Is AT&T Fiber's Cheapest Plan Fast Enough?

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The cheapest internet plan from any provider is likely to come with the lowest available speeds and highest cost per Mbps, or the speed you get for the price. The same is true for AT&T Fiber's cheapest internet plan, which offers speeds up to 300 megabits per second starting at $55 a month for a cost per Mbps of around 18 cents.

That's the highest speed/price ratio of any AT&T Fiber plan. It is also higher than entry level plans from other leading internet service providers. Spectrum and Quantum Fiber, for example, offer speeds up to 500Mbps starting at $50 a month, $5 cheaper than AT&T Fiber 300 for significantly more speed.

Still, the AT&T Fiber 300 plan is a solid choice for home internet. While it's not as cheap or fast as entry plans from some providers, AT&T adds value in other ways. There are no data caps, contracts or equipment fees, and there are no set price increases after 12 months. What else should you know when considering AT&T Fiber 300? Let's take a look.

Of the major internet providers that share service areas with AT&T, such as Cox, Spectrum and Xfinity, most will have a starting price similar to or lower than AT&T Fiber 300. It's worth noting, however, such plans rarely come with speeds up to 300Mbps. Spectrum is the exception, having just boosted its speeds from 300 to 500Mbps.

There's also the speed and reliability of a fiber internet connection versus cable internet -- you won't get near the same upload speeds with cable internet, and speeds are more susceptible to network congestion during peak usage times.

No data caps, no contracts, no equipment fee

I've stressed the cost and speed value of the AT&T Fiber 300 plan so far, and for a good reason, but what else is there to the plan, and AT&T service, in general?

AT&T Fiber plans come with unlimited data, meaning you don't have to monitor your monthly data usage to avoid throttled speeds or overage fees. There are also no contract requirements and no added monthly equipment fee.

So, you can expect to pay $55 per month for AT&T Fiber 300 without added costs for renting a router or going over a set data limit. That's a good deal, considering the speeds you get. Speaking of which, let's take a look at what you can do with 300Mbps.

Is 300Mbps a good speed?

Speeds of 300Mbps are sufficient to support online gaming, streaming in HD or 4K and taking Zoom calls on multiple devices simultaneously. The Federal Communications Commission recommends minimum speeds of 4Mbps for online multiplayer games, 25Mbps for streaming in 4K and 6Mbps for HD videoconferencing, all well below 300Mbps. 

As for download times, it'll take roughly 10 minutes to download a full-length HD movie (assuming a file size of around 20GB) with speeds of 300Mbps. Video game downloads are a bit more challenging to gauge, as file sizes for updates and full games can vary by hundreds or thousands of megabytes. A 100MB file, which could be considered a midsize update, should take less than a minute over 300Mbps. Downloading a full game of 75GB could have you waiting 30 to 40 minutes or longer.

It's important to note that, though AT&T Fiber 300 offers speeds up to 300Mbps, it's unlikely that you'll always experience those max speeds.

Connecting to your network wirelessly over Wi-Fi will almost always result in slower speeds, and those speeds could diminish more as you move farther from the router, but a good Wi-Fi extender can improve performance throughout your home. Still, when using a Wi-Fi connection, I wouldn't be surprised by actual speeds in the 100-200Mbps range from the AT&T Fiber 300 plan. 

Additionally, while speeds of 300Mbps will support numerous devices at once (10 or more depending on the activity on each), know that each connected device will consume its share of bandwidth. The more devices you connect, the slower your actual speeds will likely be on each. 

Consequently, larger households with bandwidth-hungry devices like smart TVs, video game consoles, smartphones and tablets may require more speed to accommodate everyone's needs. If that's the case, and you want to stick with AT&T, consider upgrading to the AT&T Fiber 500 plan for an additional $10 per month or to AT&T Fiber 1000, which starts at $80 per month.

It should be for most households. According to Speedtest.net, the average tested residential download speed in the US for August 2024 was 242Mbps, so you'll potentially get speeds higher than the national average with AT&T Fiber 300. Again, actual speeds of 300Mbps are unlikely with AT&T Fiber 300, especially when using a Wi-Fi connection. Still, the plan is likely to offer plenty of speed for the average user or handful of users and most, if not all, of their devices.

AT&T Fiber 300 FAQs