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WOW! internet plans

WOW! is a regional internet provider, but its available plans and equipment rival even the largest national providers. It also boasts four broadband options, including gigabit speeds in certain areas, and no contracts are required.

  • Speeds up to 100 Mbps starting at:

    $24.99/mo.

    *Pricing per month plus taxes for length of contract. Additional fees and terms may apply. Pricing varies by location and availability. All prices subject to change at any time. May or may not be available based on service address. Last updated 06/24/22.

    Call to order: (844) 451-2720

About WOW! internet plans

By Joe Supan Last updated: June 24, 2022

WOW!, also known as WowWay and Wide Open West, is one of the larger regional cable internet providers, covering select markets across nine states, in the Midwest and southern U.S. to reach over seven million customers. If you happen to live in an area serviceable for WOW! internet, you’ll have up to four internet plan options with gigabit speeds available in select areas.

WoW! logo

WOW! internet rating

Allconnect Rating

3.94 / out of 5 stars

This score is based off of the 4 plans WOW! has available

Rating breakdown

  • Affordability

    3.88 / 5

  • Performance

    3.91 / 5

  • Value

    3.86 / 5

  • Customer satisfaction

    4.5 / 5

How we calculated our rating

Overall, WOW! grades out as the top cable internet provider in our scoring, and one of the best overall. It earned the best marks of any provider for customer satisfaction, and it’s close to the top in every other category, too. In fact, the only providers ahead of WOW! offer fiber internet, which is regarded as the top-of-the-line broadband option on the market. 

If you can’t get fiber in your area — and even sometimes if you can — WOW! is an excellent choice for most people. All of its plans are reasonably priced, even after you factor in price increases in the second year, and the associated fees are all lower than average. 

That doesn’t mean you’ll have to sacrifice speed with WOW! either. Its cheapest plan gets you 100 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload speed, which is plenty for most households. If you need more bandwidth, you can go all the way up to 1,000 Mbps of download speed, which is typically the max offered by internet providers.

What we like

  • Speeds as fast as anyone – With download speeds up to 1,000 Mbps, WOW! can compete with the big national providers.

  • Customizable Wi-Fi service – Get built in Wi-Fi with your modem rental, or upgrade to premium Wi-Fi service and add Wi-Fi extenders where needed.

  • No contracts – No contract is required with WOW! internet service.

Things to consider

  • Limited availability – WOW! areas of operation are less broad than you’ll find with most other providers, which can make transferring service difficult if you move even a short distance away.

  • Wi-Fi fees can add up – Premium Wi-Fi service will add a fee on top of the modem rental fee, plus an additional fee for each Wi-Fi extender you need.

How we scored internet providers

We evaluate broadband providers in four categories: affordability, performance, value and customer satisfaction. Each category contains multiple sub-factors, all of which are weighted differently to impact the provider’s overall score. For each sub-factor, we score all providers on a continuous scale of one to five, relative to the industry as a whole. Because the average download speed in America is currently 180 Mbps, for

We evaluate broadband providers in four categories: affordability, performance, value and customer satisfaction. Each category contains multiple sub-factors, all of which are weighted differently to impact the provider’s overall score.

For each sub-factor, we score all providers on a continuous scale of one to five, relative to the industry as a whole. Because the average download speed in America is currently 180 Mbps, for example, we assigned all plans with download speeds between 100 and 299 Mbps a score between three and four. Xfinity’s 200 Mbps plan received a 3.50 score for download speed, while Spectrum’s 400 Mbps plan got a 4.16.

We only considered standardized data points in our scoring system. More abstract data like consistency of service and brand reputation is still part of our analysis, but we opted to let our writers address them in the context of each review.

Learn more about our methodology

Best plan: Internet 500

WOW! internet pricing and plans

In most locations, WOW! has four plans to choose from. All of them are competitively priced compared to similar plans from other providers.

*Pricing per month plus taxes for length of contract. Additional fees and terms may apply. Pricing varies by location and availability. All prices subject to change at any time. May or may not be available based on service address. Last updated 06/24/22.

WOW! Internet 100 – Best for small households

If you’ll only be connecting a few devices at a time, WOW! Internet 100 should be plenty of speed for your needs. Its 10 Mbps upload speed is more generous than most plans in this price range, and should be able to handle one person on Zoom or gaming at a time.

200 Mbps is the sweet spot for most households. It’s an incredible deal at just $29.99/mo., and it provides enough speed for around five devices using the internet at one time. That said, if you’ll regularly have multiple people working from home or uploading large documents, it might be worth upgrading — 10 Mbps upload speeds is on the lower end for plans with 200 Mbps download speeds.

If you have multiple devices working or learning from home all day, you may want the extra buffer of WOW! Internet 500. It comes with a generous 50 Mbps of upload speed, so you shouldn’t have any issues with activities like video conferencing or online gaming. Plus, 500 Mbps of download speed is more than all but the most connected homes can use.

Added bonus: Comes with a $100 gift card and free HBO MAX for 6 months.

Most houses don’t need 1000 Mbps, but if you have a large family that enjoys 4K streaming, gaming and video conferencing, it might be worth the price. This is also an attractive option for smart home enthusiasts with a lot of connected devices.

Added bonus: Comes with a $300 gift card and free HBO MAX for 12 months.

*Pricing per month plus taxes for length of contract. Additional fees and terms may apply. Pricing varies by location and availability. All prices subject to change at any time. May or may not be available based on service address. Last updated 06/24/22.

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Equipment, installation, contracts and data caps

Like WOW! speeds and pricing, you’ll find their equipment and fees to be just as good or better than many of the larger providers. WOW! also comes with the option to upgrade your Wi-Fi equipment and add extenders, something that isn’t available from all providers.

Standard Wi-Fi – starting at $14/mo. with an option to use your own equipment

You can rent a modem with “built-in Wi-Fi,” also known as a gateway router, for $14/mo. It’s your standard modem/router combo, and should serve a single floor house up to 1,500 square feet just fine. Those in larger or multi-floor houses may want to consider upgrading to whole-home Wi-Fi to ensure the signal reaches all areas of the house.

However, with WOW!’s two larger plans, 500 Mbps and 1 Gig, the modem rental is free for 12 months.

There’s also the option to use your own Wi-Fi equipment, which comes with its own pros and cons.

Whole-home Wi-Fi – starting at an additional $9.99/mo.

Mesh Wi-Fi systems are increasing in popularity as they are capable of providing a stronger connection with further range than the standard router. WOW! offers mesh Wi-Fi hardware to boost your connection starting at $9.99/mo. WOW! waives the $9.99/mo. fee for subscribers of their gigabit plan.

Wi-Fi extenders are a key component to mesh Wi-Fi connections and are available from WOW! starting at an additional $5.99/mo. each. Consider adding Wi-Fi extenders, or “Beacons,” on any floor the router is not on, or anywhere you want to ensure a strong connection.

Data caps – begin at 1.5TB

WOW! recently notified customers that it would be applying data caps starting in June 2020. Plans between 100 and 300 Mbps download speeds will get 1.5TB of data each month, the 500 Mbps plan will get 2.5TB and the Gigabit plan will get 3TB. While this is probably disappointing news to WOW! customers, it probably won’t affect most people. According to the FCC, the average monthly data consumption is currently 344GB — well under any of WOW!’s caps.

If you go over, you’ll be charged $10 for each increment of 50GB that you use. So if you go over by 51GB, you’ll have to pay $20. Data overage fees will max out at $50, though, and WOW! says it will waive the fee the first time it happens.

Contracts and early termination fees (ETFs) – varies

No contract is required with the WOW! Internet 100 plan, which means no early termination fees if you need to change your service or cancel when you move. However, to get the best rates with the 200, 500 or Gig internet plans, a 12-month agreement is required. The ETF is $165, but decreases by $15 for each completed month of service. 

WOW! also occasionally has 24-month agreements, in which case your price is guaranteed for a longer period of time, but the ETF is higher. In those cases, the ETF is $345, and still decreases by $15 for each completed month of service.

Installation – $50, free with most plans

Standard installation for WOW! internet comes with a one-time fee of $50, but all plans come with a free self-install kit.

WoW! logo

Allconnect Rating

3.94 / 5

Compare WOW! internet to other top providers

Unlike many internet providers, WOW! is usually available in areas that have other options to choose from. But even with that competition, WOW! is often the best choice around. In fact, the only provider that has overlapping service areas that outscored it was AT&T Fiber. If that’s not available in your area — or you just want something more affordable — WOW! is our favorite option. 

*Wireless speeds may vary.
Pricing per month plus taxes for length of contract. Additional fees and terms may apply. Pricing varies by location and availability. All prices subject to change at any time. May or may not be available based on service address. Last updated 06/24/22.

How to bundle WOW! internet with TV

WOW! doesn’t actually offer TV plans itself, but it does partner with a number of live TV streaming services to provide internet and TV bundles. You can add YouTube TV ($64.99/mo.), fuboTV ($64.99/mo.), Sling TV ($34.99/mo.) or Philo TV to any WOW! internet plan. That said, there’s not much incentive for doing it — the price is the exact same if you subscribe to those services directly. 

WOW! internet customer satisfaction

In general, WOW! gets pretty favorable customer satisfaction ratings. It’s not currently included in the American Customer Satisfaction Index, but Consumer Reports readers gave it a 70/100 score overall. That might not sound like much, but it ranked seventh out of 26 providers, and all of the providers ahead of WOW! are smaller, regional companies.

WOW! internet FAQs

How much is WOW! internet monthly?

WOW! internet plans start between $29.99-$64.99/mo. To get the lowest available price, you must sign up for autopay and paperless billing. Renting a wireless modem will add $14/mo. to your bill, however, you can opt to provide your own compatible modem and router to avoid that charge.

WOW! offers service in nine states with the greatest coverage in Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. It’s available in cities like Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Charleston and Knoxville.

WOW! uses coaxial cables to bring cable internet to your home. In some areas, WOW! uses a combination of fiber-optic and cable lines to deliver faster speeds.

This add-on service uses a mesh network to provide you with an internet connection in every room in your home, on multiple devices and, if desired, all at the same time.

*Pricing per month plus taxes for length of contract. Additional fees and terms may apply. Pricing varies by location and availability. All prices subject to change at any time. May or may not be available based on service address. Speeds may vary. As of 06/09/21.

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Joe Supan

Written by:

Joe Supan

Senior Writer, Broadband Content

Joe Supan is the senior writer for Allconnect and MyMove. He has helped build the proprietary metrics used on Allconnect’s review pages, utilizing thousands of data points to help readers navigate these comple… Read more

Robin Layton

Edited by:

Robin Layton

Editor, Broadband Content

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