Identifying the Cheap High Speed Internet Providers Out There

• Expense, expenses everywhere you go,

And not much cash, to let the steam blow…’

There can be no denying that the lived dynamics of the modern world, with its unprecedented levels of inflation and deteriorating quality-of-life standards, can be succinctly summarized in this couplet. Everyone, from the street cobblers lining the alleyways of New York to the desolate paupers begging for some loose change in the slums of New Delhi, seems to be making their lamentations heard in line with this tune. Even the rich billionaires, whose faces grace the cover of Forbes magazine on a recurrent yearly basis, cannot be considered immune to this endemic sociological problem of expense.

Using the Internet for its Low-Cost Cathartic Potential

Now, when faced with this bitter state of affairs, a person cannot be expected to lie down on his/her back, and let the world inflict all its various ravages with impunity. In some quarters, this would be considered largely akin to committing suicide (and, in a funny way, understandably so!). A ‘way out’ is inevitably needed; some avenue where all the bitter angst locked up inside can be creatively vented, without causing any harm to oneself or another. Luckily for us (the denizens of this contemporary world), the Internet – accessible through the subscription provisions of several cheap High Speed Internet Providers in My Area – provides a ready & reliable route for achieving such daily dosages of catharsis.

Anyone who has ever experienced the hypnotic quality of a quality TV Show, Movie or Music Video, or the imaginary ‘dislocation’ imbued on the psyche by a captivating plot/story setting, or even the psychological bewitchment cast by a captivating eBook, can attest to this fact. All of these onscreen productions comprise some of the most popular kinds of new-age entertainment mediums, and they are reliant completely on the availability of a good Internet connection.

So when this understanding (regarding the necessity of being linked to the World Wide Web has been fully established), it becomes important to identify those ISPs which measure better than their competitors on the dual performance metrics of service speeds & subscription costs.

This is, in fact, the primary purpose of this post, and after perusing it carefully, you might be tempted to cast your dice in favor of one of the service providers listed – and thereafter reaping the many benefits imparted to you.

But First Things First…

Before you go about making a particular Internet subscription decision, however, it is important to carry out a thorough web search on all the various ISPs offering their services within your area. A few acclaimed online resources like Lifehacker can help to provide the answer to this query. Alternatively, you can also go through a number of informed customer-testimonials by company-unaffiliated subscribers who have already used a particular Internet service – and who know what they are talking about! OR, you can simply go through the list compiled here (which is a culmination of the trends professed by these two informative sources).

5. Xfinity (Performance Starter Internet Plan - $49.95/month)

Even though Xfinity currently provides some of the largest varieties of Internet, Cable TV and Home Phone services in the digital consumer marketplace today, the company’s biggest drawback comes in the form of the high subscription costs of its diverse standalone & bundled packages. The cheapest Internet plan offered by Xfinity – called the Performance Starter Internet plan – is priced at only $49.95/month, comes without any term agreements, and provides unremarkable Internet bandwidth speeds (in terms of its pricing dynamics) up to 10 Mbps. For this reason, the vendor takes its place at the bottom of our list.

4. Charter (Spectrum Internet Plan - $44.99/month)

What Spectrum loses in terms of its (a bit) pricey plan subscription costs, it fully makes up in terms of the service quality it ultimately renders to its sprawling end-user base. The company’s premier Spectrum Internet plan, priced at $44.99/month, comes equipped with high speed Internet offering up to 60 Mbps in download speeds (with this figure going even higher in certain urban locations within the country). Another commendable attribute of Spectrum’s subscription provisions comes in the form of the large number of extra-service features that they come with – which, according to our counting, amount to being some of the highest (on a relative basis) in the business.

If the company were to consider toning down a bit on its subscription plan costs, we might consider putting its mention a little higher on our list. But as things stand right now, we really think that this particular placement at number 4 is a good fit!

3. COX (Internet Essential Plan - $39.99/month)

After contrasting and analyzing the different Internet service provisions of the top 5 ISPs operating within the country, we feel that COX’s Internet plans fall right in the ‘average’ space of online subscription services – by not being either too extraordinarily good, or plain-faced deplorable. The company’s cheapest Internet package, referred to as the Internet Essential plan, comes at a mid-range $39.99/month (for Year 1), and offers up to 15 Mbps in downloading speeds. This bandwidth range, as any experienced Internet user would easily guess, is quite sufficient for performing the bulk of everyday online tasks – but may prove to be problematic in instances where high-definition video content is streamed by multiple devices using the same connection line.

2. CenturyLink (Pure Broadband Plan - $34.95/month)

For anyone hoping to subscribe to a consistently high speed & cost-effective Internet service, CenturyLink’s Pure Broadband plan might be considered a good fit. Priced at only $34.95/month (for 2 years), and offering up to 40 Mbps in fast downloading speeds, the plan provides one of the best cost/value ratio’s in the ISP industry.

The only problematic aspect we found to CenturyLink’s Internet service is its customer care support – which did not seem very responsive (and appreciative) to our fictitious complaints when we rang them up.

1. Frontier (Simply Broadband Max Plan - $19.99/month)

Of all the Internet plans that we managed to scrutinize and test for this review, none came close to the stellar pricing range offered by Frontier (which indeed is a very cheap cable and internet providers near me) for its basic web services. The company’s Simply Broadband Max plan, priced at only $19.99/month (for Year 1), offers up to 6 Mbps in consistent downloading speeds. When the plan’s bandwidth range is matched-off against the subscription cost demanded by Frontier, this purchasing decision may seem like a bad bet to only a minority of people.

The Broadband Max plan has been designed to connect as large a number of people to the Internet as possible. But if you can afford to spend a few more dollars for the sake of higher speeds, we seriously recommend that you physically check out some of the other Internet service offers mentioned here.

Linda here, I am a blogger with specified skills. I love to write about technology, digital media and Currently, working as creative lead for VisiOneClick.