Lumos Internet Definitive Buyers Guide

Attractive pricing for Lumos Fiber plans and better DSL pricing than competitors

Lumos does not emphasize its DSL offerings in its promotions. The ISP is working hard to replace DSL networks with fiber service. Nonetheless, you may live in a service area where Lumos can only offer you DSL. If that is the case, your pricing will be $34/month for DSL, which is pretty good considering most DSL plans from other providers start at $50. Still, what most people are going to want from Lumos Fiber is… fiber. Even solid DSL will not come near the speed and reliability of fiber internet. Your fiber plan offers from Lumos Fiber will be appealing. For fiber’s symmetrical speeds, you will get 200 Mbps for $40/month. That price will not get an automatic hike after a year. It’s simply the standard price. That is a very good deal! Most other providers that even approach that monthly price are offering slower speeds such as 50 or 100 Mbps. In Lumos’s higher speed tiers, you will also get attractive promotional offers for a year, then a minimal price hike of $10 after that first year. This increase is far less that the $20-30 price increases you’ll often see from other fiber or cable providers. For example, the Lumos 500 Mbps fiber plan will start at $50/month for 12 months, then move to $60 standard pricing. The 1 Gig plan will begin at $70/month for 12 months, then increase to the standard $80 rate. Lumos Fiber also has a 2 Gig plan available in select areas starting at $100/month. These are great internet plan prices. All the Lumos Fiber levels are $5-10 below AT&T Fiber’s monthly prices, and AT&T is usually thought to have competitive fiber plans. As for a comparison with major cable providers, Lumos Fiber comes out way ahead. Spectrum’s standard cable internet rate for 1 Gig download/35 Mbps upload is $120/month. Need we say more? Lumos Fiber’s price is 30% lower than the Spectrum price, and Lumos is also offering a superior speed at symmetrical 1 Gig download/upload speeds. When you consider that Lumos also does not require data caps or annual contracts for its plans, it’s easy to see why users like Lumos Fiber.

Lumos Fiber offers up to 2 Gigs symmetrical fiber speeds

Lumos has been building fiber infrastructure as quickly as possible, often “overbuilding” fiber in areas where they once offered DSL [4]. As usual, fiber internet outperforms every other internet technology. With Lumos Fiber plans, you will get symmetrical speeds that allow you to use multiple devices for HD streaming or real-time gaming. Videoconferencing will be smooth and glitch-free. If you have to upload large files for work, fiber internet can do it in seconds where DSL might take 30 minutes. That brings us to how your internet performance will differ if you are in an area where Lumos can only offer DSL. Your download speed with a Lumos DSL plan will vary from 15 Mbps to about 30 Mbps depending on your location, while upload speeds usually won’t top 3 Mbps. If your only alternative is satellite internet or fixed wireless, then you might consider DSL. But if you have a choice of a cable internet provider, cable will probably be your best option until fiber internet reaches your area.

Monthly equipment rental fee optional if you use personal modem/router

Lumos charges about $10 a month to supply you with a gateway (modem/router combo). Though Lumos allows you to use your own modem/router, you should first be sure your device is compatible with their service. Like most providers, Lumos can’t guarantee tech support for customers’ personal modems and routers. If you get Lumos Total Home Wi-Fi, you will also have access to an app that allows you to manage your Wi-Fi network, including parental controls for internet access. Lumos will charge a $75 installation fee for some plans, but your installation fee may be waived for certain promotions or plans.

N/A (too new to score)

As we mentioned in the summary, Lumos Fiber is too new and small to have accumulated any national scores from customer satisfaction surveys such as J.D. Power. There isn’t even much of an internet footprint for customer reviews since the merger occurred in summer 2022. For that reason, we will not assign Lumos Fiber an official score for customer satisfaction until there’s more user feedback online. However, reporting from our staff’s experience, Lumos Fiber is quite popular with customers in North Carolina. Taking a straw poll on a neighborhood association page or on Nextdoor.com will often result in your neighbors telling you that Lumos Fiber is the best ISP in town. Do remember that ISP satisfaction can vary widely from one location to another. Customers of the former North State in North Carolina may have a different experience from customers of the former Lumos Networks in Virginia. But thus far, reports for Lumos Fiber seem positive. We’ll update you with more information as the company establishes a track record in its new form.