San Francisco has become a decently competitive place for Internet. The choices you have are highly dependent on your location and how much access you have to your building. But here’s a quick rundown since I feel this comes up over and over again. You can get Internet down from 50 mbps -> 1000 mbps (gigabit)

The main providers of Internet are: AT&T, Comcast, Sonic.net, MonkeyBrains, WebPass, and Wave Braoadband

AT&T

AT&T (otherwise known as the Galactic Empire with a little death star logo) has capped Internet offerings throughout San Francisco. They are the backbone network for DSL in all of San Francisco and probably have the best availability throughout.

If you look around San Francisco the big giant ugly gray buildings are their buildings and the little boxes throughout the city on corners are AT&T hubs to expand their Internet offerings. The closer you are to them the faster your DSL will be.

As of July 2018, I’ve heard they’ve started to consider rolling out Fiber to San Francisco. At least this is from a neighborhood notice that was posted outside my house.

Pros:

• High Availability

Cons:

• You’re paying the Empire
• Data caps
• Much slower than other providers (50mbps)
• Fought against Net Neutrality

Comcast / Xfinity

Similar to AT&T, Xfinity (formerly Comcast) offers cable Internet. This is going to be best bang for your buck with the highest availability. Xfinity fucking sucks but you’ll get way faster Internet for about the same price as you’ll get AT&T. They have the same coverage footprint as AT&T probably or at the very least it’s close.

Pros:

• High availability
• Fast Speeds
• Cable modems can be bought to cheapen your bill

Cons:

• Xfinity customer service is terrible
• Data caps
• Fought against Net Neutrality

Sonic.net

If AT&T and Comcast are the evil empires then Sonic.net is the Rebel Alliance. Kind of… Except you know the metaphor doesn’t work but let’s just call them the good guys. They’re a local ISP who is fighting hard for good customer service and reliable Internet. The important thing is they have two offerings. One is meh, the other is better. So let’s break this up

Sonic.net DSL

Sonic.net didn’t have their own lines in the ground for the longest time but instead just sold rebranded AT&T Internet. Sometimes they would do the last mile but the vast majority of your network is AT&T. Thus, you have all the downsides of AT&T’s speeds but with better customer service.

Pros:

• High Availability
• No Data caps
• Great customer service (except with issues involving AT&T’s network)
• Local Company

Cons:

• Much slower than other providers (50mbps)
• Issues with network can be related to AT&T which take much longer to resolve

Sonic.net Gigabit Fiber

As of 2016 Sonic has started rolling out their own Gigabit fiber internet. It’s not completely out yet but as of July 2018 they have most of the Sunset, parts of Glen Park, Mission, Noe Valley, Castro and are moving into Potrero Hill. They were advertising in my neighborhood so I got to talk to a representative about the price and the annoying thing about is their advertised $40/month is actually about $60-70/month after SF taxes and equipment rentals.

But overall, this is probably your fastest internet for the cost you’re paying.

Pros:

• Gigabit symmetrical internet blows away the competition
• Solid customer service
• No data caps
• Local Company

Cons:

• Block by block, house by house availability
• Forced equipment rentals add $$$
• New network, there will probably be issues

WebPass

WebPass is a local ISP that offers Gigabit Internet but it primarily aims at large apartment complexes. I believe it’s just a huge microwave antenna plus direct wiring which is why they only service apartments. You’ll get fast speeds but you’ll need to convince your entire building to work with you on it. I’ve never worked with or heard about their customer service but in 2016 they were acquired by Google which is known for their notoriously bad customer service. Google 100% prefers to engineer a solution versus have a person on the phone.

Pros:

• Gigabit symmetrical Internet blows away the competition
• No Data caps
• Owned by Google
• Directly wired line means better service levels

Cons:

• Usually only available at high end apartment complexes
• If you want to get it, you need to convince your entire building and WebPass to come in. Minimum 30+ Units and buildings build after a certain date
• Owned by Google

MonkeyBrains

This is my ISP. I’ve found the cheapest and best ISP as a single studio renter. They have a upfront cost of $250 to install their microwave antenna and you need to somehow get your landlord to give them access to the roof but after they offer a flat $35/month cost (including taxes) for about 100mbps. The downsides though is since you have an exposed rooftop antenna, high winds and bad weather can disrupt your internet access if your antenna or another one that it relies on goes down. I’ve also had them come in every few years to adjust the antenna location so that I can get faster internet as they move hubs.

Pros:

• Cheap. $35/month is probably the cheapest you’re going to get
• Great Customer Service
• No Data Caps
• Local

Cons:

• Internet goes down with bad weather
• High upfront cost
• Requires landlord permission or building permission

Wave Broadband

There’s a new player called Wave Broadband. Unfortunately I don’t know much about them but they have comparable speeds to comcast at a much higher price. When I checked their 250mbps plan was about $80/month. That’s a bit much. Unfortunately I can’t really rank them well since I know nothing about them outside of their pricing plan and technology.

Ranked

Here’s my basic ranking if you have the options:

1. WebPass
2. Sonic.net Gigabit Fiber (if you’re a multi-person unit/household)
3. MonkeyBrains
4. Comcast/Xfinity
5. Sonic.net
6. AT&T

Unknown: Wave Broadband