Best internet providers in Kannapolis, North Carolina

You’ll get top speeds from Kinetic fiber internet or Spectrum internet in Kannapolis, but new 5G tech from T-Mobile means faster speeds on fixed wireless than ever before.

#1: Kinetic internet

Kinetic internet by Windstream offers fast fiber speeds with affordable monthly costs, no data caps, and no contracts in the Kannapolis area. There is a $10 monthly charge to rent the modem-router gateway, but you can bring your own equipment if you want. If you’ve had Kinetic at your home before, you may be able to install the service yourself for free, but Kinetic doesn’t list installation prices without a credit check. That’s a bummer, but we like that new subscribers are often eligible for a prepaid Visa gift card when they order.

In areas without fiber internet, Kinetic may still offer DSL internet. Those plans are much slower and not as good a deal, but they’re better than even the best satellite internet providers and comparable to some of the fixed wireless options available.

Read our full Windstream review.

#2: Spectrum internet

Spectrum offers cable internet to 94% of homes in Kannapolis, and its prices are very reasonable. If you live alone and don’t need to connect multiple devices at once, you can probably get away with its slowest plan for $20 per month. You can also get speeds as fast as 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps), with options in between. There’s an installation charge of $25–$60, depending on whether you do the work yourself, and you’ll pay $5 per month if you want to rent the Spectrum Wi-Fi router. You’ll benefit from zero contracts and zero data caps, which is great, but watch out for third-year price hikes and a spotty reputation for customer service. (1)

Read our full Spectrum review.

#3: T-Mobile internet

Home internet from mobile phone companies is getting better and better, and T-Mobile is our top pick for this internet type in Kannapolis. You can get what the company calls 5G Ultra Capacity almost anywhere in the city. (2) You can pay as little as $25 per month if you also use T-Mobile for your cell phone. You get free equipment, and it’s super easy to install by way of a mobile app on your phone. Our expert reviewers rate the provided equipment highly but say you should plug it in as soon as you get it because the free trial period is only 15 days long (and that includes the time it takes for T-Mobile to ship your package). It is the nature of fixed wireless to slow down the farther you are from the nearest cell tower and to experience delays if there’s heavy network traffic, so we agree that trying out your T-Mobile equipment ASAP is wise.

Read our full T-Mobile review.

Kinetic, Spectrum, and T-Mobile are each great providers, and they cover a big portion of Kannapolis. If you can’t get coverage, though, you may want to try Verizon fixed wireless or Fision home internet by Hotwire. They each cover about 2% of the city, according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). (3)

Satellite internet is also available in Kannapolis, but we rarely recommend it if you can get home internet any other way. Download speeds are much slower, ping is atrocious, and upload speeds are about as fast as cold tar headed uphill in January. It might be your only option in really remote areas, but the FCC reports that 99% of Kannapolis can already get internet speeds of 100 Mbps or faster, and nearly 70% can get speeds of at least ten times that. (3) That means satellite internet will probably never be your best bet in the area.

Cable internet from Spectrum is technically tied with fiber internet from Kinetic for cheapest home internet in Kannapolis, but both companies have price hikes down the road. Taking that into account, Spectrum is the winner because its low price of $20 per month lasts two full years, compared to the six months you’ll get with Kinetic. For about $5 more each month, assuming you bundle with your cell provider, you can get T-Mobile fixed wireless internet, which can serve up faster speeds but is a little less reliable throughout the day.

Kannapolis residents love fast, reliable internet, and the vast majority recommend fiber internet over other options. In Kannapolis, fiber internet is most widely available from Kinetic by Windstream, but the company also offers slow DSL plans.

If you can’t get fiber internet in Kannapolis, you may be able to get cable internet from Spectrum. Lots of people complain about it online, though, and the gripes go back years and years.

High-speed internet is widely available in Kannapolis, with speeds of 100 Mbps or faster available to all but a very few homes. (3) For 68% of homes, speeds of 1 Gbps or more are available.

Kannapolis is one of the best-connected cities in the region, but we haven’t seen any recent announcements about planned buildouts in the area. That makes sense, because speeds of 100 Mbps are fast enough for most home internet users, as long as you don’t have multiple gamers or multiple adults working or schooling remotely.

If you can’t get internet wired directly to your home, more than half of Kannapolis is served by fixed wireless internet from mobile phone providers T-Mobile and Verizon, according to the FCC. Maps from providers themselves, though, show greater availability. (2, 4) With T-Mobile, you’ll get its fastest available coverage, but Verizon subscribers may be limited to 4G LTE service, which only reaches about 12 Mbps. That’s too slow for almost any home, so we tend to recommend against it if you have other options.