical ISP data, the providers’ websites, and mapping information from the Federal Communications Commission on FCC.gov.

And it doesn’t stop there: We go to the FCC website to check our data and make sure we account for every ISP that offers service in an area. We also enter local addresses into carrier websites to find specific options for residents. We look at sources including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power to evaluate how satisfied customers are with an ISP’s service. ISP plans and pricing are subject to frequent change; all information provided is accurate at the time of publication.

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

1. Does the provider offer access to reasonably fast internet speeds?
2. Do customers get value for their money?
3. Are customers satisfied with their service?

The answers to those questions are often layered and complex, but the providers that come closest to “yes” to all three are the providers we recommend. When selecting the cheapest internet service, we look for the plans with the lowest monthly fees, although we also consider things like price increases, equipment costs, and contracts. Choosing the fastest internet service is relatively simple. We look at advertised upload and download speeds, and consider real-world speed data from sources like Ookla And FCC Reports.

If you would like to take a more detailed look at our process, please visit our How We Test ISPs page.

Frequently Asked Questions About Internet Providers in Santa Ana