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Best Internet Providers in Boulder, Colorado – CNET [CNET]

September 28, 2023 Trey Paul technology

Boulder is a unique and beautiful city. It also has decent internet options, too, including fast fiber internet.

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I grew up just north of Boulder, Colorado, so I’m biased, but I believe it to be one of the country’s most unique, beautiful cities. Some might know it as the home of the Colorado Buffaloes college football team, but it can also brag about the speed of its internet connections relative to the rest of the state.

If you live in Boulder (or plan to move there), you have a handful of options, but the two most widely available internet service providers are Xfinity and CenturyLink. CNET’s pick for the best overall internet service provider in Boulder is Xfinity due to its extensive coverage across the city and wide selection of plans. Other options include CenturyLink, which is also widely available but offers only slower DSL plans, fiber plans from Quantum Fiber and 5G home internet offerings from T-Mobile (and, to a lesser degree, Verizon).

Best internet in Boulder in 2023

Boulder residents can expect median download speeds of approximately 236 megabits per second, according to Ookla Speedtest data — considerably faster than Colorado‘s statewide median (180Mbps) and the national median (210Mbps). Not too shabby.

Xfinity

Best internet provider in Boulder

Price range $20 – $300 per month Speed range 75 – 6,000Mbps Connection Cable Key Info Data caps on some plans, lots of plan options, solid customer satisfaction numbers

Xfinity is a reliable cable internet provider offering fast download speeds and extensive service across most of the city. Its cable broadband generally scores above-average marks in customer satisfaction surveys, including the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index report, and finished above average in three of four regions in the J.D. Power study for 2022. The one area where it didn’t? The East region, where Xfinity fell short of the average by one point but still placed second ahead of Cox, Frontier, Optimum and Spectrum.

Availability: Xfinity is available to nearly 99% of Boulder households, according to the Federal Communications Commission. 

Plans and pricing: Xfinity offers six competitively priced cable plans. The cheapest is $20 per month and features download speeds up to 75Mbps (though it comes with some limitations and additional requirements, covered below). The fastest plan offered is Gigabit Extra, with max download speeds of 1,200Mbps for $70 monthly. Between the two, you can get 200Mbps for $35 per month, 400Mbps for $50 monthly and, curiously, both 800Mbps and 1,000Mbps for $60 per month. Xfinity also offers Peacock Premium with the 1,000 and 1,200Mbps plans.

Fees and service details: Signing up for the cheapest plan requires signing a one-year contract; all other tiers have no term agreements. The two cheapest plans have a monthly data cap of 1.2 terabytes, but the other tiers offer unlimited data. Finally, Wi-Fi equipment is included in all plans except the cheapest one.

Read our Xfinity Internet review.

Quantum Fiber

Best fiber provider in Boulder

Price range $50 – $165 per month Speed range 500 – 8,000Mbps Connection Fiber Key Info Unlimited data, no contracts, equipment included

Lumen Technologies is the parent company of CenturyLink and Quantum Fiber, two broadband services available in Boulder. CenturyLink offers DSL connections to more than three-quarters of households in the area. At the same time, Quantum Fiber is a 100% fiber-optic service that offers much faster (and symmetrical) download and upload speeds. As noted in our CNET ISP reviews, fiber internet trumps cable connections, which best DSL services.  

Availability: Nearly nine out of 10 Boulder households are eligible for one of Lumen’s service plans, according to the FCC, but most of those will be for CenturyLink service. Residents in East Aurora, Martin Acres and Washington Village have a better shot at getting Quantum Fiber. 

Plans and pricing: Quantum Fiber offers two fiber internet plans in Boulder. The cheapest is $50 per month for download speeds up to 500Mbps. The fastest tier, featuring download speeds up to 940Mbps, is $75 monthly. 

Fees and service details: Quantum Fiber’s plans have no data caps or term agreements. Wi-Fi equipment is included in both plans, and the top tier also includes free installation (worth $129).

Read our CenturyLink/Quantum Fiber home internet review.

T-Mobile Home Internet

Best fixed wireless provider in Boulder

Price range $50 per month ($30 for eligible mobile customers) Speed range 72 – 245Mbps Connection Fixed wireless Key Info Unlimited data, equipment included, no contracts, no additional fees

T-Mobile’s cellular network won’t deliver speeds that match Xfinity or Quantum Fiber, but it should be adequate for households with three or fewer people. It also received the highest approval rating of any non-fiber provider in the US, according to the 2023 American Customer Satisfaction Index survey.

Availability: T-Mobile Home Internet is available to just over 60% of Boulder residents, per the FCC. However, you must plug in your address on the T-Mobile site to see if your neighborhood is covered. Be aware: Some areas covered by T-Mobile’s 5G mobile service may not be eligible for T-Mobile Home Internet. 

Plans and pricing: T-Mobile’s home internet service is straightforward: there’s one plan, and it costs $50 per month. It features download speeds ranging from 72 to 245Mbps and upload speeds from 15 to 31Mbps. 

Fees and service details: There are no equipment fees, data caps or contracts with T-Mobile Home Internet. You can save an additional $20 monthly by bundling with a Go5G Next, Go5G Plus or Magenta Max cellphone plan. Your price is guaranteed for as long as you remain a customer. You can also try the service for free for 15 days.

Read our T-Mobile Home Internet review.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

Other available internet providers in Boulder

Though we think Xfinity, Quantum Fiber and T-Mobile are the best providers in the area, Boulder has other ISP options to consider.

• Live Wire Networks: This Colorado-based fixed wireless provider serves nearly 90% of the Boulder region. Plans range from 35Mbps (for $25 per month) to 150Mbps for $120 monthly. Equipment rental is included, and there are no data caps or contracts required.
• Rise Broadband: This fixed wireless provider serves approximately 8% of the Boulder area. There’s a pocket of availability just north of Washington Village, but it’s mainly an option for rural areas beyond city limits. You can get speeds up to 50Mbps with unlimited data.
• Satellite internet: CNET recommends avoiding satellite internet in cities with cheaper and faster options. That noted, if you live in a rural area where cable and fiber connections aren’t available, HughesNet and Viasat are the viable satellite providers in the Boulder area. Services require a two-year contract. Elon Musk’s Starlink features higher download speeds but is available to only 2% of the area, according to FCC data. 
• Verizon 5G Home Internet: Similar to T-Mobile, Verizon uses its cellular network to provide fixed wireless home broadband. Though it may offer higher max download speeds than T-Mobile (the 5G Home Plus plan features “typical download speeds of 300-1,000Mbps” to T-Mobile’s max of 245Mbps), it’s available to less than 15% of households in Boulder.

Pricing info on Boulder home internet service

The average starting price for internet in Boulder is just under $42 per month — less expensive than the national average but just a few dollars more per month than its bigger sibling to the south, Denver, which comes in at $39. 

Cheap internet options in Boulder

The cheapest internet plan in Boulder is Xfinity’s Connect plan, which features max download speeds of 75Mbps for $20 per month. There are plenty of caveats, however: That promotional price lasts for only one year and doesn’t include an optional $15-per-month charge for equipment rental (which you can waive if you have your own modem and router).

T-Mobile Home Internet, which starts at $50 monthly, drops to $30 per month when you bundle an eligible cellphone plan, such as Go5G Plus and Magenta Max.

It’s worth noting that you might get a discount on any of the plans. The federal government’s Affordable Connectivity Program provides low-income households a $30 monthly discount on high-speed internet. Qualifying households will find that money fully covers some of the plans we list below.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

Boulder broadband speeds

Just about all Boulder households have access to broadband internet speeds of 250Mbps down and 25Mbps upload. As we mentioned earlier, Boulder residents see much higher median download speeds than the rest of the state.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Boulder

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? 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 isn’t 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 prepublication 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, visit our how we test ISPs page.

What’s the bottom line on internet providers in Boulder?

Xfinity covers nearly every address in the city and features the widest array of plan choices of any provider in the area. That’s why it gets our nod for the best ISP in the city. However, Boulder households have other viable options, including fiber plans from Quantum Fiber and a fixed wireless connection from T-Mobile Home Internet.

Internet providers in Boulder: FAQs