Moving to a new area and into a new home can be a chaotic and hectic experience, and some considerations can lag behind other more urgent ones such as ensuring basic utility services. However, the internet has become so essential to peoples’ daily lives that some extra planning in this area before arriving at your new place of residence is sensible.

Different Internet Services and How The Below Selections Were Chosen

First, start out by identifying what internet services providers are available in your new location. Two websites, in particular, are very handy here, In My Area and Broadband Now. After that, understand the different types of service. The swiftest and most reliable services are usually provided by cable companies or phone company DSL. Fiber is blazing fast but not yet broadly available. If you're moving to a very rural or remote area, satellite internet may be your best bet.

The following internet service providers have earned high marks from several review outlets. These selections are separated into the type of connection –- fiber, cable, DSL or satellite -- and by price, speed, data allowance, and customer service considerations. Many people have open to them a variety of options. To help you come to a decision, decide on your ideal monthly budget and what your expected data and speed needs are. For instance, if you have more people in your household who use the internet, you may need a higher Mbps.

Top cable internet providers

Xfinity

Xfinity offers potential customers high flexibility with several bundles and contract or no-contract plans. Xfinity serves the largest number of people in the highest number of states. While many are understandably wary of contracts due to the pricey early termination fees, users stand to save meaningful money by opting for a contract.

Xfinity seems to be leaving its somewhat recent controversy in the distant past. Their speeds are excellent, and their prices are actually reasonable. Xfinity is best for large households, bundling, HD streaming fans and internet gamers.

Optimum and Cox Internet are two good choices here as well.

Fiber internet

Verizon Fios

A pioneer in this realm, Verizon’s fiber internet service is blazing fast and reliable but is limited to mostly larger metro areas. For those who love posting sizable videos and pictures, Verizon's Fios Gigabit service offers the fastest gigabit speeds out there at prices that easily beat the competition.

For those who do enjoy uploading various media, here are a few tips on how to increase upload speed. Switch from a WiFi to wired ethernet connection, remove any malware or purchase a malware and virus scanner to do it for you, make sure your drivers are all up to date and upload during off-peak times if possible.

Verizon Fios’s fiber optic internet service is about as good as it gets currently, and it is especially ideal for those you value lag-free online gaming, large households, media professionals and voracious streamers of TV.

Frontier Communications, AT&T and CenturyLink deserve mention for their fiber connections but don’t currently offer their fiber service to large numbers of people.

Top bundle providers

AT&T

While not the cheapest, AT&T offers solid speeds and the convenience of having one bill for all of your digital services, from home phone, satellite TV –- AT&T owns DirectTV -- and wireless. If satellite TV appeals to you, users can save $10 on their monthly bill by opting for DirectTV and AT&T internet. Plans vary by locale, but many people have either unlimited internet data or a 1 Terabyte cap which is plenty for most people.

This option is ideal for users who want the convenience and savings of bundling all their digital needs together, NFL Sunday Ticket fans, DirectTV converts and those who appreciate solid, reliable internet service and speeds.

Xfinity and Verizon offer good bundle options as well.

Top satellite internet provider

Viasat

People in rural or remote areas far from a metro hub have necessarily more limited options for internet. Viasat offers a great option for casual web users who don’t have any other options. With speeds of up to 150 Mbps, Viasat effectively demonstrates how far the satellite internet has come from earlier days. Prices are rather steep for Viasat’s bigger data plans, however, and prices will increase after three months from $20 to $50, depending on your plan. Also, while Viasat doesn't throttle users’ data, they do prioritize others after you’ve gone past your limit.

Note that prices, speeds, and plans vary considerably from place to place. After reading this post and digging into the options a little further, hopefully, readers who are relocating will have no problem finding the best internet services for them.