Satellite Internet Providers in New York City

New York City is home to over 8,000,000 people and 200,000 businesses, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Obviously, it takes a whole lot of internet infrastructure to keep everyone online. There are almost a dozen different internet service providers in the city, but Hughesnet and Viasat are the only ones that offer coverage in every single area.

Hughesnet and Viasat are both satellite internet providers. This makes them a great choice for folks who live in harder-to-reach parts of Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. But most people probably want to sign up for wired internet—like fiber or cable—because it’s cheaper and offers faster, more reliable speeds.

We go over all of the best residential internet options in New York City here, including satellite, fiber, and cable plans. That way, you can pick the one that’s right for you and your family. Let’s start with satellite providers.

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• Best satellite internet providers in New York City
• Best internet providers in New York City
• Fastest internet in New York City
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• Free internet in New York City
• New York City internet FAQ

Viasat and HughesNet offer the best deals for NYC customers who need satellite internet.

Viasat can get you download speeds up to 100Mbps, which is plenty for browsing, working from home, online gaming, and, of course, binging the new season of the Great British Baking Show. It offers high data caps, which means big families don’t have to worry so much about going over their limit.

HughesNet’s speeds aren’t as fast, but the company offsets this with lower prices. Small families and couples who need just enough internet speed for streaming movies and basic browsing at home would do great with the company’s $50 a month plan.

Of course, there’s also Elon Musk’s Starlink internet. This service is available in NYC. We like that Starlink’s latency tends to be lower than HughesNet and Viasat’s (which is good for gaming), but that doesn’t make up for the fact that it tends to be pricier and less reliable.

Hopefully you’ve got the lay of the land when it comes to satellite internet in New York City. But remember, even the best satellite internet can’t compete with most cable or fiber internet providers where they’re available. So let’s move on to look at some of those options.

New Yorkers have no shortage of options when it comes to fast internet. However, we think there are three providers that stand out by offering fast internet that covers a majority of the city’s residents.

Verizon Fios is at the top of this list. The company’s fast and reliable fiber internet service is available to 82% of people in the Big Apple (that’s like 5,000,000 people)! Its plans cost from about $50 a month up to $90 a month, with speeds from 300Mbps all the way up to 2Gbps. It’s the clear frontrunner for those who want a good mix of affordability and performance.

Spectrum is another good option in New York City. It also covers about 82% of the city, but its network is a mixture of cable and fiber-optic, which means it’s not as reliable. Spectrum’s prices are similar to Verizon Fios’, but its speeds are not quite as impressive.

Finally, there’s T-Mobile Home Internet. While you might know T-Mobile for its cell phone service, the company has expanded to become an internet service provider (ISP). It uses the same mobile towers that give your phone signal to provide fast, in-home internet service. It’s affordable (just $30 a month for many existing T-Mobile customers) and covers over 75% of New York City.

No one wants to be stuck on a loading screen. Waiting for your next YouTube video to buffer is no fun. And losing a game because your internet lags is nearly unbearable. But don’t worry, New York has plenty of very fast internet plans to choose from. Here are the four best.

If you want high performance internet and don’t care much about the cost, then Verizon Fios’s higher-end fiber plans are the way to go. With speeds up to 2,000Mbps, you and your whole family (or roommates) have enough bandwidth for pretty much anything.

If you’re trying to run a small business or want to get internet for your whole apartment building, you might want to look into Optimum’s 8,000Mbps plan. It’s a ludicrous amount of internet speed that really makes sense only for those who are splitting it among many people.

If you want enough speed to keep running your Twitch channel but don’t want to spend more than $50 a month, we suggest checking out Astound. It doesn’t cover even half of New York City, but it has amazing prices for decently fast cable internet in the areas where it’s available.

What’s better than fast internet? That’s right: Fast and cheap internet. New Yorkers have several options for low-cost, high-speed plans.

Yet again, Verizon Fios is at the top of our list (sorry, it just has the best deals). The company has a plan for $49.99 that gives you 300Mbps speeds on a totally fiber-optic network. It’s an amazing deal.

If Verizon isn’t available in your area, you can also get good internet service at the same price from HughesNet and T-Mobile Home Internet. Between these two ISPs, the whole city has coverage.

But if you want the cheapest internet in New York City, period, then go with Astound. The company’s promotional prices for new customers are unbeatable. You can get speeds up to 300Mbps for just $25 a month (that’s basically what a sandwich costs these days).

Once upon a time, we all used clunky modems and phone lines to get slow dial-up internet. (Remember this sound?) Eventually, we began running the internet through cable TV lines. But now we have fiber. It’s the new gold standard for internet service. It’s faster and more reliable than previous technology without being much more expensive.

Here are our favorite fiber internet service providers in NYC.

We hate to sound like a broken record, but Verizon Fios is, yet again, our top pick for fiber internet in New York. The service covers most of the city’s residents, offers decent prices, and has several superfast plans to choose.

If Verizon isn’t available in your area, or if you just want to expand your horizons, you can check out fiber internet plans from Optimum, Astound, or a new company called Flume. These providers all have reasonably priced service that can get you speeds upwards of 1,000Mbps.

New York City is a bit of a hub for small fiber-optic internet startups, like Flume. Here’s a full list of fiber ISPs in the City of Dreams.

• Verizon Fios (entire network)
• Flume (entire network)
• Optimum (fiber and cable)
• Astound (fiber and cable)
• Xchange Telecom (entire network)
• Pilot Fiber (entire network)
• EarthLink (fiber and DSL)

New York City residents have plenty of options for affordable high-speed internet. Verizon Fios is an amazing overall option for most people, offering fiber speeds and fair prices. For those who aren’t in Verizon’s coverage area, there’s Optimum, Astound, Spectrum, and T-Mobile 5G Home Internet, all of which have great plans under $60 a month.

If you’re in a very hard to reach area of New York City where traditional wired internet providers don’t service, be sure to check out HughesNet and Viasat. These satellite internet providers can cover you no matter where you reside and have several high-speed internet plans to choose from.

• 99% of census blocks in New York City have “at least one option for internet service at a 25Mbps download speed,” according to data from the FCC.
• According to the New York City Council, as recently as 2021, 8.1% of New York City families did not have access to the internet.

New York City has five boroughs, and each borough is in its own county:

• New York County (Manhattan)
• Kings County (Brooklyn)
• Bronx County (The Bronx)
• Richmond County (Staten Island)
• Queens County (Queens)

There’s never an excuse to be without an internet connection when you’re traveling in New York City. The Big Apple is chock full of free Wi-Fi hotspots, coffee shops, and other public places where you can use the internet without paying. Here’s everything you need to know.

The whole city is essentially one big Wi-Fi network, between city parks, private stores, LinkNYC stations, and other businesses. Here are some of the best places to get online for free.

• Bronx Park
• Claremont Park
• Fox Park
• Ferry Point Park
• Joyce Kilmer Park
• Carroll Park
• Brooklyn Bridge Park
• Coney Island Beach & Boardwalk
• Manhattan Beach Park
• Prospect Park
• John's Park
• Bryant Park
• Central Park
• City Hall Park
• Highbridge Park
• Madison Square Park
• Marcus Garvey Park
• Riverside Park South
• Baisley Pond Park
• Hoffman Park
• Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk
• Clove Lakes Park
• Franklin D. Roosevelt Boardwalk and Beach
• Tappen Park

• Ace Hotel
• The Ludlow
• CitizenM New York
• Boro Hotel
• The NoMad
• Arlo Hudson Square
• The Standard East Village
• The Marlton
• High Line Hotel

All New York City Public Libraries have free public Wi-Fi during open hours, including the following branches:

• 53rd Street Library
• Aguilar Library
• Battery Park City Library
• Bronx Library Center
• Castle Hill Library
• Charleston Library
• City Island Library
• Countee Cullen Library
• Dongan Hills Library
• Eastchester Library
• Epiphany Library
• Francis Martin Library
• George Bruce Library
• Harlem Library
• High Bridge Library
• Inwood Library
• Jefferson Market Library
• Macomb's Bridge Library
• Morningside Heights Library
• New Amsterdam Library
• Pelham Bay Library
• Richmondtown Library
• South Beach Library
• Tompkins Square Library
• Tremont Library
• Wakefield Library

Other locations where you can access public Wi-Fi in New York City include:

• Trinity Churchyard
• Historic Stone Street
• Central Park Zoo
• Coffee Project New York
• Pause Cafe
• Gotan
• Most subway stations have free public Wi-Fi
• Grand Central Terminal
• Penn Station
• Winter Garden Theatre
• Union Square Greenmarket
• Starbucks
• Joe and the Juice
• City Swiggers
• Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
• Blue Stripes
• Now or Never Coffee

There are certain precautions that you should always take when using a public Wi-Fi network, even one that’s from a trusted provider.

Never provide important personal information—like your social security number, bank account information, or sensitive passwords—when you’re on a public network. Make sure that the websites you access are spelled correctly and have “https://” at the beginning of the address.

You can use a VPN on your laptop or other device for added security and privacy, even when you’re using a public Wi-Fi network. If you’re very concerned about privacy, you can always use the internet on your phone, which is more secure.

Speaking of using your phone, which carriers have the best service in NYC?

1. T-Mobile
2. Verizon
3. AT&T

No matter which cell phone carrier you’re using, you should have good coverage in all of New York City. Even discount MVNO carriers should have decent data speeds in the five boroughs. That said, T-Mobile has the best overall download speeds out of the three major networks.

Both T-Mobile and Verizon have robust 5G networks in New York City that can also be used for home internet service. You can learn more about these services in our reviews of T-Mobile 5G Home Internet and Verizon 5G Home Internet.

As we’ve mentioned above, there are tons of options for super fast wired internet in the five boroughs. However, once you get into the outskirts or Queens, up into Westchester, or into other areas of the outskirts of NYC, things get harder.

You can use our handy zip code checker to see exactly what providers are available in your area.

Remember, no matter where you are, you can almost certainly get satellite internet from a provider like HughesNet or Viasat.

Internet service varies in price, depending on what you want. But in New York City you can find a wide variety of plans between $25 a month and $100 a month. You can easily get a 200Mbps or 300Mbps plan for $50 or less a month, which is enough speed for most casual users and medium-sized families.

Yes, there are several fiber internet providers in New York City. Our favorite is Verizon Fios because it has the best coverage area, fair prices, and very fast speeds. But you can also find fiber service from Optimum, Astound, Flume, and other providers.

According to World Population Review, New York state has an average internet download speed of 397.7 Mbps.