Cheap Internet for Seniors, Tested and Reviewed by Tech Experts

Pricing

Through Spectrum Internet Assist, eligible low-income households can receive discounted internet for $25 per month with download speeds up to 50 Mbps, antivirus software, and a modem — all at no additional charge.

The next cheapest internet plan for older adults who don’t qualify for Internet Assist is Spectrum Internet Advantage, which costs $30 for the first 12 months, with download speeds up to 100 Mbps. The next step up is Internet Premier, which costs $40 monthly for 12 months and has download speeds up to 500 Mbps. Lastly, you can get the 1 Gbps plan for $70 monthly for 12 months, which $10 cheaper than AT&T’s 1 Gbps plan. Keep in mind that these are all introductory rates with autopay. Prices and speeds can vary by location, and rates will rise after the introductory periods.

» Related Reading: 2025 Spectrum Internet Review

Unlike every other provider on this list, Spectrum doesn’t charge rental fees for equipment. Most of the plans still come with a $30 activation fee. In general, Spectrum’s prices and fees were pretty reasonable, especially compared to all the fees tacked on by AT&T. Even if you ignore the equipment fees, Spectrum’s 300 Mbps plan is still at least $5 cheaper per month than the comparable plan from AT&T.

Speed and Reliability

We opted for the 500 Mbps plan. Like with Xfinity, we didn’t receive anywhere near the advertised speeds during our testing. On average, we recorded a download speed of 243 Mbps, about half of the advertised speed for our plan. It was still enough to stream, surf the web, game, and connect several devices, but we would have liked to see speeds closer to what was advertised. Fortunately, we didn’t experience any outages during our test, so we can say that Spectrum offers reliable service.

Our Spectrum speed test

Service Area

Spectrum offers the largest coverage area of any provider on this list, but Xfinity comes in a close second. Spectrum is available in 42 states, with substantial coverage in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Michigan. It offers both cable and fiber in many areas. The company has fiber internet in far more locations than Xfinity, but Spectrum’s fiber network is small compared to AT&T’s network.

Pricing

AT&T’s plans offer free installation, no deposit, no contract, and download speeds up to 5 Gbps for qualifying customers. The AT&T Access plan can cost up to $30 monthly for qualifying low-income households. In the past, you could even get the plan for free via the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), but ACP benefits officially ended in April 2024.2 We’re disappointed to see the program end, but we are glad that AT&T still serves low-income customers through the AT&T Access plan.

If you don’t qualify for AT&T Access, other reasonably priced options are available. AT&T fiber internet costs $60 monthly, with advertised download speeds up to 300 Mbps. You can even get download speeds of up to 1 Gbps for $80 per month. That means you can get speedier service per dollar with AT&T than with Cox or CenturyLink.

» Dive Deeper: AT&T Internet Review

AT&T’s fees are pretty expensive, though. The provider charges a $49 activation fee, for example, which is almost double Cox’s fee. Equipment rental fees start at $10 monthly. If you request professional installation, you’ll pay a one-time fee of $149. Even if you choose self-installation, you may have to pay a fee of $99 if you require assistance from AT&T. All of these hidden fees can add up, so it’s critical to read the fine print. The upside is that AT&T will reimburse your cancellation fees if you switch from another provider.

Remember that AT&T doesn’t offer fiber internet everywhere. Costs are low and speeds high, but you may lack access to fiber in your area. AT&T also offers bundles with TV and mobile phone service in some areas. The prices, however, aren’t as favorable as those for bundling with Cox. Bundling fiber internet with DIRECTV, for example, starts at $124.99 per month, plus taxes and fees.

» Also Check Out: DIRECTV Packages for Seniors

Speed and Reliability

AT&T is pretty fast and reliable. A tech team member has had AT&T’s 50 Mbps internet plan for several years. She lives in a household of four, packed with streamers and remote workers, and her connection is always strong. When she performed speed tests, she averaged a download speed of around 46 Mbps. We were impressed with how close AT&T’s advertised speed was to the speeds we actually experienced!

Our speed test while using AT&T internet

Our team also tested AT&T’s 300 Mbps fiber plan and recorded an average download speed of about 127 Mbps. That means we got a little less than half of the advertised speed for our plan. Considering the plan costs only $60 per month, these speeds were solid and allowed us to stream in HD on multiple devices without interruption. We also didn’t experience any outages or downtime during our one-week testing period.

Service Area

AT&T fiber internet is available in 25 states. Some states with substantial coverage from AT&T include Texas, Georgia, and Illinois. AT&T has invested heavily in its fiber network and offers internet to more households than Cox and CenturyLink, but it still lags far behind Xfinity and Spectrum in this respect. Xfinity and Spectrum offer internet service in almost twice as many states as AT&T.

Pricing

If you’re part of an eligible low-income household, you can get Xfinity’s Internet Essentials plan for as little as $14.95 per month. This plan has download speeds of up to 50 Mbps. If that’s not fast enough, you can upgrade to the 100 Mbps plan for just $29.95 monthly. Either way, it has no credit checks, long-term contracts, cancellation fees, or equipment rental fees.

» Dive Deeper: Xfinity Internet Review

If you don’t qualify for Internet Essentials, Xfinity still makes it easy to build the cheap internet plan you want. We loved how easy it was to customize a plan to meet our needs. We simply picked the type of service we liked (we could bundle right from the start) and then chose the download speed and features we wanted. Prices and plan availability can vary a lot more by location with Xfinity than with, say, Cox or AT&T, but we still found the offerings in our area very affordable. For context, we were purchasing a plan in Washington state.

When shopping, we could choose from seven internet plans, with prices ranging from $19.99 for a download speed of 150 Mbps to $100 monthly for 2 Gbps. Many of these plans could be bundled with an eligible Xfinity mobile plan to save between $20 and $45 per month on the internet cost.

Internet customers can add the Xfinity Xumo Stream Box at no additional charge. We love freebies! The Xumo Stream Box lets you view all your streaming apps in one place. It comes with an easy-to-use voice remote. We could log in to our favorite apps, such as Netflix and Max, and use the voice remote to navigate. That is perfect for people with arthritis or mobility issues that make using remotes difficult.

Using Xfinity's voice remote

All plans charge a one-time $15 activation fee, and equipment rental fees range from $15 to $25 per month. Regardless of what you choose, Xfinity’s plans offer excellent value. Xfinity is also a great option for older adults who want to bundle internet, mobile, TV, home phone, or home security services. Remember that the plan prices above apply to the first year or two of service, and prices may increase substantially after the specified time frame.

» Learn About: Best Home Security Systems for Seniors

Prefer to prepay? No worries! Xfinity offers a prepaid internet plan with no annual contract, deposit, or hidden fees. For $30, you’ll receive 30 days of internet coverage with download speeds up to 100 Mbps.

Speed and Reliability

For this review, we tested Xfinity’s 150 Mbps plan. While we never had trouble streaming or working from multiple devices, we weren’t thrilled with our speed test results. On average, we recorded a download speed of about 65 Mbps. That’s only about one-third of the advertised speed for the plan. Still, our speeds and connection were pretty consistent. We were also happy to report no outages or downtimes during our testing period.

Running a speed test using Xfinity internet

Service Area

Along with Spectrum, Xfinity has one of the largest networks on this list. It’s available in 41 states plus the District of Columbia. Some states with the biggest Xfinity footprints include Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts. Unlike AT&T, Xfinity offers cable internet in most areas of its network. As a whole, cable internet tends to be slower and less reliable than fiber internet, but that wasn’t our experience when testing Xfinity.

Pricing

Cox internet starts at $50 for the Go Fast plan, featuring download speeds up to 100 Mbps and no contract. Unlike CenturyLink, which has very different prices based on your location, Cox keeps its prices more or less the same, regardless of the area.

Expert Insights

From Taylor Shuman, Senior Tech Expert

I’m a big fan of Cox’s pricing transparency and rates that stay consistent in different areas. I’ve experienced price hikes with some providers when I moved from one state to another, so Cox has a leg up on the competition here.

It’s important to consider that Cox charges a one-time $25 activation fee and a monthly equipment rental fee of $5.99, but you can save $15 if you bundle internet with an eligible Cox mobile phone plan. You can also spend a $60 flat fee to enjoy shows and movies with the Xumo Stream Box. The device works like cable TV, except it uses your internet rather than a traditional cable connection. These options are ideal for seniors who want to bundle their services for convenience and savings.

» Learn About: Cox Cable TV for Seniors

If you want to kick things up a notch, you can opt for the Go Faster plan, which starts at $70 per month and has download speeds of up to 250 Mbps. Unfortunately, the fastest plans can get pretty pricey: 500 Mbps costs $90 per month, and 1 Gbps is a whopping $110 per month. Cox generally offers a good balance between speed and value, but you can get faster speeds for lower prices with providers such as Xfinity.

Cox also offers the StraightUp prepaid internet plan for $50 per month, with taxes and fees included. This pay-as-you-go plan delivers download speeds up to 100 Mbps. It requires no credit check, deposit, or term agreement. With StraightUp, you’ll also receive a Wi-Fi modem at no cost. We love this affordable option for those on a tight budget or fixed income.

Speed and Reliability

We tested Cox Internet and were happy with both the speeds and the consistency of the connection. For a week, we never had any issues with our internet suddenly dropping out. A team member had Cox for two years and experienced just one brief internet outage. Talk about reliability!

We went with the Go Fast 100 Mbps plan and tested the speed at various times throughout the day. On average, we recorded a download speed of 114 Mbps. That shocked us, because it was faster than the speed our plan advertised! We haven’t seen that with other cheap internet providers on our list. The connection offered more than enough to connect multiple mobile phones, computers, and streaming devices simultaneously. We could watch Netflix, use FaceTime, and check emails from different devices.

Running a speed test for Cox internet

Service Area

Cox Internet covers 689 service areas across 18 states, including California, Arizona, and Florida. Cox Internet can reach millions of seniors nationwide, but its service area is still far smaller than that of Spectrum, AT&T, and Xfinity. CenturyLink is the only provider on this list that offers a smaller service area. If you live in one of the 18 states Cox serves, however, the competitive prices and bundling offers are worth considering.

Pricing

CenturyLink’s internet plans start at $55 monthly (or $50 in select locations). There are no promotional rates that expire after a few months, which we appreciate. Customers don’t have to worry about busting their budget because of future price hikes. One downside to CenturyLink is that it doesn’t offer many plan options. We could only pick between the Simply Unlimited Internet plan (100 Mbps) for $55 per month and the Fiber Internet plan (940 Mbps) for $75 per month. We would have liked to see more options in between, plus cheaper plans with slower speeds, such as the 50 Mbps plan from AT&T.

In addition to its traditional internet plans, CenturyLink’s prepaid internet offers the simplicity of month-to-month pricing, no long-term contracts, and no required credit check or deposit. CenturyLink’s prepaid prices can vary by location, just like the postpaid plans.

Speed and Reliability

During testing, we found that CenturyLink’s 100 Mbps plan offered a reliable, fast connection. We recorded an average download speed of about 85 Mbps. At this speed, we could check emails, hop on a Zoom call, play online games, watch YouTube videos, and surf the web on multiple devices.

One of our tech experts has had CenturyLink for four years, and they’ve had only a few short outages during that time. We experienced one brief outage while testing CenturyLink, which is something we can’t say about any other provider. Thankfully, it lasted only about 10 minutes, and then our internet was back on track!

Running a speed test with CenturyLink

Service Area

CenturyLink offers the smallest service area on this list. That said, it is available to millions of customers across 17 states, including Minnesota, Oregon, and Nevada. Like AT&T, CenturyLink has invested heavily in fiber internet infrastructure, helping to bring faster internet to more people, particularly those who live in the Pacific Northwest. We can attest to that, since our tech team tested CenturyLink in Washington state.

Pricing

T-Mobile has three plans to choose from with no annual contracts. The Rely Home Internet plan costs $50 per month with AutoPay, Amplified Home Internet costs $60 per month with AutoPay, and All-In Home Internet costs $70 per month with AutoPay. Larger households may benefit from All-In Home Internet, which comes with a Wi-Fi gateway and a mesh access point. Customers must pay a one-time $35 device connection fee for Rely Home Internet, but there is no connection fee for the other two plans. That’s the extent of the fees, though, because there are no equipment rental or early termination fees.

T-Mobile doesn’t have a senior-specific discount, but you can save $15 a month on your home internet service if you add any voice line. T-Mobile’s 55-plus packages come packed with great perks for older adults, so they’re worth checking out.

Speed and Reliability

They’re nowhere near the 2 GB speeds offered by Xfinity’s internet plans, but T-Mobile’s 87 to 415 Mbps download speeds are still fast enough to connect multiple devices at once. When we tested the speeds, we experienced some variability — sometimes as low as 40 Mbps and as high as 417 Mbps. We were pleasantly surprised to see speeds over the advertised speeds up to 415 Mbps.

Taking a speed test using T-Mobile's internet connection

Where you set up matters. T-Mobile uses its own 5G gateway device with Wi-Fi 6 technology, which has twice the channel width and a speedier connection than older technology. The closer you are to the small tower, the faster your speed. When our gateway was at one end of the house and we took a video call at the other end, we experienced slow and inconsistent speeds. Luckily, the equipment is easy to move, so you can place it nearby. If you live in a large house, we recommend upgrading to All-In Home Internet, which comes with a mesh access point to expand your coverage and offer more consistent speeds.

A couple of advantages of T-Mobile are that there are no overage fees and it offers unlimited data, so your speeds won’t get throttled. It’s good for users in rural areas, but you may prefer a cable or fiber internet provider if you want faster speeds. AT&T’s Internet 1000 plan, for comparison, gives you download speeds up to 940 Mbps for $30 more than T-Mobile’s $50-per-month plan (with AutoPay).

Service Area

T-Mobile’s service area is pretty large and has the fastest nationwide 5G network coverage, but it relies on 5G LTE to help cover its home internet service area (we experienced no outages in our testing). T-Mobile now covers over 330 million people in more than 9,100 cities and towns across all 50 states and Puerto Rico, per a T-Mobile representative. Cox, for comparison, falls short with coverage in only 18 states.