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Ziply Fiber is another newcomer to the world of internet providers, and thus far, the word on Ziply Fiber is mostly positive. Ziply Fiber provides a mix of all-fiber and DSL connections across its coverage area, with a goal to move to all-fiber as quickly as possible. With Ziply Fiber, you will get some of the best fiber internet prices in the industry. Ziply Fiber is also on the leading edge of fast fiber speeds, with an amazing 50 Gigs available across its service area as of October 2023 [1]
Ziply Fiber launched in 2020 when it bought Frontier’s Northwest footprint in four states: Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon [2]. At the time, only 30% of the network was fiber and the rest was DSL. In 2021, Ziply Fiber stated a goal to move to 80% fiber by 2024 [3].
With Ziply Fiber’s commitment to fiber expansion, great pricing, unlimited data, and free installation, there’s a whole lot to like about this newcomer ISP. The only downside is that a high percentage of its customers still have only DSL access, which brings higher prices and lower internet performance.
Ziply Fiber is one of only a few fiber internet companies in the nation that offers a rate of $20/month for fiber internet. That’s a good deal!
Ziply Fiber also offers 10000 Mbps download/upload speed for $300/month. 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 is, 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.
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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 says that its 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 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 Ziply Fiber plans that are 100% fiber, your household will be able to stream and game on multiple devices without glitches or freezing screens.
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.
Ziply Fiber is still too small an internet provider to qualify for independent review in 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 its network from Frontier.
The balance of positive and negative user comments leads us to award Ziply Fiber 3.5 stars for customer service. But overall, Ziply Fiber is an excellent choice if you have access to its all-fiber plans.
[1] GlobeNewswire.com. "Ziply Fiber Unveils America's Fastest Internet."
[2] APNews.com. "Ziply Fiber Completes Acquisition."
[3] FierceTelecom.com. "Ziply Raises 350 Million to Fuel Fiber Expansion."
[4] ZiplyFiber.com. "Construction Process."
[5] ZiplyFiber.com. Data retrieved for home on N Park Ave, Shoreline, WA.