What Americans actually pay for internet in 2026

The headline number is easy: most US households pay somewhere between $60 and $90 a month for home internet. The interesting part is how they got there, because almost nobody pays the price they signed up for.

The promo cliff

Cable is still built around a twelve-month introductory rate followed by a jump. Across the plans in our database, the average step-up on a cable plan is $28 a month. A $50 promo becomes $78. Nothing about the service changes.

Fiber providers have largely abandoned this. AT&T Fiber, Google Fiber, Metronet, Ziply and Frontier all sell flat rates that do not expire. That is a genuine structural difference, and it is worth more than the ten dollars that usually separates the sticker prices.

Fees are a third of the gap

Two charges do most of the damage:

• Equipment rental, $12–15/month at most cable providers. Over three years that is around $500 for a router you could buy for $150.
• Broadcast and network surcharges, which are not taxes even though they are printed near them.

Add both and the $50 plan is $65 before the promo even ends.

What that means in practice

Price the second year, with fees, before you compare anything. A flat $65 fiber plan and a $45 cable promo look $20 apart. Over twenty-four months, with a $28 step-up and a $14 router rental, the cable plan is the more expensive one — by about $170.