EarthLink vs. Metronet vs. Verizon Fios Internet plan comparison
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Staff rating
3.7
Customer rating
4.2
(5)- Plans starting at $59.95
- Download speeds up to 100 Mbps
Staff rating
4.2
Customer rating
4.4
(7)- Plans starting at $20.00
- Download speeds up to 1 Gbps
Staff rating
4.2
Customer rating
4.3
(203)- Plans starting at $49.99
- Download speeds up to 940 Mbps
Check availability
See what providers service your area.
Staff rating
3.7
Pay more for a better customer experience with EarthLink
EarthLink is an interesting provider. Instead of serving internet through its own infrastructure, it partners with other internet providers to repackage their service, acting as a go-between. This means higher prices, but a reputation for great customer service might make EarthLink worth it.
What we like
- Wide availability
- Strong customer service
- No price hikes
What we dislike
- High prices
- Widely differing plans based on area
Savings tip: EarthLink often has sign-up promotions for first-time customers. Call to ask a rep about current deals and discounts.
Check deals
Staff rating
4.2
Strong value from a local internet provider
Metronet is a growing regional provider that offers value-packed internet service to customers. Its all-fiber network is fast and reasonably priced. Overall, we think Metronet is a solid pick for your next internet provider—if you happen to live in one of its coverage areas.
What we like
- Unlimited data
- No contracts
- 100% fiber service
What we dislike
- Availability only in the Midwest
- Limited plan selection
Savings tip: Metronet often has sign-up promotions for first-time customers. Call to ask a rep about current deals and discounts.
Check deals
Staff rating
4.2
Fast, affordable fiber internet with a big East Coast footprint
Verizon Fios offers fast, reliable fiber internet, along with one of the best overall customer experiences in the business. Verizon Fios is highly recommended, and it's one of the best home internet providers we reviewed.
What we like
- Reliable, symmetrical speeds
- No contracts
What we dislike
- Limited availability
- No plan above 1 gig
Savings tip: Verizon Fios often has sign-up promotions for first-time customers. Call to ask a rep about current deals and discounts.
Check deals
Value
4.0
Above-average prices, but they’re more constant than other providers
There’s no getting around it: EarthLink prices are almost always higher than the competition. Depending on the area, the difference can be as little as a few dollars per month, but it’s still there. That said, there are actually legitimate reasons for this.
First, EarthLink doesn’t actually have its own internet infrastructure. Instead, it partners with other local DSL and fiber internet providers, like AT&T and Frontier, and uses their infrastructure. This costs EarthLink money, and some of this naturally gets passed down to customers. In return, you’re promised a better customer experience.
The other reason is that EarthLink skips the usual promotional pricing most ISPs advertise. For example, when AT&T or Spectrum quote you a price, it’s often for an introductory period of 12 or 24 months, after which that price may increase (sometimes dramatically). EarthLink doesn’t do this, which is a plus in our book. This also means EarthLink may end up slightly less expensive if you intend to keep it for a couple of years.
Pricing details vary by location. Visit
EarthLink's website
or call 1-833-804-4930 to speak with a rep.See pricing
Value
4.0
Good value overall, especially on the 1 gig plan
Smaller, regional internet providers sometimes suffer a little in the value department. Either the pricing is good but the speeds offered aren’t up to snuff, or the speeds are fast but the price is outrageous. Metronet bucks this trend. In fact, the 1 gig plan actually starts out at a lower price than most competitors and less than half the national benchmark for similar plans (1).
You do have the standard rate hikes after the first 6-24 months, however. Competing internet providers sometimes offer small perks that make them more attractive, but Metronet definitely holds its own.
Pricing details vary by location. Visit
Metronet's website
or call 1-833-804-6161 to speak with a rep.See pricing
Value
3.5
More speed for your money
Verizon Fios is an excellent value overall. The provider offers three fiber-to-the-home plans, starting at about $50 per month for 300 Mbps, which is more for the money than you’ll get with many competitors.
Even though this is Verizon’s “slowest” offering, it’s still extremely fast and should cover a wide variety of households. In fact, we interviewed one customer who lives in a household of five internet users—two adults working full time from home, three children streaming videos and playing video games, and a plethora of internet-enabled smart home devices. She feels like they pay a good price for the 300 Mbps plan without losing out on speed. "I rarely have to think about it," she said. "If I don't have to think about it, then it's working."
The mid-tier plan is also a solid value. The highest-tier gigabit option is less competitively priced, at closer to $90 per month. However, that's still about 25% lower than the national benchmark for similar plans. (1) And you do get the benefit of symmetrical download and upload speeds with all of Verizon’s fiber internet plans, which you won’t find with every provider. This helps offset the cost somewhat. For an additional $10 each month at the highest tier, you get 2 TB of cloud storage, a subscription to Disney+, and a MoCA adapter for internet gaming.
It's worth noting that Verizon also offers DSL internet in some areas, with download speeds as high as 15 Mbps and bundled prices in the range of $75 per month, but is phasing it out in 2023. That's awfully slow compared to fiber internet, and quite expensive, but it's better than nothing. The good news is Verizon is rapidly building out its fiber-to-the-home network, so many households that have been stuck with DSL may soon be eligible for Fios.
Pricing details vary by location. Visit
Verizon Fios's website
or call 1-833-970-0848 to speak with a rep.See pricing
Performance
4.0
Generally solid performance and fast speeds, but wide variation from place to place
EarthLink's performance is tough to rate. Because it is essentially reselling other providers’ services, the speed and reliability are highly dependent on which partners it uses in a given area.
That said, performance is generally good, and there are a wide range of high-speed internet plans available in most areas, so you can get exactly how much you need—up to 5 gigs in some places. Much of the service is fiber, which means performance is reliably consistent. Best of all, every plan has unlimited data, so whatever speed you opt for, you can use it without worry.
Available speeds vary by location. Call 1-833-804-4930 to speak with a EarthLink rep or
go to its website.
Performance
5.0
Excellent performance with no data caps
Performance with Metronet is great. There are plans ranging from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps, all of which offer symmetrical upload speeds. This means upload speeds are equal to download speeds—excellent for content creators, streamers, online gamers, and anyone else who shares a lot of large files. Best of all, there are no data caps.
Although some fiber providers have started offering 2 gig and even 5 gig plans, we don't think anyone needs to pay for that much speed (and if you're one of the few who does, you probably already know who you are). Metronet’s 1 gig option will be plenty for most needs, but extremely heavy users who require faster speeds will have to look elsewhere. Find out how much internet speed you need.
Available speeds vary by location. Call 1-833-804-6161 to speak with a Metronet rep or
go to its website.
Performance
5.0
Blazing-fast speeds with rock-solid performance
Performance is where Verizon Fios really shines. PCMag named it the fastest Major Internet Service Provider in 2022—and the 9 years before that. (2) The fiber-optic connections are rock solid, and the speeds offered are excellent.
Additionally, all plans have symmetrical download and upload speeds, which is ideal for anyone who uploads a lot of content. Some competitors have started offering 2,000 Mbps (or faster), but the vast majority of households won’t need those multi-gig speeds, so Verizon customers aren’t really missing out.
The likelihood of maintaining those fast advertised speeds reliably is also better with a fiber provider like Verizon than it is with some other internet types, but your experience may vary by location. In an interview, a Fios customer of over three years said that she sticks with Verizon because of the reliability even more than the price. At her current home in Buffalo, NY, she didn’t have any service outages or slowdowns even through the massive blizzards in 2022. When she previously used Verizon Fios in the Bronx, NY, the infrastructure had more outages and maintenance, though it was still faster and more reliable than another provider she tried in the area.
If you can get only DSL with Verizon, you'll only be able to download at speeds up to 15 Mbps and will pay a lot for the privilege. If you have any other option, we'd usually recommend it.
Available speeds vary by location. Call 1-833-970-0848 to speak with a Verizon Fios rep or
go to its website.
Equipment and Installation
2.5
Reasonable prices, but wide variation from place to place (again)
This is another category that’s tough to rate. Since EarthLink partners with other internet service providers (ISPs) to provide service, it doesn’t actually issue its own equipment. Instead, you’ll get equipment from whichever partner EarthLink uses in your area. The good news is that EarthLink does set the fees, and they’re reasonable: $9.95 per month.
It’s a similar story for installation—your service will be installed and set up by a rep from the partner company, not EarthLink itself. The installation fee is $79.95, which isn’t the highest we’ve seen. That said, we’d rather see installation included in the price, particularly since EarthLink’s overall prices tend to be on the high side. Self-install is available only in some service areas.
Equipment and installation options can vary widely depending on
EarthLink plans
available in your area.View plans
Equipment and installation
4.5
High-quality equipment and cheap installation
Metronet provides all the equipment you need to get started free of charge, including an eero wireless router so you can get online quickly. This is a nice change of pace in an industry that often charges $10–$15 per month for mediocre gear. You do have the option of adding a wireless extender for $10 per month (called WholeHome Wi-Fi), but it isn’t strictly necessary.
More good news concerning installation—while most providers charge between $50 and $100 (or more) for installation, Metronet will bill you only $25. That’s not bad at all. Of course, when installation is a mandatory part of the service, we’d prefer it to be free, but we’ll take what we can get. Plus, all you have to do to receive a $25 installation credit (effectively making it free) is to sign up for automatic billing.
Our only complaint is the lack of any type of self-installation option, so you'll have to set aside a good two to four hours for a technician to come to your house.
Equipment and installation options can vary widely depending on
Metronet plans
available in your area.View plans
Equipment and installation
4.0
Equipment included on all plans and free pro installation if you order online
Verizon Fios offers a pretty standard equipment setup for fiber: an optical network terminal (ONT) and a wireless router. Routers are included at no extra cost on each plan, and the fastest plan comes with an included mesh network called Whole-Home Wi-Fi.
Installation costs $99, and there’s no self-install option. A current Verizon Fios customer who moved from one city to another said that they didn’t have to pay for pro install because they use their own equipment and their new home was previously wired for Fios, so it’s worth checking whether you need installation at your address. If you do need installation and order online, Verizon will waive the fee. This can be an easy way to save some money on your first internet bill. That said, while the fee is expensive, it’s not unheard of among internet service providers.
Equipment and installation options can vary widely depending on
Verizon Fios plans
available in your area.View plans
Customer Experience
4.5
EarthLink provides a surprisingly great experience from an ISP.
Customer service is where EarthLink really shines. The company claims to prioritize customer service and experience, and users seem to agree. The company actually ranks first in some user-driven surveys of internet satisfaction, beating out providers like AT&T and Verizon despite the higher prices.
From a practical standpoint, it seems that EarthLink representatives are friendlier, more helpful, and more knowledgeable than those we’ve dealt with at other companies. However, we've seen reports that some customers don't get the Earthlink customer experience. In some places, customer service is handled by the end provider instead.
Visit EarthLink's website
or call 1-833-804-4930 for more information on contracts and money-back guarantees.Go to provider
Customer experience
3.5
A good experience overall, but some strange fees
Decent value, fast performance, and reasonable equipment and installation costs make for a great experience overall. Metronet also claims to have 24-hour local support, and customers generally seem satisfied with their service.
There is one glaring issue, though: the provider charges a mandatory “technology service fee” of around $10 per month.
Metronet claims this is to cover the cost of service calls, tech visits, and equipment maintenance. However, we don’t see this type of charge from any other provider, and it effectively nullifies the free equipment, so we have mixed feelings.
We've also seen a few complaints from customers who feel like they were being charged more than advertised, but we thought that the price increases and fees were pretty fairly laid out on the website, so just make sure to read the fine print (2).
Visit Metronet's website
or call 1-833-804-6161 for more information on contracts and money-back guarantees.Go to provider
Customer experience
4.5
The leader in customer service among internet providers
If there’s a leader in internet customer experience, it’s probably Verizon Fios. The service is absolutely rock solid, with hardly a hiccup. This, combined with the excellent speeds, makes for a seamless internet experience—it just works.
Verizon also consistently scores well in customer satisfaction. In fact, it took the top spot this year in the ACSI benchmarks (3), tied with AT&T. Meanwhile, PCMag's readers rank Verizon Fios third in overall satisfaction (4).
Connecting away from home is the only place Verizon falls short. With services such as AT&T and Xfinity, subscribers get access to a nationwide network of free hotspots. Verizon doesn't have this offering (but also doesn't trick you into using your home router to let strangers connect).
Visit Verizon Fios's website
or call 1-833-970-0848 for more information on contracts and money-back guarantees.Go to provider
Made up your mind?
Find out what providers are available near you.
EarthLink
4.2
(5)5 Star
40%
4 Star
40%
3 Star
20%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%
M
Marstonfrom Brooklyn , NY
EarthLink Customer for 4+ years
Reviewed on: 4-4-2023
Earthlink is good internet, but not better than anyone else. I haven't had problems, but I don't expect to have problems.
J
Jerryfrom Elkin, NC
EarthLink Customer for 8+ years
Reviewed on: 3-14-2023
Earthlink has been pretty good for what I use it for. It's a little expensive but not bad
J
J.J.from Dominguez, CA
EarthLink Customer for 1+ years
Reviewed on: 8-29-2022
been an ok provider so far. nothing outstanding, nothing to complain about.
V
Veronica from Macon, GA
EarthLink Customer for Less than a year
Reviewed on: 8-29-2022
Fast internet service, cloud storage
Metronet
4.4
(7)5 Star
43%
4 Star
57%
3 Star
0%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%
R
Richard from Phoenix , AZ
Metronet Customer for 4+ years
Reviewed on: 4-12-2023
Good connection most days from MetroNet. Price is good compared to the other options near me.
M
Maryfrom Wabash, IN
Metronet Customer for 8+ years
Reviewed on: 3-24-2023
I like metronet. Whenever I have a problem and I call them they stay on the line until the situation is completely resolved.
W
William from Tallahassee, FL
Metronet Customer for Less than a year
Reviewed on: 6-24-2022
Combined with more streaming for our television viewing, we have gained financially from switching. Service has been strong thus far. Greater speed is still a desire we have.
B
Brendafrom Tallahassee, FL
Metronet Customer for Less than a year
Reviewed on: 6-24-2022
Everything works just a well as other providers but costs less.
Verizon Fios
4.3
(203)5 Star
48%
4 Star
37%
3 Star
13%
2 Star
1%
1 Star
1%
J
Jamiefrom Fredericksburg, VA
Verizon Fios Customer for 1+ years
Reviewed on: 6-17-2022
It's fast internet that we don't usually have a problem with. I do wish they had more packages for combining services, though.
M
Mollyfrom Orlando, FL
Verizon Fios Customer for Less than a year
Reviewed on: 6-17-2022
They seem to be awesome so far. Much cheaper than my cable service.
J
Jasonfrom Corona, CA
Verizon Fios Customer for 1+ years
Reviewed on: 6-17-2022
Verizon FiOS has good network reliability. Their internet service is great. They can improve on lowering my bill.
L
Lesliefrom Pottstown, PA
Verizon Fios Customer for 8+ years
Reviewed on: 6-17-2022
They are immensely reliable in the entire time I have had only 2 Fios outages. They don't raise rates, they don't harass me. Nothing they do everything perfectly
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Endnotes and sources
Endnotes and sources
1. “2022 Urban Rate Survey – Fixed Broadband Service,” FCC. Accessed 18 October 2022.2. "Metronet Customer Reviews," BroadbandNow. Accessed 9 December 2022.
Endnotes and sources
1.“2022 Urban Rate Survey – Fixed Broadband Service,” FCC. Accessed 19 October 2022.2. "The Fastest ISPs of 2022," PC Mag. Accessed 19 October 2022.3. "Internet Providers," American Customer Satisfaction Index. Accessed 19 October 2022.4. “Readers’ Choice 2022: Your Favorite ISPs for Any Type of Broadband,” PCMag. Accessed 19 October 2022.
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