What is the best internet provider in Hickory?
The area’s largest broadband provider, Spectrum, is the best internet service provider in Hickory, North Carolina. Along with wide availability in the Hickory area, Spectrum is known for its fast download speeds, straightforward pricing and TV and internet bundles.
Spectrum isn’t the fastest or the cheapest internet provider in Hickory, however. Fiber ISP Metronet offers the fastest speeds in Hickory, up to 5,000 megabits per second, and the cheapest plan with service starting at $30 a month for speeds up to 100Mbps. Considering the speeds and pricing, Metronet is a contender for the best ISP in Hickory, but it lacks the same breadth of coverage as Spectrum, available to only around 15% of local households.
Brightspeed (formerly CenturyLink in the Hickory area), competes with Spectrum in terms of availability, but the DSL service fails to deliver speeds that can be considered broadband.
Similarly, fixed wireless internet is available throughout much of Hickory, but speeds are often below the broadband threshold of 100Mbps down and 20Mbps up. T-Mobile Home Internet and possibly Open Broadband, when it becomes available, are your best bets for fixed wireless broadband in Hickory. Verizon 5G Home Internet may also offer fixed wireless internet in Hickory, but availability is currently quite limited.
Our methodology
300 – 1,000 Mbps
$50 – $80 per month
Our take – Spectrum is the largest cable internet provider in the Carolinas, covering much of the Piedmont, including Hickory and surrounding areas. With speed tiers of 300, 500 and 1,000Mbps, Spectrum offers a plan for just about any household and need. Each plan has unlimited data and a free modem, though renting a router will add $7 to your monthly bill.
300 – 1,000 Mbps
$50 – $80 per month
