Windstream vs. Fidium Fiber Internet Providers Compared

Pricing varies widely for internet plans from Kinetic by Windstream

Kinetic by Windstream currently has about 1.2 million customers in 18 states [2]. Kinetic’s prices vary a great deal by location across this wide coverage area. In some areas, you will get their DSL for a promotional price of $30/month for a year, which is much less expensive than most DSL plans. But at the end of the first year, the price will revert to a standard fee of $55-85/month. And in many locations, the starting rate will be $60/month instead for the first year. Fiber prices also vary along with speeds. The one guarantee is that you’ll get more speed for your dollar with fiber. But mostly, Kinetic’s prices are in line with industry averages. Your standard Kinetic rates for fiber will vary from $65-200 for speeds from 300-2000 Mbps. Kinetic’s 1 Gig starts at a $70/month promotional rate for a year, then goes to $95/month. These rates are about average industry rates for fiber internet at the speeds delivered. On the bright side, Kinetic does not set data caps or require you to sign annual contracts for internet plans. Kinetic by Windstream also participates in the Affordable Connectivity Program from the FCC. This federal program offers payment assistance of up to $30/month for qualifying lower-income households. If you live on qualifying tribal lands, you may be eligible for an assistance payment up to $75/month.

Fidium Fiber’s pricing is simple, transparent, and matches other best deals

Fidium Fiber offers prices that are good across the board, with no hidden fees. The entry-level plan currently starting at a promotional rate of $25/month offers 100 Mbps download and upload speeds. For families on tight budgets, this is one of the most affordable first-tier plan prices you’ll find in the industry. After the promotional period of one year, the price rises to just $45/month. With those symmetrical speeds, you will get very good internet performance for activities such as videoconferencing. Fidium Fiber’s faster speed plans are also good deals. Starting at $70-85/month for a year for 1 gigabit speeds, then moving to $95/month for 2 Gigs, these are fiber prices that can compete with any other fiber pricing nationwide. Best of all, you will get transparent, simple pricing from Fidium Fiber that is much easier to understand than the complex pricing of many other ISPs. Fidium Fiber requires no contracts, no bundling, and no data caps. That means you won’t face bills with unexpected overage charges or early termination fees. You also won’t have the usual $100 installation cost for new internet, as Fidium Fiber offers free professional installation. And Fidium Fiber will include the use of a modem/router with your monthly plan price.

Windstream unveils new 8-Gig access to claim largest 8-Gig provider title

Windstream recently announced that as of July 2023, the company will have 8-Gig internet speeds available to 400,000 households across their 18-state coverage area [1]. 8-Gig internet speeds are at the fastest end of residential internet speeds, and with this achievement, Windstream is making its bid to win some of the internet speed wars. The question is who exactly needs 8 Gigs of symmetrical internet speed. At the moment, 8 Gigs is excessive speed for most residential internet users. 1 Gig will more than supply all the bandwidth that most homes need. Even very large households with multiple devices all streaming or gaming simultaneously don’t usually need more than 1 Gig, thanks to the symmetrical speeds of fiber internet. Even half of 1 Gig (500 Mbps) is usually capable of supporting a five- or six-person home and all the devices in it. For now, then, 8 Gigs may not be a speed that gets a lot of takers. But in the future, as virtual reality (VR) and assisted reality (AR) become more common, that massive bandwidth may be more useful. DSL performance will vary as it always does by location. But Kinetic’s DSL speeds reach the FCC’s standard for high-speed internet (25 Mbps/3 Mbps) for over 85% of its customers [3]. That speed is better than the average speed of broadband for DSL providers.

Fidium Fiber brings fiber’s speed and reliability to new service areas

Fidium Fiber offers to bring you symmetrical speeds between 100 Mbps and 2000 Mbps depending on your plan. That’s great news if you live in a town that hasn’t had fiber internet before. For example, fiber internet is often not available in rural states such as Maine and Vermont. But Fidium Fiber continues to build fiber infrastructure in those states to add more towns to its coverage area [2]. Some Fidium Fiber customers have said that they are not getting their promised speeds, but others report being very satisfied [3]. If you have any doubts, you can test your actual speed here to see what kind of performance your current internet connection is giving you.

Equipment fee is optional, but Kinetic activation fee is required

Kinetic charges about $10 a month to rent a Kinetic gateway (modem/router combo). You can also use your own modem/router. If you buy your own, though, you will need to make sure it is compatible. ISPs also do not provide tech support for customers’ personal modems and routers. Kinetic also offers a Wi-Fi management tool for their own gateway that will allow you to change your settings without all the hassle of logging in to your router online. The activation fee is $60 most of the time when you have to pay it. However, many times, you will get a credit for online orders or other promotions that will offset the fee. The website’s small print reveals that for some DSL “extended installations,” you may need to pay a $750 advance fee to proceed with the extended copper line burial. We assume this is not common. While you might choose to pay that high fee in some cases to get wired internet service, you certainly would have to consider your other options as well.

Free installation, free equipment loan with Fidium Fiber internet plans

Several fiber ISPs will offer you good promotional prices and no contracts. They may even offer no data caps, as Fidium Fiber does. But very few ISPs also offer free installation for all their plans. The free installation for Fidium Fiber is a nice touch that means you don’t have to invest up front to get Fidium Fiber. Fidium Fiber will give you free use of a Wi-Fi 6 Gateway and a whole-home Attune Wi-Fi app that will allow you to control all your devices. If you have smart home devices, the app will be especially useful. But it’s also nice to have a network management app when you want to adjust your settings without logging in to your router.

Kinetic by Windstream improves its customer experience

Kinetic scored just slightly lower than average for customer satisfaction on the 2022 J.D. Power Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Study [4]. But the good news is that in 2022, Kinetic’s score absolutely soared compared to its performance in the previous two years of the survey. Kinetic’s 2022 score was 720, about 40 points above its 2020 and 2021 results [5]. Kinetic now ranks third in the South, behind only AT&T and Xfinity. This is great news for customers. It’s possible that some of this meteoric rise might be explained by fiber buildout. In general, fiber and cable providers rank highest in customer satisfaction, DSL follows, and satellite and fixed wireless service bring up the rear. So, it’s not completely surprising that Kinetic by Windstream would rise rapidly in the ratings as more of their customers begin to use fiber instead of DSL.

Reviews are mixed for Fidium Fiber’s customer service and operations

Fidium Fiber doesn’t yet have a large enough customer base to qualify for one of the major national customer satisfaction reviews such as the J.D. Power Survey. Fidium Fiber does have over 1 million fiber passings (or potential connections for customers) thanks to its buildout. But Fidium Fiber is still a relatively small provider, reporting approximately 123,000 fiber broadband customers at the end of 2022 [4]. Even though Fidium Fiber doesn’t yet show up in major national surveys, you can still find a number of user reviews online in various forums. A casual scan shows the usual bumps in the road for a new provider without a long history of successful operations. Some customers say they do not get their service installed quickly and don’t get satisfactory responses from the company. Others say they don’t get promised speeds. But an equal number seem to feel that they are getting a better deal for their money and better performance than with their previous providers [5]. This is not a big enough sampling to provide an objective overview, so we’re going to suggest a likelihood rather than draw any lasting conclusions. Overall, it seems likely that Fidium Fiber is providing good service to many customers, but still ironing out kinks in its operations, staffing, and support. By next year, there should be more data to show whether Fidium Fiber has lifted its service to a high enough level to satisfy most customers.