All need a reliable internet connection for work, school, streaming and staying connected with friends and family nearby or far away. As the home of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville's internet offerings must meet the needs of scholars and permanent residents alike.

What is the best internet provider in Charlottesville?

CNET recommends Xfinity as the best internet service provider in Charlottesville owing to its plan selection and extensive coverage throughout the area. Local fiber provider Ting is an excellent choice if you’re looking for gig internet. For a low-cost internet alternative, you may consider T-Mobile’s 5G home internet service, which covers much of Charlottesville with maximum speeds ranging from 72 to 245Mbps. 

Best internet options in Charlottesville

All available Charlottesville internet providers

The providers listed above may not be your only internet options in Charlottesville. They’re just the ones we’d recommend most and consider first if moving to the area. Brightspeed is another possible choice for fiber internet in Charlottesville, and satellite internet may best serve residents of surrounding rural areas where other connection types are unavailable.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Brightspeed: Brightspeed recently took over operations from CenturyLink in the Charlottesville area. Its services are available to about 5% of Charlottesville households, with its slower and less desirable DSL offering making up most of that and its fiber service covering the rest.

Fiber internet starts at $49 per month, lower than Ting, so it’s worth checking to see if your address is serviceable. Locations where fiber is unavailable may still be serviceable for Brightspeed’s DSL service, which starts at $50 per month for the fastest speeds available, up to 100Mbps.

Satellite internet: Hughesnet, Viasat and satellite internet newcomer Starlink are available throughout Charlottesville and surrounding areas. Other faster and more budget-friendly options should be considered before turning to satellite internet. 

Charlottesville broadband at a glance

All Charlottesville residents can access broadband speeds of 25Mbps down, 3Mbps up and higher. Faster speeds, up to 250Mbps down and 25Mbps up, are also available to nearly every Charlottesville household. Many will also have access to gigabit speeds, with providers such as Brightspeed, Xfinity and Ting offering speeds up to 1,000Mbps or higher. 

Charlottesville internet pricing

Xfinity offers the cheapest internet service, starting at $25 per month for speeds up to 300Mbps, followed by T-Mobile Home Internet, which starts at $55 per month (or $40 per month if you use the mobile bundle discount). Brightspeed has the best deal on gigabit service, featuring symmetrical download and upload speeds for $75 per month, but again, availability is highly limited in Charlottesville.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How fast is broadband in Charlottesville?

Median download speeds in Charlottesville are around 81Mbps, according to the most recent Ookla speed test data. That’s below the national average of 250Mbps and the state average (250Mbps), but it’s worth noting plans with faster maximum speeds are available from various providers in Charlottesville. 

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Charlottesville

Internet service providers are numerous and regional. Unlike the latest smartphone, laptop, router or kitchen tool, it's impractical to personally test every internet service provider in a given city. What's our approach? For starters, we tap into a proprietary pricing, availability and speed database that draws from our own historical ISP data, partner data and mapping information from FCC.gov. 

This guide leverages an in-house artificial intelligence tool called RAMP, which is trained on our own writing and uses our database to generate content about specific internet service providers that our writers can use in determining and presenting our picks for a given guide. Check CNET’s AI policy for more information about how our teams use (and don’t use) AI tools. 

Because our database is not exhaustive, we go to the FCC's website to check the primary data for ourselves and make sure we're considering every ISP that provides service in an area. Plans and prices also vary by location, so we input local addresses on provider websites to find the specific options available to 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 our pre-publication fact-check.

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 answer to those questions is often layered and complex, the providers who come closest to “yes” on all three are the ones we recommend. When it comes to selecting the cheapest internet service, we look for the plans with the lowest monthly fee, although 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 also take into account 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 in Charlottesville recap

Many Charlottesville residents will find Xfinity to be the area’s best ISP in terms of availability and plan selection. The provider’s cable service can’t quite deliver the upload speed of a fiber-optic connection, however, which is where regional providers Ting and Brightspeed may have an advantage. Those looking to “cut the cord” for a possibly cheaper internet connection with fewer hassles and fees should check to see if T-Mobile Home Internet is available.

Internet providers in Charlottesville FAQs