Internet Providers in Washington, District of Columbia
Search by zip code to find internet providers near you.
Residential Internet Statistics for Washington, DC
| Wired Internet Providers: | 6 |
|---|---|
| Average Speed Test Result: | 118.63 Mbps |
| Top Advertised Speed: | 1,000 Mbps |
| No Broadband Access: | 1.01% |
Most Popular Residential Internet Providers in Washington, District of Columbia
99.1% Available
1,000 Mbps
Download
35 Mbps
Upload
93.1% Available
950 Mbps
Download
880 Mbps
Upload
100% Available
100 Mbps
Download
3 Mbps
Upload
Internet Access in Washington, District of Columbia
4-5 Internet Service Providers, or "ISPs." are available for the average Washington resident. This is actually a high amount of choice contrasted with other cities. Competition between several providers in a city is correlated with lower pricing.
XFINITY from Comcast and Verizon High Speed Internet can also provide coverage in Washington, with significant shared territory in some blocks.
The plans listed here are collected by hand by our research staff.
Coverage from the two most common companies, Viasat Internet (formerly Exede) and HughesNet, generally, will overlap. As a result, the choice between Viasat and HughesNet is common.
In summary, Washington's broadband situation follows a common pattern in US cities: widespread availability of cable and DSL, with the caveat that the majority of houses are stuck with one provider for either type of Internet service. The cable/DSL pattern has a simple reason. Broadband companies have their roots as cable TV and landline phone corporations. So, they use these pre-existing infrastructures to deliver their broadband services. Fiber network access is growing as an alternative, and while some "Fiber" services aren't actually true "Fiber to the Home" connections, 74.80 percent of the population has access to fiber Internet stretching to a box near the property line. The area's weighted average downstream speed is 0.03 percent above the state average across all cities. See the speed test results below to see how local Internet providers compare over time.
- There are 39 internet providers in Washington with 11 of those offering residential service
- Washington is the 1st most connected city in District of Columbia ahead of Takoma Park, Arlington, Hyattsville, Brentwood, and Mount Rainier.
- Explore internet access for communities within Washington: Chevy Chase
- The fastest zip code in Washington for February 2021 is 20057. (see all below).
Internet Statistics 2021
1.0% of consumers in Washington
5,000 People Only have access to 1 or fewer wired internet providers available at their address.This data is calculated from FCC datasets which providers are legally required to supply twice a year. We further validate this data for accuracy.
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Summary Of Fastest Internet Providers In Washington, District of Columbia
| Provider | Speed | Type | Time To Download 1 GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| RCN | 1,000 Mbps | Cable | 8s |
| XFINITY from Comcast | 1,000 Mbps | Cable | 8s |
| Starry Internet | 200 Mbps | Fiber | 40s |
| Viasat Internet (formerly Exede) | 100 Mbps | Satellite | 1m 21s |
| BullsEye Telecom | 100 Mbps | Fiber | 1m 21s |
| Rise Broadband | 50 Mbps | Fixed Wireless | 2m 43s |
| HughesNet | 25 Mbps | Satellite | 5m 27s |
Summary of Internet Providers Availability in Washington, District of Columbia
- Xfinity - 99.1% Availability in Washington - Speeds up to 1,000 Mbps
- RCN - 66.8% Availability in Washington - Speeds up to 1,000 Mbps
- Starry Internet - 0.3% Availability in Washington - Speeds up to 200 Mbps
- Rise Broadband - 0.0% Availability in Washington - Speeds up to 50 Mbps
- BullsEye Telecom - 0.0% Availability in Washington - Speeds up to 100 Mbps
- Viasat - 100.0% Availability in Washington - Speeds up to 100 Mbps
- HughesNet - 100.0% Availability in Washington - Speeds up to 25 Mbps
Internet Providers in Nearby Cities
Internet Provider Competition Map For Washington
The “Connected” metric is a citywide average based on FCC data showing the density of broadband options at the census block level.
This statistic is drawn from the population in census blocks not served by at least one wired broadband provider.
Fiber coverage data is sourced from FCC Form 477 filings and cross-validated through BroadbandNow with private datasets and direct provider reporting.
This coverage statistic is based on a mix of FCC and private provider reporting in the past two quarters.
Zip-based speed averages are calculated from M-Labs consumer speed tests run by IP addresses in the area.
25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload is the minimum speed for an Internet connection to be classified as “Broadband” by the FCC.
Broadband Access for Education in Washington
George Washington University and Georgetown University are the biggest universities in Washington. For the 43,471 combined students living in the area, strong broadband access is a must for obtaining educational materials and conducting research. George Washington University homes have 2 internet providers servicing the area on average, while Georgetown University has nearer to 3. George Washington University students that live around campus can expect to get downstream speeds of around 29.6 Mbps, according to speed test data in the George Washington University zip code. Speeds near Georgetown University average out to 81.58 Mbps over 1,380 tests run in the past year.
FCC and US Government reports regularly cite the need to better internet service access for college and high school attendees. There is a recognized correlation between increased high-speed broadband access and increased education/employment opportunities, especially in small cities and rural areas.
Data Cap Issues Around Washington
Data collected by our researchers shows that common providers in the area use data caps on residential Internet connections. Data caps are a public issue because users view caps as a strategy to limit streaming, while providers insist they are a necessary strategy for managing heavy network congestion. In either case, the culprit is video streaming, which easily consumes anywhere from one to seven Gigabytes per hour.
Internet access in Washington neighborhoods
Washington Broadband information can be found in the following neighborhoods: Chevy Chase.
Summary Of Internet Providers In Washington
Customer Reviews of Internet Providers in Washington
Took Care Of Business
A few months back, I had Xfinity over to fix a broken cable line under my house in a dark crawl space. Karl, the technician, had a great attitude. He made sure he took care of business. I could tell he really cared to make sure he got the difficult job done. I really appreciate cable technician Karl. The world needs more people like him. I'm completely satisfied with his professional service.
Best Decision I Ever Made
The ESVBA is the best internet provider in the Eastern Shore. I paid a little over $1,000 for my install because I wanted it underground. But that was the best $1,000 I ever spent. I could have opted for ariel and my install would have been $150. I have never had an outage with them and I could not be happier.
Great tech
Irving Dillon Stopped by today (1 Feb 20) on time. He was very patient with the older person he was assisting. Super guy. You should spot reward him and let him know that his professional and understanding demeanor put Cox in a great light.
Full Of It!
This has to be one of the worst experiences I have ever had these people have taken double payments out of my account and have been giving me the run around. I have asked for assistance for 4 days without no result and no one seems to care. This has caused me real stress because I have other bills to pay. I wish I would have read the reviews before I went with this company. There pricing is extremely high and has to be some of the worst customer service ever.If you are reading this and considering this company please DON’T. I’m going back AT&T I hate Xfinity/Comcast the suck and don’t even give a damn!
Good provider, excellent service
Was a customer for 1 1/2 years. Service and support were always excellent. When I wanted to change my speed to save money the service person was able to work out a plan where I kept my current speed yet got a discount on the monthly rate. I’m sorry they don’t service the area I moved to as I really was satisfied with the service and support of RCN.
Excellent
No problems, whether international, online, phone, or in person always received professional assistance. Reliable service and hotspot.
Up and Down
When it works, it's great, when it's not it is terrible. Majority of the time it is decent. But when it is not, and that's more often than reasonable, it is terrible, frustrating and pretty much shuts me down, so frustrating that I just turn my computer off. Not consistently dependable. I am looking for another provider.
1.0 mps is really 350-450 during the day. Disappointing. But is only $15/month.