Article updated on February 29, 2024 at 2:50 PM PST
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Joe Supan is a senior writer for CNET covering home technology, broadband, and moving. Prior to joining CNET, Joe led MyMove’s moving coverage and reported on broadband policy, the digital divide, and privacy issues for the broadband marketplace Allconnect. He has been featured as a guest columnist on Broadband Breakfast, and his work has been referenced by the Los Angeles Times, Forbes, National Geographic, Yahoo! Finance and more.
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What is the best internet provider in Fort Collins, Colorado?
Fort Collins Connexion is the best internet service provider in Fort Collins. The municipally owned fiber provider offers plans starting at $70 per month for upload and download speeds up to 1,000Mbps. That’s more than most households need, but equipment is included in every plan, making it a reasonably affordable option.
If you want the lowest prices, Xfinity is the cheapest internet provider in Fort Collins. Plans start at $20 per month — as cheap as you’ll find anywhere in the country — and you can get 200Mbps for as little as $25 monthly. Xfinity’s prices increase after one or two years, but they’re still a decent value even after that kicks in.
T-Mobile Home Internet is the best fixed wireless internet provider in Fort Collins. It doesn’t reach the same top speeds as Xfinity or Fort Collins Connexion, but it’s enough for smaller households, and T-Mobile cellphone customers can save $10 to $20 monthly by bundling with internet.
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Best internet in Fort Collins, Colorado
Speed range
1,000 – 10,000Mbps
Our take – The city of Fort Collins owns its own fiber-optic broadband network, offering internet plans starting at $70 per month for 1,000Mbps. That’s more speed than most people need, but equipment is included in the price, and your bill won’t go up automatically after a year or two. As a fiber provider, Fort Collins Connexion also offers upload speeds equally as fast as download speeds — ideal for online gamers and remote workers.
Speed range
1,000 – 10,000Mbps
Speed range
75 – 2,000Mbps
Price range
$20 – $120 per month
Our take – Xfinity is available almost everywhere in Fort Collins, and its plans start at just $20 per month. That’s an incredible value, but most Xfinity plans increase prices significantly after a year or two. That said, equipment is included on most plans, and you’ll get a free subscription to Peacock Premium on its gig-speed plans.
Our take – T-Mobile Home Internet is an excellent choice if you don’t need a lot of speed. One plan is available for $60 per month, with download speeds topping out at 245Mbps. Wireless internet is inherently less reliable than wired options like cable or fiber, but that hasn’t been an issue for most T-Mobile subscribers: It has the highest score of any ISP in the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s most recent survey.
How to find internet deals and promotions in Fort Collins
The best internet deals and top promotions in Fort Collins depend on what discounts are available during a given time. Most deals are short-lived, but we look frequently for the latest offers.
Fort Collins internet providers, such as Xfinity and T-Mobile Home Internet, may offer lower introductory pricing or streaming add-ons for a limited time. Others, however, including Fort Collins Connexion and Quantum Fiber, run the same standard pricing year-round.
For a more extensive list of promos, check out our guide on the best internet deals.
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.
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 Fort Collins
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:
Does the provider offer access to reasonably fast internet speeds?
Do customers get decent value for what they’re paying?
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 Fort Collins, Colorado, FAQs
according to FCC data. Fort Collins Connexion and Quantum Fiber both offer services in the city.