My Honest Review of AT&T's Cheapest Internet Plan

When I moved to a house that was serviceable for fiber internet, I jumped at the chance to ditch cable for fiber. My roommates and I had spent the past three years with Spectrum, often frustrated by the occasional price increases and internet outages in our area. Switching to fiber internet meant symmetrical download and upload speeds and better reliability for roughly the same price I'd been paying Spectrum.

I'll level with you: $55 for 300 megabits per second download speed is not the best internet deal in the industry. There are plenty of better internet deals, like Frontier Fiber's 500Mbps for $45 monthly or even Spectrum's 500Mbps for $50 monthly. But if you want to switch to fiber internet and have limited internet options like me, AT&T's lowest tier is worth a try.

Although I work 100% remotely, I'd consider my internet usage below average. According to the latest data from OpenVault, the average household uses around 569Mbps in download speed. There are a maximum of two smart devices in my house, and usually only one or two devices are online at a time, making 300Mbps plenty of speed to go around.

However, if you and the members of your household have higher-than-average internet usage habits, 300Mbps will likely not be enough. If you have gamers, more than one remote worker and a decent line-up of smart devices, 300Mbps simply won't get you very far. But if you're trying to stick to a budget and your internet use is on the lighter end, AT&T's FIber 300 plan might just work for you. Here's everything you need to know.

How does AT&T Fiber 300 stack up to similar options cost-wise?

Before signing up for AT&T, I knew I wanted to keep my monthly internet costs below $60 monthly. The average monthly cost of internet is around $63, not including hidden fees or equipment costs, and I didn't want to exceed that amount.

The cheapest internet plan from any provider typically offers the lowest available speeds for the highest cost per Mbps, making it one of the least cost-efficient options despite the low monthly fees. AT&T's Fiber 300 plan is no exception. Even though it's the provider's cheapest internet plan, it has a cost per Mbps of around 18 cents. That's the highest speed/price ratio of any AT&T Fiber plan.

It is also higher than entry-level plans from other leading internet service providers, including Spectrum and Quantum Fiber, which both offer speeds up to 500Mbps starting at $50 a month. Those plans are $5 cheaper than AT&T Fiber 300 and offer almost double the speed.

Still, the AT&T Fiber 300 plan is a solid choice for home internet, especially if you're limited on high-speed internet options and trying to stick to a budget. In my case, I wanted to avoid paying $80 monthly for AT&T's 1-gig plan -- a speed I was sure would go to waste in my house. The next speed tier up, AT&T Fiber 500, was also a viable option at $65 monthly, but I had a feeling 500Mbps would be too much speed for my internet usage, too.

While AT&T Fiber 300 is not as cheap or fast as entry plans from some providers, AT&T adds value in other ways. Let's take a closer look at the plan's terms of service.

AT&T Fiber 300: No data caps, contracts or equipment fees

The speed and reliability of a fiber internet connection outpace offerings from cable internet, and I've definitely noticed the difference. Although Spectrum offers 500Mbps in download speed, upload speeds max out at 20Mbps. As a remote worker, I rely on fast upload speeds for video calls, sharing/uploading documents and doing research. Since making the switch to fiber internet, my video call quality has increased and I'm not experiencing any of the usual network congestion during peak usage times.

I've stressed the cost and speed value of the AT&T Fiber 300 plan so far, and for a good reason, but what else is there to the plan and AT&T service, in general?

AT&T Fiber plans come with unlimited data, meaning I don't have to monitor my monthly data usage to avoid throttled speeds or overage fees. There are also no contract requirements and no added monthly equipment fees.

Overall, I pay a flat rate of $55 monthly: there are no extra costs for renting a router (unlike Spectrum's $10 router charge for its 500Mbps plan) or charges for going over a data limit.

That's a good deal, considering the speeds I get. Speaking of which, let's take a look at what 300Mbps looks like in my house.

Is 300Mbps a good speed?

When you sign up for an internet plan, your internet provider only guarantees speeds "up to" the value of the plan. So, although I'm paying for 300Mbps, I don't always get that speed consistently. My speeds have dipped as low as 273Mbps, but I've also seen them as high as 350Mbps. Still, the speeds I see overall are much more consistent than what I got with a cable internet connection..

According to the Federal Communications Commission, 300Mbps should be more than enough speed to game online, stream in HD or 4K and simultaneously take Zoom calls on multiple devices. The official recommendation from the FCC is a minimum speed of 4Mbps for online multiplayer games, 25Mbps for streaming in 4K and 6Mbps for HD videoconferencing, all well below 300Mbps. 

Additionally, while speeds of 300Mbps can support numerous devices at once (10 or more depending on the activity on each), each connected device will consume its share of bandwidth. The more devices you connect, the slower your actual speeds will likely be on each. 

Since I work remotely and my partner doesn't, typically, throughout the day, there are as few as two devices working at a time. Neither of us games online, and we only have one smart TV; 300Mbps is plenty to go around for our internet usage.

I tried a few easy steps to optimize that 300Mbps, like placing my router in a central, raised location in my office and taking a few speed tests to gauge the connection in different rooms. Since my router is in my office, a room near the back of the house, I initially worried that my smart TV wouldn't get consistent speeds. AT&T does offer smart Wi-Fi extenders, which I briefly considered, but for the cost of $10 monthly, it would be more efficient to upgrade to the next tier and pay $65 monthly for 500Mbps. I don't foresee myself making that upgrade yet.

Surprisingly, when I tested my internet connection speed with Ookla's Speedtest, I found that the speeds in my living room (315Mbps) were slightly faster than those in my office (298Mbps). (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.) Although my smart TV does see the occasional lag, it doesn't happen often, and my work days are uninterrupted with a smooth Wi-Fi connection.

Larger households with bandwidth-hungry devices like smart TVs, video game consoles, smartphones and tablets may require more speed to accommodate everyone's needs, especially if more than one user is online at a time. If that's the case, and you want to stick with AT&T, consider upgrading to the AT&T Fiber 500 plan for an additional $10 per month or to AT&T Fiber 1000, which starts at $80 per month.

So is AT&T Fiber 300 fast enough?

It should be for most households. According to Speedtest.net, the average tested residential download speed in the US for November 2024 was 262Mbps, so you'll potentially get speeds higher than the national average with AT&T Fiber 300. Again, a constant speed of 300Mbps is unlikely with AT&T Fiber 300, especially when using a Wi-Fi connection but I've seen consistent speeds since signing up for the service. Still, the plan is likely to offer plenty of speed for the average user or handful of users and most, if not all, of their devices.

AT&T Fiber 300 FAQs