AT&T internet is so solid that you may never need customer service help—unless you get caught in a data breach.
8 min readAT&T has a lot going for it. It has the nation’s biggest fiber-optic network, providing symmetrical internet speeds that run up into the gigabit and multi-gigabit range. Customers in some non-fiber areas can also get decent 5G home internet service through a plan called AT&T Internet Air.
“I have no complaints at all (so far) about AT&T’s internet service,” says Lauren Hannula, who’s had AT&T for over five years. “I’ll remain loyal to AT&T internet as long as I’m able.”
You can’t go wrong with this provider’s fiber service. However, AT&T’s response to recent data breaches leaves much to be desired—a topic we’ll discuss later as we take a deep dive into AT&T internet’s offerings.
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Our breakdown of AT&T internet features
For all our internet reviews, we give a rating based on three main criteria—speed and reliability, dollar value, and customer experience—which we then average to make an overall score.
Want to know how AT&T internet stacks up? See our complete take below.
Speed and reliability
4.3/5
AT&T Fiber is fast and reliable, making it a great option if you work from home, are a serious gamer, or simply don’t want to deal with the inconvenience of spotty Wi-Fi service.
AT&T isn’t among our top five fastest providers, but its fiber service still delivers excellent internet speeds. According to a thousand speed test results from AT&T internet users in 2023, the average speeds were 106Mbps download speed and 118Mbps upload speed—an impressive sign, considering that it’s unusual for a provider to have a faster upload speed than download speed. That type of high-speed capability is excellent if you like to make video calls, post YouTube videos online, or work with other media.
On an AT&T fiber plan, you might even get a faster speed than you expect. Lauren Hannula, an editor in San Diego, pays for AT&T’s base fiber plan, which gives her plenty of bandwidth for her home. “My advertised speeds are 300Mbps download and upload speed, but they’re very often faster than that,” she says.
Not surprisingly for a fiber provider, AT&T internet has also gotten high marks for reliability. In HighSpeedInternet.com’s 2023 customer satisfaction survey, AT&T ranked among the highest providers in the reliability category, scoring less than a decimal point below the highest score. It’s a numerical representation of what customers told me: AT&T doesn’t see many outages.
“I like how fast and reliable it is. I’ve only had one outage in the 5-plus years I’ve had AT&T, and it was resolved within a couple of hours,” Hannula says.
AT&T’s new Internet Air service likely isn’t as formidable as fiber. Like T-Mobile 5G and Verizon 5G home internet, AT&T’s 5G-based plan works over cellular networks that can fluctuate in speed or even drop out during the day. But Internet Air is still a new service with limited nationwide availability, so it may take a bit more time before we see hard data on how well it performs.
Dollar value
3.8/5
AT&T’s prices are middling in the fiber internet landscape, at least before other providers’ price hikes kick in. AT&T Fiber runs more expensive than Google Fiber, the gold standard for fiber providers, by $10 to $75 depending on the plan.
But like most fiber options, next to cable internet providers, AT&T is much pricier. With AT&T fiber, $55 a month gets you 300Mbps download speeds. In contrast, 300Mbps is available for just $40 a month with Optimum compared to AT&T Fiber’s $55 for the same speed. With a cable provider, $55 a month could get you as much as 800Mbps—at least for the first year, before price hikes kick in. AT&T customer Mike Hayden mentioned this disparity. “It’s kind of expensive,” says Hayden, who works in real estate in Oak Park, Illinois.
However, AT&T still gives you a solid deal, with savings factored in from the absence of data caps, basic equipment fees, contract cancellation fees, and automatic price hikes. To offset the cost, Hayden tried to negotiate a service discount, and while he couldn’t get the monthly price down, he did get a $200 Visa gift card. “Which was cool,” he says. Longtime customer Jane Collins in the Detroit metro area says she’s getting a good deal too: “I don’t think they’ve raised my rate—like at all.” You can find these or similar AT&T perks on our AT&T Fiber Deals and AT&T Internet Air Deals pages.
AT&T Internet Air costs $5 less than T-Mobile 5G but more than a comparable Verizon 5G Home Internet plan, putting it right in the middle for 5G fixed wireless. Despite AT&T's wide availability, there are areas where only fixed wireless is available, in which case a cable provider like Cox is a faster alternative to AT&T Air.
For our tips to make your bill more affordable, read our guide on how to lower your AT&T internet bill.
Customer experience
4.8/5
There are no two ways about it: AT&T customer service is light-years ahead of some of its competition. The American Consumer Satisfaction Survey, which asks respondents to rate home service experiences on a scale of 1 to 5, rates AT&T as the top fiber provider and second place non-fiber provider. Similarly, HighSpeedInternet.com rates it as the second-best in customer service.
Danny Flanagan of Eastlake, Ohio, says his experience with AT&T customer service was “fantastic!” A regional representative visited his home before installation and explained the internet service and other AT&T offerings. The installation started on time and took just two hours.
But being ahead of other ISPs doesn’t mean AT&T is perfect. For instance, Hayden hasn’t had the best experience with AT&T customer representatives. “There’s an awful lot of scripted ‘we care about you’ talk, but it takes a long time to get an actual human on the phone,” he says. “They do seem to fix issues quickly, though, so the automated phone system hell is a minor hurdle overall.”
AT&T has experienced multiple data breaches over the past few years, putting millions of customers’ personal information at risk in each case. And some news reports argue that the company hasn’t been terribly transparent in addressing them—for instance, spokespeople waited two weeks to release a statement about customer info that was found on the dark web in 2024. Ars Technica even reports this info was actually taken from AT&T in 2021, but that, at the time, the company denied the data was from its customers.
How long it took to get a real human on the phone: The automated phone tree worked really well for me. It listened to what I said, even when I told it I wanted to talk to a live agent. It took about nine minutes to get on the phone with said agent—which happens sometimes when you’re trying to reach a real person, even if it’s not fun. Thankfully, the automated assistant informed me of the wait time and gave me the option of receiving a call back so I wouldn’t have to stay on hold.
How the chat service is: The AT&T virtual assistant can give only pre-canned answers, not all of which hit the mark. I asked what kind of connection AT&T Air is, and it gave me some articles about AT&T Fiber. I could connect with a live agent through the chat only if I already had an AT&T account to sign into.
What does AT&T stand for?
AT&T stands for American Telephone and Telegraph. It's also one of the oldest utility companies in America—it started as Bell Telephone in 1877.
Overall quality: 4.3/5
Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change. Data verified as of the article's publication date.
If you’re considering signing up for AT&T home internet, you’re onto something. AT&T offers two different internet types to meet various needs, and its fiber service is the obvious standout. But some of its plans can get costly, and we aren’t a big fan of the way it has handled its data breaches.
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See all AT&T Fiber plans and deals
AT&T internet vs. the competition
AT&T internet compares fairly well against top competition. AT&T Fiber isn’t the fastest or least expensive fiber service, but it’s more widely available than many competitors and doesn’t have price hikes. AT&T is more available than CenturyLink fiber. I even spoke with a customer who had a worse experience with Spectrum than AT&T Fiber.
“When we moved to North Carolina, we didn’t have AT&T as an option on the military base we moved to, and the difference was noticeable,” says Lauren Hannula. “We had to sign up for Spectrum and experienced several outages during our seven months there, as well as regular lags in speed. Once we finally got back here to San Diego, I immediately signed back up for AT&T Fiber.”
As for wireless internet, AT&T Internet Air is cheaper than T-Mobile 5G but just as fast. Between satellite and 5G, HughesNet is more available than AT&T Air and offers higher data caps, though AT&T Air is cheaper.
AT&T Fiber at a glance
Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change. Data verified as of the article's publication date.
*
Price after $5/mo Autopay & Paperless bill discount (w/in 2 bills). Plus taxes $ fees. Limited availability. May not be available in your area.
Other internet providers
Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change. Data verified as of the article's publication date.
†
Plus taxes and fees. Upload/download speed and device streaming claims are based on maximum wired speeds. Actual Internet speeds are not guaranteed and may vary based on factors such as hardware and software limitations, latency, packet loss, etc.
‡
w/ Auto Pay. Regulatory fees included in monthly price for qualified accounts. See full terms.
^
Price per month with Auto Pay & without select 5G mobile plans. Fios plan prices include taxes & fees
°
Limited time offer; subject to change; valid to qualified residential customers who have not subscribed to any services within the previous 30 days and who have no outstanding obligation to Charter.
**
Service plans require a 24-month commitment. Pricing not available in all areas.
What we learned from real customers?
When I spoke to AT&T customers, here’s what came up:
- The service is usually fast and stable with good customer service
- The pricing doesn’t often increase
- Even when AT&T isn’t the best, it’s still often better than competitors
Overall, AT&T’s internet customers seem pretty crazy about the service. Three out of four customers I spoke with had almost nothing bad to say, which is unusual in the internet sphere.
“AT&T’s fiber network is fast and reliable.” —Lauren Hannula
Jane Collins, a retired healthcare administrator in the Detroit metro area, says the internet is the best of the three AT&T services she’s tried. “I would say their internet is reliable. It’s been relatively trouble free,” she says. “The pricing has been stable.”
Danny Flanagan, who lives in Ohio, also raves about his AT&T internet experience, calling everything down to the customer service “fantastic.” He says he’s “looking forward to moving over to the mobile side in the next few months.”
“Fantastic service and experience.” -Danny Flanagan
Meanwhile, Hayden in Oak Park, Illinois, feels more lukewarm about AT&T, although he prefers AT&T Fiber to Xfinity, his last provider. “I wouldn’t say it’s a good deal, but it’s comparable to the other ISPs I’ve used,” he says, calling it “better than the alternative in this town.”
He’s been particularly frustrated with his Wi-Fi extender, which goes on the fritz frequently. Still, he hasn’t experienced major outages or other problems with AT&T.
Need to contact AT&T Fiber?
Try any of these routes:
- +1-800-288-2020
- Chat with the AT&T virtual assistant
- Download the MyAT&T app
Our fact-based research process centers on interviews with internet customers across the country to help us understand how internet services hold up against diverse needs and challenges.
To put together this review, I spoke with four AT&T customers, tried (and sadly failed) to get commentary from an AT&T spokesperson, scrutinized prices on the AT&T website, did a deep dive on the recent data breach, and contemplated whether I should get the home internet to go with my AT&T cell service. For a deeper look at our review process, check out how we test internet providers.
What happened with the AT&T data breach?
If you want to sign up for AT&T, keep in mind that the company recently experienced a data breach. In March 2024, someone released the data of 73 million current and former AT&T customers on the dark web.
“While AT&T has made this determination, it is not yet known whether the data in those fields originated from AT&T or one of its vendors,” AT&T states on its website. “Currently, AT&T does not have evidence of unauthorized access to its systems resulting in exfiltration of the data set.”
In plain English: AT&T claims there’s no evidence that the company itself is to blame, so take your pitchforks to its vendors instead.
Having your info on the dark web is no joke. At best, you lose sleep knowing your private info’s not secure. At worst, a phishing link or leaked password leads to identity theft or credit card fraud. All you can do is change your passwords, cancel your credit cards, and hope for the best.
Apart from issuing the statement quoted earlier, AT&T responded to the breach by requiring customers to change their passwords and offering identity theft and credit monitoring services to some of those affected.
AT&T spokespeople haven’t said how the company plans to avoid or handle a repeat data breach, and they didn’t respond to our request for additional information.
Ready to sign up for AT&T Internet?
Check and see if you can get a discount on one of AT&T’s two internet services.
AT&T internet FAQ
Yes, AT&T has reliable internet, but more so for its fiber plan. AT&T’s fiber service gets top rankings for its reliability and few outages. AT&T Internet Air’s 5G wireless internet service isn’t as reliable, as it works over cellular networks that can fluctuate in speed.
People say that AT&T internet is reliable. Customers that Reviews.org interviewed say that speeds can sometimes be faster than advertised, outages are infrequent, but it can get expensive. “I have no complaints at all (so far) about AT&T’s internet service,” says Lauren Hannula, an AT&T customer for over five years. “I’ll remain loyal to AT&T internet as long as I’m able.”
AT&T fiber plans are faster than cable internet plans, which are more common. Fiber uses fiber-optic cables to make up the last mile to your home, a newer technology that transmits light signals to achieve higher performance. Cable internet plans can have issues with attenuation (the strength of the signal sent to your computer) and distortion the longer the copper wires get.
No, AT&T internet has no annual contract.
No, AT&T Air is not available in the state of New York. Following New York's Affordable Broadband Act (ABA), which requires the state to offer qualifying low-cost internet plans, AT&T no longer offers commercial or business AT&T Internet Air packages.
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