Best Internet Providers in Charlottesville, Virginia

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

CNET recommends Xfinity as the best internet service provider in Charlottesville owing to its plan selection and extensive coverage throughout the area. However, 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 max speeds ranging from 72 to 245Mbps. 

Best internet options in Charlottesville

We think Xfinity is the best internet provider for most Charlottesville residents, but there are other decent options if you’re looking for something else. You’ll find our picks for the best ISPs in Charlottesville below.

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.

Provider	Monthly price range	Download speed (Mbps)	Internet technology	CNET review score
Brightspeed	$50-$59	20-940	DSL, fiber	N/A
HughesNet	$50-$150	15-50	Satellite	5.7
Starlink	$120	25-220	Low-orbit satellite	N/A
Ting Internet	$89	1,000	Fiber	N/A
T-Mobile Home Internet	$50	72-245	5G wireless	7.4
Viasat	$65-$250	25-150	Satellite	6.1
Xfinity	$25-$80	200-1,200	Cable	7

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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 $59 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. However, 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 200Mbps, followed by T-Mobile Home Internet, which starts at $50 per month (or $30 per month if you use the mobile bundle discount). Brightspeed has the best deal on gigabit service, featuring symmetrical download and upload speeds for $79 per month, but again, availability is highly limited in Charlottesville.

Cheapest internet plans in Charlottesville

Provider/plan	Starting monthly price	Max download speed (Mbps)	Monthly equipment fee
Xfinity Connect More	$25	200	$15 (optional)
T-Mobile Home Internet	$30 (with qualifying discount)	245	None
Brightspeed Internet	$50	100	$15

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Source: CNET analysis of provider data

Internet for low-income households in Charlottesville

Residents of low-income households and students seeking low-cost home internet service will want to consider applying for the Affordable Connectivity Program. Through this federal subsidy, qualifying households can receive $30 per month ($75 on tribal lands) for home internet costs. 

Xfinity offers two separate internet plans for qualifying low-income households that are available for a net cost of $0 per month when combined with the ACP credit. Internet Essentials comes with download speeds up to 50Mbps starting at $10 per month, while the faster Internet Essentials Plus plan offers up to 100Mbps starting at $30.

How fast is broadband in Charlottesville?

Median download speeds in Charlottesville are around 172Mbps, according to the most recent Ookla speed test data. That’s below the national average of 210Mbps and the state average (205Mbps), but it’s worth noting plans with faster max speeds are available from various providers in Charlottesville. 

Fastest internet plans in Charlottesville

Provider/Plan	Max download speed (Mbps)	Max upload speed (Mbps)	Starting monthly price	Data cap
Xfinity Gigabit Extra	1,200	35	$80	None
Ting Internet	1,000	1,000	$89	None
Brightspeed Fiber	1,000	1,000	$79	None
T-Mobile Home Internet	72-245	15-31	$50	None

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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. So what’s our approach? For starters, we tap into a proprietary database of pricing, availability and speed information that draws from our own historical ISP data, partner data and mapping information from the Federal Communications Commission at 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 the time 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. To explore our process in more depth, you can 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