Best Internet Providers in Wichita, Kansas

What is the best internet provider in Wichita?

If you’re looking for the best internet service providers, you can’t go wrong with the top providers we’ve selected for Wichita residents. AT&T Fiber is the best internet service provider in Wichita, Kansas, overall because of its widespread coverage and fast symmetrical speeds. The company offers internet plans that reach speeds of up to 5,000Mbps.

Of course, if AT&T Fiber isn’t available at your address or you’re looking for something a little different that the ISP can’t provide for you, then there are several other promising internet service providers to consider. Cox Communications springs to mind with its affordable internet plans and speeds up to 2,000Mbps. Then there are T-Mobile and Verizon, which offer reliable 5G internet plans that come with discounts when you bundle them with a new or existing wireless plan. Take a look at our top picks below to find the best broadband options available for your home address.

Best internet options in Wichita

Wichita residents have good choices for internet service, whether they want fast gig speeds or affordable options. AT&T Fiber is the best choice for most people, while Cox and T-Mobile are also reliable alternatives.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

What other internet options are there in Wichita?

Though we think the three picks highlighted above are the best internet providers in Wichita, you do have a few other options. 

• KwiKom: A local provider of internet, telephone and television services, KwiKom offers plans that are available to roughly 9% of Wichita residents. The company offers fixed wireless and fiber internet service, but you’ll have to fill out a request form to order fiber service, and there’s a hefty $95 installation fee. Monthly prices range from $55 to $135.
• Nextlink: Nextlink is another local provider that offers fixed wireless internet in Wichita. For most households, T-Mobile Home Internet is the faster and more affordable fixed wireless option.
• Satellite internet: Available almost everywhere in the country, satellite internet is usually what you get when you can’t get anything else. HughesNet offers slightly faster speeds than its main rival, Viasat, which offers higher monthly data caps. One intriguing satellite option is Starlink from SpaceX, which offers a respectable 67Mbps but requires a $349 upfront payment for equipment.
• Verizon 5G Home Internet: Although it’s available to only 25% of Wichita households, Verizon’s 5G Home Internet is a solid deal featuring unlimited data, no contracts, free equipment and a discount for eligible Verizon Wireless customers. There are two plans available in most areas: $50 per month for download speeds up to 85Mbps and $70 for up to 250Mbps.

Wichita internet pricing

Residents of Wichita have a range of internet options for various budgets. The average starting price for internet in the city is $54 monthly, which is slightly higher than other cities CNET has analyzed thus far. T-Mobile Home Internet and Verizon 5G Home Internet both have plans for $50 per month, but you can get a significant discount with both if you have an eligible cellular plan.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

Wichita internet speeds

Residents of Wichita can access several multigigabit plans, which aren’t common across the country. Cox Communications offers cable internet speeds up to 2,000Mbps, while AT&T Fiber offers speeds up to 5,000Mbps in some city areas.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

What’s the final word on internet providers in Wichita?

Overall, Wichita residents have some excellent options to choose from for internet service. If you can get it, AT&T Fiber is the best provider in the area. Cox offers comparable download speeds, but its upload speeds are much lower, and you could be looking at dramatic price hikes after the promotional rate expires. T-Mobile Home Internet is another solid option at $50 per month if you don’t need particularly high speeds. 

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Wichita

Internet service providers are numerous and regional. Unlike with the latest smartphone, laptop, router or kitchen tool, it’s impractical to personally test every ISP in a given city. What’s our approach? For starters, we tap into a proprietary database of pricing, availability and speed information that draws from our own historical ISP data, partner data and mapping information from the Federal Communications Commission at FCC.gov. 

This guide leverages an in-house artificial intelligence tool called RAMP, which is trained on our own writing and uses our database to generate content about specific internet service providers that our writers can use in determining and presenting our picks for a given guide. Check CNET’s AI policy for more information about how our teams use (and don’t use) AI tools.

Because our database isn’t exhaustive, we go to the FCC’s website to check the primary data for ourselves and make sure we’re considering every ISP that provides service in an area. Plans and prices also vary by location, so we input local addresses on provider websites to find the specific options available to residents. To evaluate how happy customers are with an ISP’s service, we look at sources including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power. ISP plans and prices are subject to frequent changes; all information provided is accurate as of the time of our prepublication fact-check.

Once we have this localized information, we ask three main questions: 

1. Does the provider offer access to reasonably fast internet speeds? 
2. Do customers get decent value for what they’re paying? 
3. Are customers happy with their service? 

The answers to those questions are often layered and complex, but the providers that come closest to “yes” on all three are the ones we recommend. When selecting the cheapest internet providers, we look for the plans with the lowest monthly fee, although we also factor in things like price increases, equipment fees and contracts. Choosing the fastest internet service is relatively straightforward. We look at advertised upload and download speeds and consider real-world speed data from sources like Ookla and FCC reports. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

Wichita internet FAQs