La Crosse residents may have multiple fiber, cable and fixed wireless internet providers to choose from. Here are the best internet providers in La Crosse.
Due in part to its wide availability, fast speeds and low, straightforward pricing, Spectrum is the best internet service provider in La Crosse, Wisconsin. As the area’s largest cable internet provider, Spectrum has the greatest wired internet coverage in La Crosse, offering a selection of competitively priced plans that include unlimited data, free modem rental and no contracts.
Spectrum is a great all-around internet provider, but it doesn’t hold the title of either the cheapest or fastest ISP in La Crosse. Fiber provider TDS has the cheapest internet plan, starting at $30 per month for speeds up to 300 megabits per second, and the fastest plan, with speeds up to 8,000Mbps or 8 gigabits per second.
TDS availability is limited in La Crosse, however. Brightspeed is much more likely to be an option if you’re looking for fiber internet, though the service doesn’t present the same low-cost, high-speed plan selection as TDS.
Other potential broadband options in La Crosse include Mediacom and T-Mobile Home Internet. Mediacom’s cable internet service, though cheap, doesn’t quite stack up to Spectrum’s availability and overall value. Fixed wireless internet from T-Mobile Home Internet, on the other hand, is worth considering for its simple setup, free equipment, unlimited data and no contract requirements.
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Best internet in La Crosse, Wisconsin
Speed range
100 – 1,000Mbps
Price range
$30- $90 per month
Our take – Spectrum keeps things simple with transparent pricing, unlimited data, no contracts and low, optional equipment fees. Speeds of 300, 500 and 1,000Mbps are available throughout the La Crosse area.
Our take – Brightspeed’s fiber internet service is available to around a third of La Crosse households. Only one plan may be available: gig service with speeds up to 940Mbps starting at $59 per month, but it’s a decent value and comes with unlimited data.
Speed range
10 – 940Mbps
Price range
$50 – $79 per month
Speed range
72 – 245Mbps
Price range
$60 per month
Our take – While not the fastest (speeds typically range from 72 to 245Mbps), the few hassles and stable pricing make T-Mobile Home Internet an option worth considering nonetheless. There’s also a mobile bundle discount that will take $10 or $20 off the home internet rate for qualifying customers.
Our take – Availability is limited to northern La Crosse, but if your address is serviceable for TDS, you’ll have access to the fastest speeds in the area. TDS offers multiple high-speed options ranging from 300 to 8,000Mbps. Plans come with symmetrical upload and download speeds, a benefit unique to fiber internet.
How to find internet deals and promotions in La Crosse
The best internet deals and top promotions in La Crosse depend on what discounts are available during a given time. Most deals are short-lived, but we look frequently for the latest offers.
La Crosse internet providers, such as Spectrum and T-Mobile Home Internet, may offer lower introductory pricing or gift cards for a limited time. Others, including Brightspeed and TDS, 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 La Crosse
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 who 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.
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