Hawaiian Telcom is the best internet provider in Honolulu, with the lowest prices, nearly symmetrical upload and download speeds and price-lock guarantees up to three years on some plans. That said, its two cheapest plans increase by $10 after the first year.
If you’re looking for the highest speeds, Spectrum is the fastest internet service provider in Honolulu, with download speeds up to 1,000Mbps. Spectrum’s upload speeds are much lower, however, and its price increases are even more extreme than Hawaiian Telcom’s — two factors that contribute to the provider’s below-average customer satisfaction scores.
If you don’t want to deal with price increases or hidden fees, T-Mobile Home Internet is one of the most customer-friendly internet service providers in the country. Its speeds don’t reach the same heights as the other two ISPs on our list, but most customers haven’t had an issue: T-Mobile has the highest customer satisfaction score of any non-fiber ISP in the country, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
Our methodology
Speed range
300 – 1,000Mbps
Price range
$40 – $70 per month
Our take – Hawaiian Telcom offers the cheapest internet plans in Honolulu, and it’s the only fiber provider in the area — the gold standard for fast and reliable internet. You’ll get nearly symmetrical upload and download speeds, which are crucial for activities like videoconferencing and online gaming. Prices increase on all plans after one to three years.
Connection
Fiber
Speed range
300 – 1,000Mbps
Price range
$40 – $70 per month
Speed range
300 – 1,000Mbps
Price range
$30 – $90 per month
Our take – If you can’t get Hawaiian Telcom at your address, Spectrum is a good backup option, and offers slightly faster download speeds. It uses cable internet instead of fiber, which means your upload speeds will be significantly lower than your download speeds. Spectrum also raises prices significantly after a year or two — one of the main reasons for its below-average scores from the ACSI and J.D. Power.
$50-$70 ($35-$45 for eligible Verizon Wireless customers)
50-1,000Mbps
None
None
None
7.2
Source: CNET analysis of provider data.
Other available internet providers in Honolulu
Satellite internet: Outside of our top three picks, the only other internet service providers in Honolulu with widespread availability are satellite providers Viasat and Starlink. Viasat requires a two-year contract on all plans, has high monthly fees and includes monthly data caps. Starlink has faster speeds and unlimited data, but you’ll have to pay $599 to purchase its satellite dish before you activate the service.
Cheap internet options in Honolulu
Hawaiian Telcom offers the cheapest internet plans in Honolulu, with plans starting at $40 per month. But after a year, that price increases to $50, then to $60 in the third year. It’s a similar story with Spectrum: after a year on its $50 plan, the price jumps to $85. If you don’t want to worry about price hikes, T-Mobile Home Internet is the only provider in Honolulu that comes with a price-lock guarantee, and you can get it for as low as $30 monthly when you bundle with an eligible cellphone plan. Low-income households can also take advantage of the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides a $30 monthly subsidy for home internet.
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 and 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 Honolulu
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:
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 answer to those questions is often layered and complex, the providers who come closest to “yes” on all three are the ones we recommend. When it comes to 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 also take into account real-world speed data from sources like Ookla and FCC reports.
To explore our process in more depth, you can visit our how we test ISPs page.
What’s the final word on internet providers in Honolulu?
There aren’t a lot of internet providers operating in Honolulu, but the ones it does have are widely available and offer good value. The best ISP in the area is Hawaiian Telcom, a fiber internet provider with the cheapest plans in the area. Spectrum offers slightly faster download speeds than Hawaiian Telcom, but its upload speeds are dramatically lower, and the price jumps significantly after a year. T-Mobile Home Internet is a wireless alternative in the area that comes with a price-lock guarantee, but it doesn’t reach the same speeds as Hawaiian Telcom or Spectrum.
Internet providers in Honolulu FAQs
What is the best internet service provider in Honolulu?
Yes, fiber internet is available to 51% of households in Honolulu, according to FCC data. Hawaiian Telcom is the only fiber provider in the city.
Who is the cheapest internet provider in Honolulu?
Spectrum offers the fastest internet plan in Honolulu, with download speeds of 1,000Mbps and upload speeds of 35Mbps. Hawaiian Telcom offers slightly lower download speeds at 940Mbps, but upload speeds are much higher at 500Mbps.
