Verizon Fios Home Internet Review: Plans, Pricing, Speeds and Availability

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How we calculated our rating

Pros

• All Verizon Fios plans are 100% fiber, with symmetrical download and upload speeds
• No data caps or allowances on any plans
• No term agreements necessary on any plans

Cons

• Low fiber availability for a national company
• While Fios and 5G are affordable, LTE and DSL options are pricey

Verizon Fios internet review

With Verizon Fios internet, you can expect straightforward service details, near-symmetrical speeds and solid perks.

Recently, Verizon made headlines announcing its acquisition of Frontier, expanding its fiber footprint across the country. Plus, last year Verizon Fios announced the completion of its fiber network expansion to 2,000 homes in Delaware. That marked the latest expansion for the fiber internet service, which has held the top spot in multiple customer satisfaction studies for years since its 2004 launch. However, it currently remains available in just eight states and the District of Columbia.

Verizon also offers home internet via DSL in many of its coverage areas, primarily those in the Northeast which don't have access to the Fios network. As seen through Verizon's coverage map, its LTE Home Internet service is available to over 99% of the US population.

All of this makes for a complicated coverage map, meaning there's a lot to consider before signing up for Verizon Fios based solely on its glowing reviews.

If you live within Verizon's East Coast coverage area and Verizon Fios is available at your address, its internet service outshines the speeds offered by other Verizon services. If you're outside the fiber network, you likely have some other form of Verizon home internet service available, but you'll need to make some tough side-by-side comparisons to find what's truly best for your address. Keep reading — we can help with that.

Note that prices listed on this page reflect available discounts for setting up paperless billing. Your price will be higher if you choose not to use automatic monthly payments.

Verizon Fios internet plans and pricing

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

Of all the complicated internet service provider deals, pricing and plans out there, Verizon's Fios service is one of the easiest to understand. There are four tiers: 300Mbps, 500Mbps, 1,000Mbps and, in select areas, up to 2,000Mbps. Plus, while many providers offer a promo rate that expires after 12 months, causing your bill to go up, Verizon doesn't. Depending on the plan you've chosen, there's a two- to four-year price guarantee. We appreciate the straightforward approach.

Also, since Fios is a fiber-optic network, it delivers near-symmetrical download and upload speeds, meaning your download and upload speeds will be nearly identical. If you're used to asymmetrical cable internet, where the upload speeds on a 300Mbps plan might only go as high as 10Mbps, you know how dramatic a difference it can make. It particularly affects videoconferencing and transferring large files.

Among those options, Fios 300 is an attractive choice as it's the provider's cheapest option. But consider opting for either Fios 500 or Fios 1 Gig, as households in the US average about 567Mbps in downloads, per OpenVault's latest report.

Where can you get Verizon Fios internet?

Verizon Fios is only available in eight Eastern states: Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia, as well as Washington, D.C. You can use the Verizon availability checker to see if Fios is available at your address.

Other available Verizon internet connections

• Verizon High Speed Internet, a DSL service, still exists, but is no longer available to new customers.
• Verizon LTE Home Internet is available in select markets in 48 states.
• Verizon 5G Home Internet is available in over 2,700 cities across the US.

Straightforward service terms with Verizon Fios

No Verizon plans require contracts. And there are no data caps, either. But just as your mom taught you to always look under the hood, it's never a bad idea to dig a bit for a better idea of what you're buying before committing to an internet service.

Additional monthly fees

Verizon Fios customers don't have to pay for their equipment rental, as everything comes included in the monthly price.

One-time installation fee

Your setup charge will depend on the Verizon plan you select. If you choose Fios, it'll be $99, which is waived for those who go with Fios 1 Gig.

No data caps

Unlike Cox, Xfinity and other ISPs, Verizon does not place a data cap on customers. Therefore, you won't need to worry about overage fees or data slowing once you hit a certain threshold. 

Verizon Fios deals, promotions and perks

Verizon Fios can easily lean into the fact that you're not required to sign a term agreement, which means no early termination fees or getting stuck with a service you've outgrown or need to downsize. But many other offers also help sweeten the deal for potential customers.

First, Verizon has a discount of $25 per month on all its Fios home internet offerings for new customers who also enroll in the company's premium 5G mobile plans. 

Plus, currently all new Verizon Fios subscribers will receive a two- to four-year price-lock guarantee based on the tier they choose.

And all Verizon Fios customers get Vix Premium for 12 months. Fios Gig and 2 Gig subscribers will also get their choice of an NFL Sunday Ticket (a $449 value) or $400 in credit for a Samsung appliance from Home Depot.

Most recently, Verizon announced a logo refresh and a slew of streaming options for its customers. Verizon's latest promotion, myPlan, is a customizable plan with discounted bundling packages, giving customers the choice of either 2TB of Verizon Cloud Storage, a membership to Walmart Plus or a streaming bundle for just $10 extra a month. Plus, a Disney bundle (with access to Disney Plus Premium, Hulu and ESPN with ads) is included with the streaming packages. For just $10 a month, Verizon customers can cut streaming costs with some of these plans, and you can cancel at any time.

Verizon Fios garners high marks in customer satisfaction

Verizon Fios has consistently been at the top of customer service metrics for most of the last decade. Looking at the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index numbers for ISPs, Fios was near the top, second only to AT&T Fiber. It scored 77 points out of 100 points in 2023, two points higher than its already improved 2022 score.That marks four years of Verizon Fios increasing its score near the top of the ACSI's ISP benchmarks.

In addition, Verizon currently holds the top overall average score in J.D. Power's latest ISP customer satisfaction ranking. It's worth pointing out that Verizon was only scored in one of four regions. In that region, the East, Verizon finished first, scoring 760 points on a 1,000-point scale. That put the company well above the area's average of 709 points, earning it the second-highest score nationwide. For the last 10 years, Verizon has consistently captured the top Eastern spot in J.D. Power's annual ranking.

The speed-testing website Ookla tracks ISPs based on a scoring system that considers both download and upload speeds. Based on the most recent Ookla tests from the first half of 2024, Verizon landed in second place ahead of Cox, Spectrum, Xfinity, Frontier and Optimum.

Verizon took first place for the lowest latency among top providers during that same period, too, and was noted as the best internet provider for streaming high-quality video.

The bottom line on Verizon Fios internet? It's pretty good

Verizon can boast that its Fios service is 100% fiber. As internet connection types go, it's tough to beat that. Plus, Verizon can point to its high customer satisfaction ratings and its consistency in topping those charts. All true.

But the availability of Verizon's fiber plans is limited to the Northeast. And the company's DSL plans are nothing exceptional. That said, Verizon Fios is a top-notch option for getting online if you live in the Northeast. We recommend the company's Fios 300 tier for $50 monthly as our top plan choice.

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