Comparing internet providers in Northern Nevada
Each comparison puts High Desert Internet next to one provider or one technology, using only facts that provider publishes itself, with the date we read them. We say what each is good for and leave out anything negative.
- No contracts
- Local support
- 4.8 on Google (36 reviews)
- Since 2002
Our snowcat on the Singatse Range, January 26, 2023. Photo: High Desert Internet Services on Facebook. Photo credits
People choose between a cable company, a satellite dish, a phone company and a local wireless provider all the time. These pages lay the facts side by side so you can decide, whether or not you end up with us.
How are the comparisons built?
For a provider, we read its plan page and write down the price, the speed up to, the contract terms, data rules and equipment it publishes. The table shows the date we read it, because plans change. Where a company does not publish a fee or a number, the table says not published on its site when read; we do not fill the gap from a website that ranks providers.
High Desert's side uses what the company publishes: Bronze at $50 a month, Silver at $75 a month and Gold at $99 a month, with speeds up to 500 Mbps, 800 Mbps and 1 Gig. Each page ends with two short lists of when each choice suits you, and a two-sentence verdict that stays neutral.
Which comparisons are here?
Provider pages include Spectrum, AT&T, Starlink, HughesNet, Viasat, T-Mobile Home Internet and Verizon 5G Home, plus local wireless providers such as Rango and Net NV.
Technology pages explain the kinds of connection: fixed wireless vs satellite, vs cable, vs fiber, vs DSL, vs 5G home internet and vs a phone hotspot. The page on satellite and tower latency uses only the FCC's measured figures.
What is the point of the county-by-county records?
Under the provider list is a set of dated records that show, county by county, which providers reported service to the FCC in June 2021. They are historical and they describe other providers, not our footprint. Whether any provider reaches your house is a question for your address, and the address check is how you ask us.
Providers
High Desert vs Spectrum
Spectrum is cable internet that reaches a home through wires already on the street, and it publishes year-one prices of $30, $40 and $60 a month. High Desert is fixed wireless from a tower, with three plans at $50, $75 a
Read moreHigh Desert vs AT&T
AT&T is not one product but three: AT&T Fiber, AT&T Internet over copper lines, and Internet Air over 5G or LTE, each with its own price and conditions. High Desert is one thing, fixed wireless from a tower,
Read moreHigh Desert vs Starlink
Starlink is low-earth-orbit satellite service that a household self-installs wherever the dish has a clear view of the sky, with residential plans at $55, $85 and $130 a month. High Desert is fixed wireless from a local
Read moreHigh Desert vs HughesNet
HughesNet sends internet through geostationary satellites about 22,000 miles up, with plans starting at $39.99 a month for 12 months and speeds of up to 100 Mbps. High Desert sends it from a local tower to an antenna on
Read moreHigh Desert vs Viasat
Viasat sells three geostationary satellite plans with a first-year price and a higher price after it, from $39.99 a month rising to $69.99, plus a $15 monthly equipment lease. High Desert has three plans at $50, $75 and
Read moreHigh Desert vs T-Mobile Home Internet
T-Mobile Home Internet runs over T-Mobile's 5G and 4G LTE cell network with three plans at $50, $60 and $70 a month after its AutoPay discount, and typical download ranges it states itself. High Desert runs a radio
Read moreHigh Desert vs Verizon 5G Home
Verizon 5G Home uses Verizon's cell network with plans as low as $60, $70 and $85 a month and speeds of up to 100, 150 and 300 Mbps. High Desert uses a radio link from a local tower at $50, $75 and $99 a month, at u
Read moreHigh Desert vs Rango
Rango and High Desert are both fixed wireless providers in Northern Nevada, and both run month-to-month. Rango publishes two regional price lists, $70, $80 and $95 a month in most pages and $55, $65 and $85 in the Reno M
Read moreHigh Desert vs Sky Fiber
Sky Fiber Internet describes itself as a hybrid fiber and fixed wireless provider in Reno, with four residential tiers from $49 to $99 a month and a business side that lists SLAs and colocation. High Desert is a fixed wi
Read moreHigh Desert vs Net NV
Net NV is a Reno-based fixed wireless operator that publishes one residential price, starting at $69 a month, with speeds from a minimum of 100 Mbps to up to 1.5 Gbps depending on location. High Desert publishes three pl
Read moreHigh Desert vs CC Communications
CC Communications is the local fiber company in Churchill County, and says 98 percent of the county is fiber-connected, with speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second. High Desert is fixed wireless from a tower, for the roads
Read moreHigh Desert vs Avant Wireless
Avant Wireless is a small fixed wireless operator around Reno and Carson City that publishes an install fee, equipment prices and help desk hours, with a typical residential plan at $49.95 a month. High Desert publishes
Read moreHigh Desert vs XNET
XNET WiFi sells cellular-based home internet that arrives as a device you set up yourself, with a 14-day trial and prices shown only after you enter an address. High Desert installs a tower link with a technician at $50,
Read moreHigh Desert vs EarthLink
EarthLink is a national retailer that places you on whichever underlying network reaches your address, whether fiber, 5G home internet or satellite, with wireless plans starting at $59.95 a month. High Desert runs its ow
Read moreHigh Desert vs Choice Broadband
Choice Broadband lists two broadband plans at $44.99 and $64.99 a month, a required $10 monthly service plan charge, and says Lifeline benefits can apply to plans rated at a minimum of 25 Mbps. High Desert lists three pl
Read moreHigh Desert vs Preferred Networks
Rango's city pages state that Preferred Networks, Inc. in Fallon and in Reno is now powered by Rango, and Preferred Networks has no separate plan list today. To compare plans, read the Rango page, and send an addres
Read moreTechnologies
Fixed wireless vs satellite internet
Fixed wireless sends a radio signal from a tower a few miles away, while satellite internet sends it to a spacecraft and back, which for a geostationary satellite is about 22,000 miles each way. The difference shows up m
Read moreFixed wireless vs cable internet
Cable internet runs over coaxial lines laid street by street, so it is strong inside its footprint and absent beyond it, while fixed wireless reaches a home by radio from a tower. Cable plans are priced with first-year p
Read moreFixed wireless vs fiber
Fiber to the home is the benchmark technology, with the lowest delay and equal upload and download speeds, wherever a provider has run it to the street. Fixed wireless reaches homes that fiber does not, and Nevada's
Read moreFixed wireless vs DSL
DSL runs over copper phone lines, and its speed falls as the line gets longer from the telephone exchange, while fixed wireless depends on a clear path to a tower. AT&T now says it no longer offers DSL service, and s
Read moreFixed wireless vs 5G home internet
5G home internet from T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T uses the same cell towers that carry phones, and the carriers word speeds as typical ranges or maximums. Tower-based fixed wireless like High Desert's uses radios
Read moreFixed wireless vs a phone hotspot
A phone hotspot shares your phone's cellular data, and carriers set a monthly allowance for it, after which speeds drop; Verizon's Unlimited Hotspot add-on, for example, lowers speeds to up to 4 Mbps after 200
Read moreGeostationary vs low-earth-orbit satellite vs a tower hop
The FCC measured median latencies of 594 to 612 ms for geostationary satellite broadband in its 2018 report, against 12 to 37 ms for terrestrial services, because the signal travels about 22,000 miles each way to an orbi
Read moreProviders county by county: the dated records
Washoe County
Spectrum AT&T Starlink HughesNet Viasat T-Mobile Home Internet Verizon 5G Home Rango Sky Fiber Net NV Avant Wireless
Lyon County
Spectrum AT&T Starlink HughesNet Viasat T-Mobile Home Internet Verizon 5G Home Rango Sky Fiber Net NV
Storey County
Spectrum AT&T Starlink HughesNet Viasat T-Mobile Home Internet Rango Sky Fiber Net NV CC Communications
Churchill County
Spectrum AT&T Starlink HughesNet Viasat T-Mobile Home Internet Rango Sky Fiber Net NV CC Communications
Carson City
Spectrum AT&T Starlink HughesNet Viasat T-Mobile Home Internet Rango Sky Fiber Net NV
Douglas County
Spectrum AT&T Starlink HughesNet Viasat T-Mobile Home Internet Verizon 5G Home Rango Sky Fiber Net NV
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Can we reach your roof?
Send the address. A person looks at the path from our nearest tower and calls you back: clear, not clear, or we need to look at it from your roof.
- No contracts
- Local support
- 4.8 on Google (36 reviews)
- Since 2002
High Desert Internet Services, PO Box 11353, Reno NV 89510. info@hdiss.net