Best Internet Providers in State College, PA (May 2020)

Currently, there are 6 Internet service providers (ISPs) in the State College area with home service, and a total of 21 including specialized smb, enterprise, and mobile providers such as Getwireless.net.

Viasat Internet (formerly Exede) offers the widest availability for State College residents. close to one hundred percent of State College census blocks can get access to them. HughesNet is the most likely second choice, providing near one hundred percent of the area with Satellite service. The fastest Internet plan we’ve seen for HughesNet for State College is 25 Mbps.

Looking at network technology offered around the city, we see that the most frequently available hardwired broadband Internet tech infrastructures are Cable (99.18 percent coverage) and DSL (97.64 percent coverage). TV companies are the main source for cable Internet service, because they can re-purpose their existing TV wires — which already connect to most homes — to connect subscribers to the Internet. State College-area customers of cable ISPs like XFINITY from Comcast generally pick it because of the reasonably low prices for workable speeds. (Compared to DSL, anyway.) DSL service is transmitted over telephone wires on utility poles by companies such as Verizon High Speed Internet that have existing phone networks. DSL is the slowest of all other major Internet services except dial-up.

The average household in State College will find 4-5 companies at their address, or exactly 4.35 providers per census block. Only 2.36 percent of the State College population are limited to one or fewer options for broadband.

Broadband coverage statistics here and elsewhere on BroadbandNow are based on government data and privatized datasets we collect directly from telecoms. Averaged statistics about speed and performance data is sourced from M-Labs, the speed test tool shown within our site as well as Google and Chrome queries. Our research team has hand-filed package pricing for 317 broadband deals for the State College market as of 2020.

Below are the State College internet providers with the greatest coverage.