BroadbandNow is proud to announce the return of our Internet Service Provider Awards Program for 2020. In the program’s second year, we are continuing in our efforts 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 created this awards program in order to recognize small-to-mid-sized providers offering excellent service to consumers across the nation.
This year, we’re proud to introduce eligibility to municipal broadband providers, who are doing some of the most exciting work in bridging the digital divide by bringing robust services to millions of consumers across all corners of the U.S.
Internet Provider Award Categories
We’ve designed this year’s 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
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 SpeedFastest 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
Award Winners: Mid-Sized Providers
Award Winners: 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.
Most Fiber Expansion
Most Fiber Expansion Award recipients in this category have proven their commitment to offering industry-leading technologies to their customers. Fiber connections are the most future-proof infrastructure available today, and we are proud to recognize these forward-thinking providers doing the difficult work of building out these next-generation networks at scale.
Award Winners: Small Providers
Nittany Media
MachLink
DELCOM
Vision Communications
Smart City
Consolidated Telecom
Mid Century Telephone Cooperative
Citynet
MvLink
RiverStreet Networks
Award Winners: Mid-Sized Providers
Award Winners: Large Providers
Fiber Expansion Methodology
Fiber Expansion awards were given based upon the FCC’s Form 477 Deployment data, which is a reporting mechanism that providers use to declare where they do and do not offer internet service. For this year’s awards, we have compared fiber expansion increases from April 2019 – April 2020 (encompassing the last two major 477 updates).
Affordable Plans
Affordable PlansThis 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.
Award Winners: Basic Speed
Award Winners: Broadband Speed
Arkwest Communications
Broadband Corp
Consolidated Smart Broadband Systems
Eagle Communications
Race Communications
American Broadband
Andrena
En-Touch Systems
En-Touch Systems
Everywhere Wireless
Award Winners: High Speed
FireServe
SenaWave
Consolidated Smart Broadband Systems
RCI Communications
Mayfield Electric & Water Systems
Emery Telcom
HomeTel
Veracity Networks
Home Town Cable Plus
Suddenlink Communications
Award Winners: Gig Speed
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.
