Sparklight Internet Review: Plans, Pricing, Speed and Availability

Sparklight Internet review

You may be less familiar with Sparklight because it used to be called Cable One. The corporate parent company is still Cable One, but its residential internet service was rebranded as Sparklight a few years ago. 

Two things stand out right away with Sparklight. First, its prices are competitive among internet service providers and easy to understand; there’s very little fine print surrounding the monthly cost and data caps. Second, there are no contracts, so you don’t have to fear a long-term commitment. There’s a lot to like.

Sparklight offers unlimited data on all plans, but there is a soft cap included on all tiers. If you reach a certain threshold, your data will be throttled. Overall, Sparklight is a viable cable internet provider and an especially compelling option if you live in some of the more rural and suburban areas it services. 

Sparklight Internet plans

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

Although Sparklight isn’t the most broadly available internet provider, it has significant coverage in rural areas across the country and offers a range of affordable plans, making it a solid internet option. You can choose between four plans with Sparklight. All have unlimited data and no contracts, which is a convenient plus. The starting plan includes a $13 monthly equipment fee. Otherwise, the modem is included in your monthly bill. Many ISPs increase the monthly rates after a year of service, and Sparklight is no exception. Still, with Sparklight, you can expect solid cable-internet offerings and consistent speeds.

The entry-level tier features download speeds of 100 megabits per second and 20Mbps in upload. Other cable providers like Cox offer a similar plan but fall behind on upload speeds, coming in at only 10Mbps.

CNET’s pick for Sparklight’s best plan is the Connect Gig tier because it’s the most cost-efficient plan for the highest speeds. The cost per Mbps comes in at a very cheap 6 cents per Mbps (compared to 40 cents for the Connect 100 plan, 12 cents for the Connect 300 and less than 7 cents for the Connect 600). For context, Spectrum Internet’s gig plan starts at $80, or 8 cents per Mbps, but jumps up to $118 monthly after 24 months, bringing the cost per Mbps up to $1.18 per Mbps after the promotional price.

What kind of connection does Sparklight have?

Sparklight Internet boasts about “fiber-rich” plans throughout its site, but don’t be fooled. Like other cable internet providers we’ve covered, its internet infrastructure is a hybrid fiber-coaxial cable connection, not a 100% fiber network. 

What does this mean in practical terms? Like any cable internet hookup, your download speeds will be much higher than your upload speeds. Before the pandemic, most of us gave this little thought, as download speeds cover most of our streaming and surfing needs. After the pandemic hit and more people needed to do work or schooling at home, upload speeds (necessary for tasks like uploading large files or hopping on video classes and meetings) became more important. Zoom requires at least 3.8Mbps upload speeds for 1080p HD quality video during Zoom meetings, so finding a cable provider with higher upload speeds is useful for households where multiple people work or do schooling. If you want to learn more, read our cable vs. fiber explainer.

An all-fiber plan with symmetrical download and upload speeds might not be a pipe dream for this ISP, as Sparklight is expanding its fiber footprint in select areas. According to the latest data from the Federal Communications Commission, just a handful of cities across 11 states may be eligible for Sparklight’s fiber or multi-gig plans. Notably, Sparklight rolled out its 6,000Mbps and 3,000Mbps plans in Victoria, Texas, costing $155 and $105 monthly for the first 12 months. In Payson, Arizona, residents can expect symmetrical speeds of up to 5 gigabits by the summer of 2025.

Where can you get Sparklight home internet?

Sparklight internet is available in 21 states across the country:

Source: CNET analysis of provider data

Among those states, a few of Sparklight’s major markets include:

• Austin, Texas
• Boise, Idaho
• Brazil, Indiana
• Idaho Falls, Idaho
• Fargo, North Dakota
• Fort Worth, Texas
• Gulfport, Mississippi
• Nampa, Idaho
• Rio Rancho, New Mexico
• Shreveport, Louisiana
• Springfield, Missouri 

Sparklight fees and service details

Sparklight features four plans ranging from 100Mbps to 940Mbps with the top-end gigabit plan priced at $60 a month. After 12 months expect that price to jump to $85 a month. Depending on your chosen plan, expect your monthly bill to increase by $15 to $25 a month after the promo period ends.

When comparing Sparklight internet upload speeds with other cable ISPs, it fares better than most, with its uploads topping out at 50Mbps on the gigabit plan. The upload speeds on similar plans from Spectrum and Optimum all max out at 35Mbps. Only Mediacom and WideOpenWest match Sparklight with top upload speeds of 50Mbps.

Competitive pricing free from gimmicks

At first, I was slightly thrown off when examining Sparklight’s internet prices. It’s unusual to see an ISP with so few bells, whistles, promos and exceptions to decipher. So, for the most part, what you see now is what you’ll pay for later. Sadly, that kind of clarity around your internet bill is usually hard to come by. 

Like many ISPs, Sparklight’s promo pricing — a $15 to $25 discount, lasts for just 12 months, which isn’t out of the ordinary. Many of Sparklight’s cable competitors provide discounted rates for two or even three years. This is true.

When you look at the standard rate’s average cost per megabits per second (16 cents across all four plans), Sparklight’s service is more affordable than Optimum’s and Spectrum’s. Only WOW can boast lower standard rates across all plan tiers of the cable providers we’ve reviewed. That’s pretty good. 

Data caps

In an effort to promote transparency across major ISPs, the FCC is mandating the use of broadband nutrition labels. Unfortunately, one of the first things I noticed is that Sparklight fails to mention its data cap on these labels. It’s only in the fine print that you’ll see that each plan comes with a soft cap of 5TB.

Data caps are not a necessary evil. Many ISPs have them, including Hughesnet, Viasat and cable competitors Cox, Mediacom and Xfinity, but some others do not. It’s not a given that you’ll have to face a data cap just because you’re a cable internet customer. 

Not all data caps are the same. As you can see in the plans and pricing chart, all plans feature a 5TB data cap, which isn’t bad. Why do I say that? According to OpenVault’s Q1 2024 report, the average home uses approximately 606GB of data per month. Most US households should have little problem staying under that 5TB limit.

Oh, and I should mention there’s some small print here, too: you could still have your speed slowed… but only after you’ve hit 5TB of data usage within the month. To put that in perspective, you could stream 4K versions of all five Indiana Jones movies, watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy, binge all the Harry Potter flicks, download every Marvel Cinematic Universe entry and geek out on each Star Trek film (from William Shatner to Chris Pine) and still be less than 25% of the way to your limit. I’d say that’s pretty fair.

No contracts

The soft data caps aren’t a deal-breaker, but it’s a bit of a bummer that Sparklight has them at all. Still, on the positive side, Sparklight breaks from some of its rivals by offering plans with no contracts or term limits. This means you’re under no obligation to stick with a plan that isn’t working for you, and you don’t have to fear any early termination fees if you decide to move elsewhere.

Another positive aspect that leaps off the page (and isn’t always common among ISPs) is Sparklight’s money-back guarantee for those looking to bundle their internet, which covers the first 30 days of the new service. If Sparklight isn’t right for your home, you can request a full refund, including money paid for the internet service and applicable taxes and fees. That’s better than the 30-day guarantee offered by WOW, which doesn’t extend to taxes and fees. 

Additional fees

Wi-Fi One whole-home coverage is available from Sparklight for $12.50 a month. This is slightly cheaper than the typical $14 to $15 a month most ISPs charge to rent their equipment. With the exception of the 100Mbps plan, all other customers have the modem free of charge. Also, as with many other providers, customers can use their own equipment and avoid this monthly charge altogether. The only requirement is that customers use a DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem and refer to Sparklight’s list of supported cable modems.

You should also expect a slew of one-time fees that can rack up your bill in the first month of service. Customers can expect a one-time installation fee of $90, a one-time activation charge of $30 and a $25 deposit fee.

Self-installation may be an option from Sparklight, but it’s not available in all service areas and depends upon a credit check. You may bypass the credit check if you wish, but Sparklight notes you may be charged a higher deposit and/or installation fee for skipping it. 

Sparklight customer satisfaction: Mixed ratings

Sparklight was not highlighted in the latest J.D. Power US Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Study. When you look at 2021, Sparklight showed up in two of the four regions the organization tracks. Over in the West, Sparklight scored 700 on a 1,000-point scale. That’s a drop from the 730 it earned in 2020 and below the regional average of 710.

On the flip side, Sparklight did better in the South region, earning a 716 score, which increased from the preceding year. It was still below the South’s average score of 727 and squarely in the middle of the pack among 11 ISPs in the area. 

The most recent ISP report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index did not highlight Sparklight for an individual score among other organizations. Sparklight appeared among Ookla’s stats for the first half of 2024, where it was the fastest provider in Boise, Idaho.

What’s the bottom line on Sparklight?

Sparklight makes a compelling case for being included as one of the top cable internet providers in the country. Fiber will almost always trump cable connections, so if you live in an area like Fort Worth, Texas, you might be able to find fiber plans more to your liking. For customers in Ada, Oklahoma, to use a smaller market as an example, you’ll find Sparklight competing with DSL and satellite plans. Those are simply no match for what Sparklight can offer for speed and price.

Sparklight home internet FAQs