San Francisco High Speed Internet Options

HughesNet provides satellite high-speed Internet service in the San Francisco area. Customers must have a clear view of the southern sky for service, but an active phone line is not required. Customers can choose from three high-speed Internet plans: Basic, Power 150 and Power 200. The Basic plan has speeds of up to 1 Mbps, Power 150 subscribers can access speeds up to 1.5 Mbps and Power 200 subscribers can access speeds up to 2 Mbps. Prospective subscribers must agree to a credit check if leasing equipment from the provider. All HughesNet plans require a 24-month commitment.

AT&T; provides U-Verse DSL high speed Internet access in the San Francisco area. Prospective customers must have an active telephone jack for service but are not required to sign a long-term contract. Subscribers can experience speeds from 768 Kbps with the most basic plan up to 12 Mbps for the fastest. Other perks include free Wi-Fi access, 24/7 customer service, 11 email accounts with generous storage and online photo and video storage. For a nominal monthly fee, users receive the AT&T; Internet Security Suite, which includes anti-virus, anti-spyware and two-way firewall protection. SonicNet also provides a DSL service called Fusion Broadband that it bundles with home phone service. Subscribers can access speeds of up to 40 Mbps. No long-term contract is required.

Residents of San Francisco can subscribe to cable high speed Internet through Comcast or Astound, depending on the location of the service address. Comcast offers residential customers a variety of Internet plans with the fastest offering up to 105 Mbps. Comcast high speed Internet subscribers also receive Constant Guard with the Norton Security Suite, seven email accounts each with 10 GB of storage, a 30-day money-back guarantee and access to ESPN3.com on Comcast.net. Astound subscribers can choose from a basic plan offering download speeds of up to 3 Mbps to a high speed plan offering download speeds of up to 50 Mbps. High speed Internet subscribers also receive 10 email addresses, each with 30 MB of server space, webmail access and 100 GB of data transfer per calendar month.

CLEAR offers 4G high speed wireless Internet service in the San Francisco area. Subscribers can choose from several plans with download speeds ranging from 1.5 Mbps to 6 Mbps in some areas. CLEAR offers home wireless plans and wireless plans on-the-go via a CLEAR USB that you can plug into a laptop. Long-term contracts are not required but can help you avoid new service fees usually connected with month-to-month plans.