Best internet providers in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Your choice of home internet provider in Winston-Salem will come down to availability, pricing, and the max speeds you need.

#1: AT&T fiber internet

AT&T fiber is readily available in Greensboro, and it promises more reliability and speed than any other provider in city limits. It’s our top provider nationally, and we also think it’s a good choice for North Carolina households. Plans start at around $55 per month for speeds of 300 Mbps. Our experts say that’s fast enough for most households. You can instead pay for speeds all the way up to 5 Gbps (5,000 Mbps), but that’s overkill for most. Equipment is included every month, and there are no contracts to worry about, but installation fees range from $50–$100 depending on whether you can do the work on your own.

In some areas of town, particularly if you live in parts of Arcadia, Midway, or Eureka Mills, AT&T may not yet offer fiber. Instead, it relies on its old DSL network, which uses the same kind of cabling you used to use to make landline phone calls. This tech is a lot slower and prices aren’t great, but AT&T has stopped selling new DSL plans so if you’re seeing ads from the company, you’re going to be getting fiber.

Read our full AT&T fiber internet review.

#2: Spectrum internet

Spectrum has the widest availability of any provider in Winston-Salem, and we love its lowest-tier plans for budget shoppers. If you live alone or your family just doesn’t use the internet much, you can pay just $20 for speeds up to 30 Mbps (or $25, if you need to rent the Spectrum Wi-Fi equipment). Other plans from Spectrum include speeds up to 100 Mbps, 200 Mbps, 300 Mbps, 500 Mbps, and even 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps). Spectrum’s prices go up after the first year, which is a bummer, but there are no contracts and no data limits, and you can use your own router if you want to save money.

Read our full Spectrum internet review.

#3: T-Mobile internet

Home internet from T-Mobile is faster and more reliable than ever, and plans rival what you would pay with more traditional internet providers. The best 5G coverage (5G Ultra Capacity) is available throughout Winston-Salem, though you might experience a small downgrade to 5G Extended Range if you get northeast of Kernersville or west of Lewisville. (1) Major arteries are covered throughout the region, though, and dropoffs to 4G LTE are rare. If you bundle your 5G home internet with your mobile phone plan, you can pay as little as $25 per month for internet. Speeds may slow down during busy times or if you’re too far from a 5G tower, though, so it’s best to take advantage of the 15-day trial period and plug in your new T-Mobile equipment as soon as it arrives.

Read our full T-Mobile 5G review.

Internet access in Winstom-Salem is about average for cities of its size, with options for fiber internet from AT&T, cable internet from Spectrum, or fixed wireless 5G internet from Verizon or T-Mobile. Verizon offers 4G LTE in most of Winston-Salem (2), but you might get a better signal closer to Greensboro, where the company announced it had increased median download speeds by more than 150%. (3)

In about 10% of town, you may also have the option of X1 Communications for home internet. X1 Communications is a  small, local fixed wireless internet provider that mounts radio receiver dishes on roofs rather than relying on a cell phone carrier’s 5G network. Residential plans start at $39 per month, and business plans start at $45 per month. There’s no equipment to buy, no installation fees, and no contracts. The company builds custom packages, though, so you’ll need to call in to see what your costs will be.

You can also technically get satellite internet in Winston-Salem, but it would probably be slow and expensive compared to your other options so we don’t usually recommend it. That may change in the future if Starlink’s network of  low-orbit satellites grows to accommodate more users, but for now waiting lists are long and setup prices are quite high.

Spectrum, AT&T, and Verizon are tied for the cheapest home internet provider in Winston-Salem—unless you already have a compatible router you can use with your Spectrum plan. If not, the cheapest plan from each provider is $25 per month. Max speeds with Spectrum will be slower but more reliable throughout the day. T-Mobile has the best local 5G coverage, but works best in cities. Verizon’s 5G offering isn’t as readily available in town but may work better in rural areas.

Like North Carolinians throughout the state, people who live in and around Winston-Salem love fiber internet. They love Lumos and often recommend AT&T, though some folks still have a sour taste in their mouths over bad customer experiences with AT&T’s DSL service. Others like that AT&T supports union workers, while still others have nice things to say about 5G home internet from T-Mobile.

Customers in the Winston-Salem area have good choices when it comes to home internet. Lumos has been building out its fiber network throughout the region with the help of federal and county taxpayer dollars, plus its own investments. In August of 2021, it announced a $51 million effort to extend its network to 38,000 users in Forsyth and Randolph counties. Check availability or sign up for the waiting list on the Lumos site.

You may also have to join a waiting list or schedule a site visit if you’re interested in fixed wireless internet from X1 Communications. There’s a better chance you can access the 5G networks of either Verizon (4) or T-Mobile, though. Both have improved their 5G infrastructure in recent years.

Statewide, efforts are underway to make internet access easier for rural communities and intercity areas that have traditionally been underserved by internet service providers. You can help by adding your information to a map managed by the NC Broadband Infrastructure Office.