What is the best internet provider in Hickory?

If you’re a resident of Hickory, North Carolina, you have quite a few options to consider when it comes to choosing the best internet service provider for you. Based on your needs and budget, you may be looking for the fastest plan available or you may opt for a more budget-friendly option -- even if it means sacrificing some speed. The area’s largest broadband provider, Spectrum, is currently the best internet service provider in Hickory, North Carolina, and it offers something for most households. Along with wide availability in the Hickory area, Spectrum is known for its fast download speeds, straightforward pricing and TV and internet bundles.

Spectrum isn’t the fastest or the cheapest internet provider in Hickory, however. Fiber ISP Metronet offers the fastest speeds in Hickory, up to 5,000 megabits per second, and the cheapest plan with service starting at $30 a month for speeds up to 100Mbps. Considering the speeds and pricing, Metronet is a contender for the best ISP in Hickory, but it lacks the same breadth of coverage as Spectrum, available to only around 15% of local households.

Brightspeed (formerly CenturyLink in the Hickory area), competes with Spectrum in terms of availability, but the DSL service fails to deliver speeds that can be considered broadband.

Similarly, fixed wireless internet is available throughout much of Hickory, but speeds are often below the broadband threshold of 100Mbps down and 20Mbps up. T-Mobile Home Internet and possibly Open Broadband, when it becomes available, are your best bets for fixed wireless broadband in Hickory. Verizon 5G Home Internet may also offer fixed wireless internet in Hickory, but availability is currently limited.

Best internet in Hickory, North Carolina

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How to find internet deals and promotions in Hickory

The best internet deals and the top promotions in Hickory depend on what discounts are available during a given time. Most deals are short-lived, but we look frequently for the latest offers. 

Hickory internet providers, such as Spectrum and T-Mobile Home Internet, may offer lower introductory pricing or other incentives for a limited time. Others, including Metronet, run the same standard pricing year-round. 

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

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

What’s a good internet speed?

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

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

• 0 to 5Mbps allows you to tackle the basics -- browsing the internet, sending and receiving email, streaming low-quality video.
• 5 to 40Mbps gives you higher-quality video streaming and videoconferencing.
• 40 to 100Mbps should give one user sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the demands of modern telecommuting, video streaming and online gaming. 
• 100 to 500Mbps allows one to two users to simultaneously engage in high-bandwidth activities like videoconferencing, streaming and online gaming. 
• 500 to 1,000Mbps allows three or more users to engage in high-bandwidth activities at the same time.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Hickory, North Carolina

Internet service 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’s our approach? We start by researching the pricing, availability and speed information, drawing on our own historical ISP data, the provider sites and mapping information from the Federal Communications Commission at FCC.gov.

But it doesn’t end there. We go to the FCC’s website to check our data and ensure we consider every ISP that provides service in an area. We also input local addresses on provider websites to find specific options for residents. We look at sources, including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power, to evaluate how happy customers are with an ISP’s service. ISP plans and prices are subject to frequent changes; all information provided is accurate as of publication.

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

1. Does the provider offer access to reasonably fast internet speeds?
2. Do customers get decent value for what they’re paying?
3. Are customers happy with their service?

While the answers to those questions are often layered and complex, the providers that come closest to “yes” on all three are the ones we recommend. When selecting the cheapest internet service, we look for the plans with the lowest monthly fee, though we also factor in things like price increases, equipment fees and contracts. Choosing the fastest internet service is relatively straightforward. We look at advertised upload and download speeds and consider real-world speed data from sources like Ookla and FCC reports.

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

Internet providers in Hickory, North Carolina, FAQs