How Do You Know What Type of Internet Connection I Have?

DSL, Cable, Fiber, Fixed Wireless, Satellite, or Other

On ISP Reports we talk a lot about the different between fiber and DSL, and sometimes about the difference between cable, fiber, and other technologies. Why does it matter? Well, for one thing fiber products are rated MUCH higher by customers than DSL products. Centurylink, AT&T, Verizon, Frontier, and Windstream are (or have been) major DSL providers in the past. Each company also provides fiber optic internet to select service areas. In every case, the fiber product is rated well in our independent survey. In most cases, fiber is actually rated better than competing cable companies, despite having similar speeds. For example, Verizon Fios is rated higher than XFINITY, Spectrum, and Cox cable. Their DSL product, however, is ranked far below competing cable companies in the same survey.

Not sure what type of internet connection you have? Well we're here to help.

Finding Your Internet Technology, Method 1: Look at Your Bill

If you don't know whether you have cable, fixed wireless, fiber, DSL, or satellite, you should be able to look at your bill and find the words on there somewhere. You should also be able to see the download (and upload) speed you're paying for compared to the speed you're actually getting. You may also be able to find a hint as to your internet type from past emails: invoices or notices of paid monthly charges on autopay may include both your service type and your contractual maximum speed.

Finding What Type of Internet You Have, Method 2: Check Your Modem

If you weren't able to deduce the internet type from the connection, find the modem. Again, the modem is usually connected directly to the wall at the point your internet line enters the home. There are modem/router combos, but usually the router (which broadcasts WiFi) plugs into the modem with anethernet cable. Your modem may be in a utility room or attic, but it's most often in the main home office or close to the computer. First look for any of the following words:

• Cable modem, DOCSIS, or coaxial: any of these words means you definitely have cable
• DSL, aDSL, vDSL, etc.: You definitely have DSL
• Fiber modem, fiber optic modem: You have fiber
• Satellite modem: You have satellite, and hopefully already knew that by the slow internet with lots of latency
• Microwave, fixed wireless: You have fixed wireless internet.

If you can't tell, get the model number of your modem. Take that model number and Google it, again making sure it is either a modem or modem/router combo that pulls up, and not a router. This method is mostly foolproof, assuming that you've found the right device.

Method 1 and 2 are best in that they should work for everyone, and the chances of getting it wrong are very low. If for whatever reason you don't have access to a bill and cannot find the modem you may be able to do a little detective work and figure it out.

Finding Your Internet Type, Method 3: Check Your Connection

To verify the type of connection you have, you'll need to find where the internet first enters your home. Unfortunately for some, this may be in a utility room or even an attic. Usually this is the point where the internet plugs into your modem. The modem is the first device that makes the internet run. The router is what other wired and wireless devices connect to. Every home has a modem and a router. Sometimes the modem and the router is the same device, and sometimes there are two different devices. So, check the wire that connects the modem to the wall.

The problem with saying for sure what type of connection is shown in the last image is that it's an ethernet connection. While this is what a fiber modem would connect to, many homes are wired with ethernet internally. E.g. many homes built after 2010 will have CAT-5 cables wired throughout the house, with potential cable, fiber, or DSL connections in the utility room. Sometimes homes were even retrofit to have ethernet throughout the home, because unlike coaxial cable there is no interference if, for example, you want the same modem to power multiple wired connections in the home. Some fiber services will also connect directly to the router from the wall, complicating matters further.

To deduce fixed wireless, you can actually just tour the perimeter of your home. If you have a receiver on your home pointing mostly horizontally or slightly upwards (instead of into space) at a tower or building in the distance, you probably have fixed wireless. The receiver will be smaller than most home satellite dishes you may have seen. If you have a satellite connection through HughesNet or similar, you probably already know it by the long lag times, but you should see a larger dish pointed upwards on your house. Make sure to verify this with at least one other method, though, because a prior homeowner may have used satellite and simply failed to take the dish down when they cancelled service.

If you're not sure what's happening, confirm your internet type with one of the other methods.

Determining Internet Tech Types, Method 4: Deduce from Provider and Speed

First go to https://www.speedtest.net/ and run a speed test by pressing “GO.” If you were also wondering, “Who is my internet provider,” the Speed Test provided by Ookla will answer that question immediately. The following image shows where to locate the company providing your internet on the results page, i.e. after the test runs.

Luckily for us, you will see not only your internet service provider (ISP), in case you don't know, but also your internet speed. This alone may be enough to determine your internet service type.

Major DSL or Fiber Internet Providers

• CenturyLink
• Verizon
• Frontier
• AT&T
• Windstream
• Consolidated
• Earthlink

Major Cable Only Internet Providers

• Spectrum (formerly Charter, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House)
• XFINITY by Comcast
• Mediacom
• Cox Communications
• Sparklight

Major Fixed Wireless Providers

• US Cellular
• Rise Broadband
• SkyFiber

Major LTE Internet Providers

• T-Mobile
• Verizon
• Ultra

Major Satellite Internet Providers

• HughesNet
• ViaSat
• Starlink (hypothetically)

If your internet provider is listed in the cable-only provider list, you almost definitely have cable internet. Though some of these providers (like Cox) have a small percentage of their service areas using fiber, the chance that you have fiber through them and don't know it is very low. You may still want to verify with another method. If your provider is listed in the first list, you have either DSL or Fiber. Generally speaking, fiber will be much faster in terms of Mbps than DSL, especially when it comes to “upload speeds.” DSL can reach speeds up to 150 Mbps now, but on such a high-speed DSL connection the upload speed is likely to be very low – often 10 Mbps or less. So if your connection is faster than 150 Mbps download you likely have fiber internet. This is almost definitely the case if your upload speed is roughly similar to your download speed. Unfortunately, you may be paying for a “slower” fiber package, such as speeds up to 50 Mbps. In those cases, you probably still have fiber if your upload speeds are also around 50 Mbps. If you have slower speeds or wildly asymetric speeds with faster downloads than uploads, you probably have DSL.

If your provider is not listed here, you may be able to find your provider's technology type(s) by entering your zip code here and finding your provider's coverage map.