Spectrum vs AT&T Internet: Price, Features & What’s Best

When comparing AT&T vs Spectrum for business internet service providers (ISPs), we considered the cost of service, speed of connection, and availability. Although Spectrum offers more affordable plans, AT&T provides higher speeds. Smaller businesses may be happy with Spectrum, but larger, data-heavy businesses may require AT&T’s 1 Tbps plan for their needs.

When to Use Spectrum

Spectrum is available in 41 states and delivers a basic internet connection with speeds up to 100 Mbps for as little as $60 per month. If you’re a small- to medium-sized business, this may work great for you. Plus, you can easily bundle your internet with phone and increase your download speeds to as much as 300 Mbps.

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When to Use AT&T

AT&T is the ISP to go with if you have a large operation that demands the top speeds available. Its dedicated internet service plans can reach up to 1 Tbps speeds, but it is pricey. Smaller operations will find great utility in one of AT&T’s wireless internet plans that can accommodate businesses that don’t operate out of a centralized location.

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AT&T vs Spectrum at a Glance

How We Evaluated Spectrum & AT&T

When comparing AT&T vs Spectrum, we looked at several critical factors. Chief among them are speed and price. However, we also paid special attention to how much it costs to install, the reliability of your connection, contract lengths, and reviews of real life customers online. We also checked to see how wide their availability is across the U.S.

The criteria we used to evaluate the best business internet service providers include:

• Price: We looked at the monthly cost of each plan, and considered the variety of plans available.
• Ease of installation: We considered whether you can install your modem yourself, and if not, how much professional installation costs.
• Internet speeds: The best business internet ISPs offer a variety of speeds and plans. We compared the internet speeds each ISP offers.
• Uptime: We looked at the reliability of both ISPs and what guarantee, if any, each provides.
• Availability: We considered the availability of internet for small businesses from each ISP.
• Contract length: Sometimes internet service providers require you to sign contracts, so we looked at the length of required contracts, and whether there are associated cancellation fees.
• Customer support: We looked at the options you have for support from each service, along with the customer satisfaction rating from industry watchdogs.
• User reviews: We also considered common praises and criticisms customers have posted online.

Based on everything above, we recommend Spectrum for small to medium sized businesses that don’t require extremely high-speed internet, and want affordable plans. Small business owners may want to consider AT&T if they need to move large amounts of data such as with live video streaming.

AT&T vs Spectrum: Pricing & Features

The choice between Spectrum and AT&T hinges on whether you want the most affordable options, or the fastest internet options. Spectrum’s top plan costs a little more than $100 per month, which makes it good for businesses on a tight budget. However, connection speeds top out at 300 Mbps with Spectrum. AT&T can get quite expensive, but it provides robust internet speeds.

AT&T Pricing & Features

AT&T is a big business name that caters to big businesses. Its plans are both fast and expensive. However, they’re also malleable, so you can choose a plan tailored to your company’s needs. Additionally, its wireless offerings allow you to take your connection on the road with you—great for businesses that don’t have a central location or are mobile by nature.

AT&T Tiered Features

AT&T Wireless Internet

AT&T offers what a lot of other business internet service providers don’t: the ability to take your connection with you. AT&T Wireless Internet delivers a 4G LTE connection for as little as $60 per month. You can choose either a 50GB or 100GB data plan for $60 or $100 per month, respectively. This is a great option for businesses that are mobile or in a place where a traditional connection is unavailable.

AT&T Wireless Broadband

Another wireless option is AT&T Wireless Broadband. This new plan harnesses the power of emerging 5G technology—so you’ll need to invest in some specialized equipment. The 5G Evolution capable wireless router recommended by AT&T is the Nighthawk Mobile Solution. It costs about $250 and you can purchase it directly from AT&T either outright or on a payment plan.

However, this plan is only available with speeds up to 50 Mbps. That’s fantastic for wireless speeds, but at $200 per month for that connection, it might not be a good value for your business.

AT&T Dedicated Internet

A dedicated internet plan from AT&T might be the best option if you run an established business with lots of employees and a high data transfer load. Dedicated internet is the most expensive business internet plan we saw when we compared the best services.

Plans start at $550 a month for up to 10 Mbps, which is much more expensive than Spectrum’s options. However, you can pick a plan that delivers speeds up to 1Tbps—the fastest possible speeds for businesses. Granted you’ll pay $20,000 a month for it—but if the raw speed and power is what you need, AT&T is the best place to get it.

Spectrum Pricing & Features

Spectrum business internet offerings are quite simple. You can get a plain internet connection with up to 100 Mbps speeds for $60. If you need more than that, you can upgrade to one of its business bundles for extra speed and phone service. Each plan comes with an included Wi-Fi network, web domain, and email service.

Spectrum Tiered Features

Spectrum Business Internet

Spectrum Business Internet is that and nothing more. This entry-level plan delivers speeds up to 100 Mbps— which is decent, especially at this price point. If your business doesn’t have a lot of people or doesn’t heavily rely on the internet, this might be all you need.

Spectrum Business Bundle

The Business Bundle delivers the same 100 Mbps internet connection as Business Internet, but also adds in basic phone service. You get unlimited local and long-distance phone calls and advanced business calling features such as call waiting and three-way calling. It’s only about $5 more per month than the entry-level plan so there’s no reason not to have it, unless your business doesn’t need a telephone.

Spectrum Business Bundle Ultra

The Business Bundle Ultra is the same plan as the Business Bundle except you get three times the internet speed. Top download speeds for this plan are 300 Mbps, which is likely far more than you need for basic day-to-day tasks. Business Bundle Ultra is a great solution for growing companies that have a moderate to heavy data load.

AT&T vs Spectrum: Availability

Although Spectrum and AT&T are widely available across the United States, AT&T wins in this competition. Spectrum is available in 41 states while AT&T is available in all 50 states, plus some U.S. territories.

Spectrum Availability

Spectrum Business Internet is available in the following states.

AT&T Availability

You can get AT&T business internet in the below states and territories.

AT&T vs Spectrum: Ease of Installation

Both AT&T and Spectrum require their technicians to install your business internet equipment. However, depending on what plan you choose, you may pay little or nothing in setup and activation costs.

Spectrum has a flat installation fee of $99 for all its plans. AT&T’s installation costs vary with the type of plan you get. A wireless plan with AT&T that requires no installation comes with an activation fee, while other plans have completely complementary installation and activation.

AT&T vs Spectrum: Speed & Uptime

Like all the other business internet service providers we looked at, Spectrum and AT&T guarantee their internet uptimes at more than 99%. So, speed is the determining factor. Spectrum delivers good speeds at an affordable price, but if you want the fastest connections, it’s AT&T by a mile.

AT&T Speed & Uptime

AT&T offers the most speed options of all the business internet services we evaluated. You can get the speed you need from as slow as 10 Mbps to 1 Tbps. This is the kind of service you want when you’re operating a significantly large enterprise with many users and a gargantuan amount of data traffic. However, if it’s mobile data you’re after, AT&T wireless internet options are the best in the industry.

Spectrum Speed & Uptime

Spectrum Business Internet offers speeds up to 100 Mbps. This is enough for a small team to use on a daily basis, so long as there isn’t a great deal of data-intensive traffic. If you want more than that, you can upgrade to the Business Bundle Ultra which delivers up to 300 Mbps, which is enough for larger groups and some heavy data volume.

AT&T vs Spectrum: Customer Service

An often overlooked factor when choosing an ISP for small businesses is customer support. Spectrum and AT&T offer a wide variety of customer support options, including live chat, phone support, email, and knowledge bases on their websites.

Internet service providers, on the whole, have a bad reputation when it comes to customer service. The American Customer Satisfaction Index confirms it with its report and rating, which gives the whole industry a satisfaction score of just 62%. Keep in mind that these ratings likely include residential customers as well.

AT&T Customer Service

If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for on AT&T’s support page, you can try the forums to connect with other customers. Or reach out through social media. There are also live chat options, and phone. AT&T’s phone hours are available 24/7 for business customers.

With a score of 69, AT&T has the highest satisfaction score among the services we looked at. In addition to being higher than the industry average, it’s been on the upswing since 2013 when its score was 65. Only Fios (Verizon) had a higher satisfaction score.

Spectrum Customer Service

Spectrum offers several customer support options. You can email, search the website, or use live chat. Or if you want to speak to a live person, the call center hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern time Monday through Friday.

Spectrum’s satisfaction rating with the ASCI is well below the industry average at just 59, which is tied with CenturyLink for the lowest score among the business internet companies we reviewed. And it’s been on a downward path for a few years. In 2013 it had a score of 65 and has been declining ever since.

Spectrum vs AT&T: User Reviews

User reviews for AT&T and Spectrum business internet are easy to find online. And they run the gamut from nightmare tech support scenarios to glowing praise for a job well done. We read through dozens of reviews for each to see what customers say about these services.

Spectrum User Reviews

On the review sites we looked through, Spectrum generally got an average 3 out of 5 stars rating. One and 2 star reviews contained complaints about individual billing issues, slow connection speeds, and poor customer service. Higher rated reviews complimented professional technicians and helpful support representatives.

AT&T User Reviews

Reviews for AT&T were similar to Spectrum’s average at about 3 of five 5 on the review services we read. However, the scores are either very high or low, with few middling reviews. Many customers love the reliable, fast connections that AT&T offers. However, those praises are nearly drowned out by the deluge of customer service complaints, slow speeds, and unresolved technical issues.

Bottom Line – AT&T vs Spectrum

The choice between AT&T and Spectrum comes down to how much money you have to spend on internet service. If you’re on a budget, or simply don’t need the mind-bending fast speeds that AT&T is capable of providing, Spectrum is the way to go. If your business is large, has a lot of users, or carries a massive data load, AT&T will provide all the speed you need.