What is the best internet provider in Bloomington, Minnesota?
Xfinity is CNET’s pick of the best internet provider in Bloomington. It takes the top spot thanks to itsfast, cheap plans and widespread coverage within the area. You can get Xfinity in almost all areas of Bloomington. The main downside is that the cable giant has price increases, which means your bill will go up significantly after one or two years. Luckily, Xfinity doesn’t have contract requirements, so you can switch at any time.
If you want the best fiber internet in the city, Quantum Fiber is Bloomington’s best fiber internet service provider. However, it’s only available to around one in 10 homes in Bloomington. Being a fiber network, Quantum Fiber offers symmetrical upload and download speeds, and equipment cost is bundled into the price in all plans. Bloomington also has widespread access to wireless internet from T-Mobile and Verizon. You get discounts on the plans if you already have phone service with one of them, but those 5G home internet services are best for smaller households that don’t connect a lot of devices at once.
For a more extensive list of promos, check out our guide on the best internet deals.
Fastest internet plans in Bloomington
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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.
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 Bloomington
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. 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.
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 the time 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 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 selecting the cheapest internet service, we look for the plans with the lowest monthly fee, although 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. (Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)
To explore our process in more depth, visit our how we test ISPs page.
Internet providers in Bloomington FAQs
What is the best internet service provider in Bloomington?
Yes, fiber internet is available to 11% of Bloomington households, according to FCC data. Quantum Fiber is the only fiber provider in the city.
What is the cheapest internet provider in Bloomington?
Xfinity offers the fastest internet plan in Bloomington, with download speeds up to 2,000Mbps.
