Ziply Fiber Internet Definitive Buyers Guide

Ziply Fiber’s prices are unbeatable for all-fiber internet, but DSL internet is no bargain

Ziply Fiber is one of only a few fiber internet companies in the nation that offers a promotional rate of $20/month for fiber internet. That rate will last about a year, but even afterward, you’ll still pay only $40/month for symmetrical speeds of 100 Mbps. That’s a good deal! Ziply Fiber’s Fiber 300 plan offers 300 Mbps download/upload speed for $40/month for that first year, switching at that point to $60/month. These are great prices for those speed levels. If you are lucky enough to have access to Ziply Fiber's all-fiber network, you will save 30-40% over some competitors’ prices. But Ziply Fiber has the same split fiber/DSL profile as a couple of other start-up fiber providers. The existing network that Ziply Fiber took over from Frontier in 2020 was 70% DSL. Since then, Ziply Fiber has built out more fiber to bring fiber/DSL ratios to about 50-50 [4]. But there’s a good chance you may get DSL instead of fiber even if Ziply Fiber serves your area. And if you sign up for DSL, your prices will be much higher, even though you will get slower speeds. No matter what your DSL speed, it won’t match the speed of Ziply Fiber’s first-tier fiber plan, and yet you will pay more for a DSL plan. That’s the way the industry works right now, and it’s certainly not fair to DSL customers. But on the positive side, Ziply Fiber’s pricing for both DSL and fiber is predictable because there are no data caps. You won’t have to worry about unexpected overage charges with a Ziply Fiber plan of either kind. You also won’t be required to sign an annual contract, which means you won’t face any early termination fees. You will have an equipment rental fee of $10-20/month depending on existing promotions when you sign up, so be sure to include that fee in your calculations. If you would rather use your own modem/router, Ziply Fiber allows you to do so and skip the fee.

Ziply Fiber is super-fast on their all-fiber network, but their DSL speeds vary widely

An all-fiber connection will give you much faster, more reliable internet access than a DSL internet connection. You'll get multi-gigabit speeds for both download and upload from your fiber plan. Ziply Fiber even offers speeds as high as 10 Gigs in some places! Though Ziply Fiber’s plan pricing says that their DSL speed goes up to 115 Mbps download/7 Mbps upload, those numbers indicate a maximum speed. Your DSL could also be as slow as 7Mbps download/1 Mbps upload, which was the speed listed for one property we tested in Shoreline, WA [5]. Or, you could get the most common range for today’s DSL speeds, which tends to be about 10-25 Mbps download, 1-3 Mbps upload. Ziply Fiber will tell you what your estimated speed will be when you sign up, but you can also test your internet speed here. Clearly, there’s no comparison between these DSL speeds and even the 100/100 Mbps speeds of the lowest-level Ziply Fiber all-fiber plan. With slow DSL, you may not be able to stream in HD or play real-time games. But if you get even Ziply’s Fiber Internet 300 plan, your household will be able to stream and game on multiple devices without glitches or freezing screens.

Optional equipment rental fees, free installation with Ziply Fiber plans

Ziply Fiber will provide DSL customers with a combined modem/router for between $10-20/month. You can use your own compatible modem and router to avoid the fee, but Ziply Fiber won’t be able to help you with any technical issues related to your personal equipment [6]. If you choose fiber internet from Ziply Fiber, you will get a Wi-Fi 6 fiber router for the same monthly rental fee of $10-20/month. Installation for all Ziply Fiber plans is free, which will save you up to $100 over standard ISP installation fees.

A few bumps in the road during start-up for customers

Ziply Fiber is still too small to qualify for independent review on the J.D. Power survey of customer satisfaction for ISPs. A sampling of online user reviews indicates that most user complaints were related to billing and account administration, especially during the time of transition right after Ziply Fiber took over their network from Frontier. There are still enough negative user comments that we’re going to award Ziply Fiber only 3.5 stars, but another year should help clear up the picture. If customer satisfaction issues were mostly related to administrative transfer, the ratings should improve as Ziply Fiber’s operations mature.