Best Internet Providers in Rochester, Minnesota [CNET]

What is the best internet provider in Rochester, Minnesota?

For most households in Rochester, Metronet is the best internet service provider. The fiber provider offers fast, symmetrical upload and download speeds at decent prices — at least for the first year. After that, prices increase significantly for three to four years in a row. Metronet also includes hidden fees you don’t typically see with internet providers.

Spectrum has the broadest coverage in Rochester. Its cable internet plans are available to 92% of Rochester homes, and they’re a pretty good deal overall. Spectrum recently raised the speeds on its tiers, so you can get either 500Mbps or 1,000Mbps for a reasonable $50 or $70 a month, respectively. Prices do increase significantly over time with Spectrum, but that doesn’t kick in until the third year on most plans. 

If you don’t want to deal with price increases, wireless internet is a good alternative — particularly for smaller households that don’t need a ton of bandwidth. T-Mobile Home Internet is our favorite option in the area. It has only one plan for $60 a month, but you can pay as little as $40 when you bundle with a cellphone plan.

Best internet in Rochester, Minnesota

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How to find internet deals and promotions in Rochester

The best internet deals and top promotions in Rochester depend on what discounts are available during a given time. Most deals are short-lived, but we look frequently for the latest offers. 

Rochester internet providers, such as Metronet, T-Mobile Home Internet and Verizon 5G Home Internet, may offer lower introductory pricing or streaming add-ons for a limited time. Others, however, including Spectrum, run the same standard pricing year-round.  

For a more extensive list of promos, check out our guide on the best internet deals. 

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

What’s a good internet speed?

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 Federal Communications Commission. Note that these are only guidelines — and that internet speed, service and performance vary by connection type, provider and address.

For more information, refer to our guide on how much internet speed you really need.

• 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 Rochester

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 FCC.gov.

But it doesn’t end there. We use 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:

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 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 Rochester FAQs