(Credit: René Ramos; kmiragaya, anderm / Adobe Stock)
Despite more and more companies requiring employees to return to the office, the telework/hybrid life is still going strong. Across US-based PCMag readers who took our Business Choice ISP survey, 28% work exclusively from home. Meanwhile, 38.8% work from home multiple days a week, and a majority (54.9%) say they do so at least occasionally.
No matter where employees get their jobs done, internet connectivity is paramount. If you work from home, you need to choose the best ISP to keep connected and up to speed. If you run the IT department for a large office, choosing a provider can make or break the work done there.
Which ISP is right for your workplace? The answer depends on your specific needs and service availability—sadly, affordable fiber optics aren’t available to all. But we’ve got a cross-section of providers below, selected by PCMag readers, representing the best in class.
For the best home internet service providers, read our Readers’ Choice 2025: ISPs coverage.
The Top US ISPs for Work in 2025
Home Office ISPs
The top of the chart in terms of working from home belongs to a municipal provider, Nextlight, available in a suburb of Denver, CO. Fiber-to-the-home services provided by a local utility company like this score well with home users, and more than enough of the people rating Nextlight also use it for working from home.
In the subcategories where it earns a score, Nextlight is on top, even besting the bigger name GFiber, though the two tie for likelihood to recommend. “Great value, excellent customer service, excellent product,” says one work-from-home Nextlight user.
Only a select few can take advantage of a muni ISP, however. So we also always pick a major ISP as a winner, and this year, that’s clearly GFiber. Of all the ISPs with a multi-state reach, GFiber has the best scores.
(Note: Click the arrows in our interactive charts to view various elements of our survey results.)
Respondents had favorable things to say about GFiber for work at home. “The fastest I've ever had internet installed,” says one respondent. Another offers, “Great service, ease of use, quick to fix, and fast installers. I prefer their home networking equipment, app, and web interface over others.”
When it comes to satellite-based ISPs for working from home, Starlink stands alone. The other satellite ISPs don’t even make the cut, as not enough of our readers rate them. Even so, Starlink scores incredibly well, with numbers only bested by local fiber providers. Respondents typically refer to the service as pricey—it scores lowest for value—but note that it is a step up from any other option they have available.
Astound wins as the top cable company for work-from-home use. It also has high scores for mobile and home phone service, both things that telecommuters are very likely to put to use.
Lastly, the T-Mobile 5G Home Internet service, which uses the carrier's towers to provide internet connectivity, is the only one of the big three mobile providers’ 5G services to land on the business list. Its scores are similar to its winning ratings for residential-only use.
Work ISPs
We ask respondents to rate the ISPs they use in a workplace that isn’t at home. The usual suspects tend to be huge names in the internet world, like Spectrum (from Charter) or Xfinity (from Comcast), and both do indeed appear in this list. But at the bottom.
This year, Astound is also the top ISP with readers for in the office outside the home.
Astound seals the deal with high marks in all its subcategories, in particular ease of use, speed, and reliability. Reader comments include “Nothing but great things to say” and “These guys are the best. I had my business set up for success in no time.”
IT-Managed ISPs
This list was a little larger than last year, when the award went to Astound and Fios. This time around, those two weren't in the running, leaving the field to just three players. The leader with IT managers this year is AT&T. The company improved its scores since 2024, from 7.9 out of 10 for overall satisfaction to an 8.2.
When IT adopts AT&T for use, the ISP earns very high scores for connection reliability, speed, and ease of use. It also earns a good rating for management, an important factor for an IT department.
The Top Canadian ISPs for Work in 2025
Home Office ISPs
The majority of Canadians use one of the big three ISPs (Bell, Rogers, and Telus) or one of their off-shoot “flanker” brands, which use their parent company's network. But there are a select few ISPs that also have their own network and are trying to grow by not just leasing lines from others. Those include companies like Cogeco, Eastlink, and Videotron. The latter is once again the top pick in our survey by Canadians who work from home
Videotron is the top ISP for overall satisfaction, speed, and ease of use; it ties with TekSavvy (an ISP that mainly uses lines owned by other providers) for customer service. Among ancillary services that business users will appreciate, Videotron rates high for its mobile phone service and the home Wi-Fi routers it provides. “Fast and worth the price,” one user says of Videotron.
Other noteworthy top scores for work-from-home go to Virgin Plus (owned by Bell), which has the top scores for value, reliability, and tech support, plus ties with leader Videotron for customer service. But somehow, with all that, Virgin Plus only landed in fifth place.
We also focus on the big three, since many people prefer having an ISP from a major corporation, especially for work. Bell Canada tops the list of those providers, narrowly staying ahead of Telus for overall satisfaction again this year. “Bell Canada has always been very good at offering reliable internet," says one respondent, "so we are able to get our jobs done properly and quickly.”
Work and IT-Managed ISPs
For the second year in a row, Telus is the top pick for ISPs managed by IT teams. It also earns the top spot for ISPs in offices, as chosen by the employees who use it.
The scores Telus earns are the best across every possible category, though it's just a couple of tenths of a point above Bell for overall satisfaction. But the spread is higher in categories like cost, reliability, tech support, customer service, and management. “Telus at my workplace [is] a seamless, positive experience with no problems,” says one survey taker. Another says it has “the best customer service in the world," adding that the "connection is amazing.”
When it comes to IT-managed ISPs, Telus also wins, and with even higher numbers. In many cases, it's a full point ahead of Bell. Meanwhile, Rogers consistently comes in third in all areas in both charts, except for setup, where it beats Bell (but not Telus) both times.
Full Results
The PCMag Business Choice survey for ISPs in the US was in the field from Feb. 10 to May 5, 2025; the Canadian survey was conducted via a panel of users from Feb. 24 to March 3, 2025. For more information on how we conduct surveys, read our methodology.