BroadbandNow Internet Provider Awards 2019 Announcement

BroadbandNow Internet Provider Awards 2019 Announcement

Written by
December 21, 2023

BroadbandNow is excited to announce our 2019 Service Provider Awards Program. This program is the culmination of a massive, cross-disciplinary effort to highlight excellence among internet service providers across the United States.

Program Overview

At BroadbandNow, we’ve analyzed more than a billion rows of data to power our provider search engine, which itself fuels more than 13 million user searches annually. As the only consumer resource investing in data aggregation and validation for independent, regional ISPs, we are rolling out this awards program in order to recognize small-to-mid-sized providers offering excellent service to consumers across the nation.

Internet Provider Award Categories

Internet Provider Award Categories

We’ve designed this program to center around three core aspects that we believe are vital to operational excellence in broadband service. These categories are Fastest Average Speed, Customer Approval, and Affordable Plans.

Internet Provider Size Categories

Internet Provider Size Categories

For most award categories, we’ve organized providers by their relative size. We used the following metrics to determine where to place each provider:

  • Small provider: provider with population covered < 50,000
  • Mid-size provider: provider with population covered < 4 Million
  • Major provider: provider with population covered > 4 Million

Fastest Average Speed Fastest Average Speed

Fastest Average Speed award winners exhibit operational excellence by providing fast, reliable speeds to their customers. These are service providers who take their commitment to bringing the broadband connectivity of tomorrow to consumers all across the US seriously, and we’re proud to showcase their efforts.

Award Winners: Small Providers

  1. CTI Fiber

  2. Hotwire Communications

  3. United Communications

  4. MLGC

  5. Tel-Star Cablevision

  6. All West Communications

  7. Pinpoint Communications

  8. SandyNet

  9. West Carolina Tel

  10. Optic Communications

Fastest Small Providers

Award Winners: Mid-Sized Providers

  1. Google Fiber

  2. i3 Broadband

  3. Greenlight Networks

  4. ACD.net

  5. Veracity Networks

  6. Blue Stream

  7. Metronet

  8. Morristown Utility FiberNET

  9. Grande Communications

  10. CDE Lightband

Fastest Mid-Sized Providers

Award Winners: Large Providers

  1. Verizon Fios

  2. RCN

  3. Verizon High Speed Internet

  4. Optimum by Altice

  5. C Spire Wireless

  6. Suddenlink Communications

  7. Spectrum

  8. Cox Communications

  9. WOW!

  10. AT&T Internet

Fastest Large Providers

Fastest Average Speed Methodology

Our Average Speed category was determined using a mix of data from M-Labs and speed tests run through our own proprietary data validation system. Using this method allows us to remove “repeat” and “suspect” tests. This also helps us confirm each test was run on a particular provider’s network, ensuring the most accurate results possible.

Customer Approval Customer Approval

Award recipients in this category have proven their commitment to offering industry-leading customer support, competitive pricing, and reliable service. Customer sentiment can be a difficult thing to measure in the broadband industry, so we’re excited to provide insight into which brands are truly excelling in this area in 2019.

Award Winners: Small Providers

  1. Christensen Communications Company

  2. Woodstock Communications

  3. Eastern Shore of Virginia Broadband Authority

  4. Montana Opticom

  5. Rocket Fiber

  6. CTI Fiber

  7. Bluespan

  8. Highland Communication Services

  9. Fiberpipe Internet

  10. Daystarr Communications

Small Provider Ratings

Award Winners: Mid-Sized Providers

  1. Great Basin Internet Services

  2. GigaBeam Networks

  3. WireFree Communications

  4. Greenlight Networks

  5. i3 Broadband

  6. Google Fiber

  7. EPB

  8. Aristotle.Net

  9. Smarter Broadband

  10. Encounter Wireless

Mid Sized Providers Ratings

Customer Approval Methodology

Customer Approval Awards rely upon our internal consumer sentiment data. We have collected hundreds of thousands of sentiment inputs across thousands of service providers. We’ve leveraged this data to gain deeper insights into the ISPs truly excelling in the current marketplace.

Affordable Plans Affordable Plans

This award category focuses on providers offering low-cost internet plans to consumers at various levels of speed. We believe that affordable broadband options are vital to the future of the US economy, and we’re proud to recognize providers who share this view.

Small Providers
Basic Internet Broadband Internet High Speed Internet Gig Internet
1
Wi-Fiber 1 Tennessee Harrisonville Telephone Company Bascom Communications
2
GEUS Harrisonville Telephone Company RCI Communications RCI Communications
3
Harrisonville Telephone Company HomeTel Smart City
Mid-Sized Providers
Basic Internet Broadband Internet High Speed Internet Gig Internet
1
Ting FireServe FireServe UTOPIA
2
Zito Media Broadband Corp Veracity Networks Veracity Networks
3
Wise Broadband En-Touch Systems UTOPIA Empire Access
Large Providers
Basic Internet Broadband Internet High Speed Internet Gig Internet
1
Frontier Communications RCN Windstream EarthLink
Windstream
2
RCN WOW! WOW! WOW!
3
WOW! Rise Broadband Verizon Fios Cox Communications

Affordable Plans Methodology

For this category, we broke down the most affordable service packages at the national level, as well as across various technology types (fiber, DSL, cable, etc). We awarded providers at four different speed tiers:

  • Basic Internet: 5 Mbps – 24.9 Mbps
  • Broadband Internet: 25 Mbps – 99.9 Mbps
  • High Speed Internet: 100 Mbps – 949.9 Mbps
  • Gigabit Internet: 950+ Mbps

For each tier, we looked at the providers offering the lowest-priced plans relative to each speed tier.

Not listed above? Be sure to check your provider dashboard to view any additional awards your company may have won! You can access your dashboard by clicking here.

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