Boston is one of the better business internet markets on the east coast. Verizon Fios for Business has wide commercial coverage. Comcast Business is everywhere. RCN (now Astound) covers a real share of the metro. Crown Castle Fiber and a few regional fiber operators compete in dense commercial areas.
The pricing problem in Boston is the auto-renewal cliff. Many small businesses signed Verizon Fios or Comcast Business contracts five years ago and have never renegotiated, even though the new-customer rate has barely moved while their bill has gone up 40 percent.
Where commercial demand sits in Boston
Boston's commercial demand sits in three big places. Downtown Crossing holds the legal, financial, and government corridor through the financial district. The South Boston Waterfront, also known as the Seaport, is the metro's fastest-growing Class A office cluster with major life-sciences and tech tenants. The Longwood Medical Area concentrates Mass General Brigham, Beth Israel, and the Harvard medical campus into one of the densest enterprise telecom markets in the country.
In January 2023, TOWARDEX completed an open-access utility entrance at CoreSite's Boston data center, creating capacity for more than 135 additional carrier fiber cables. That kind of carrier diversity at the metro's primary peering point shows up downstream as more competitive wholesale-driven retail pricing for businesses near Class A office space.
What you should be paying
These are dedicated internet ranges from current carrier wholesale data, marked up to typical retail.
Boston dedicated internet, typical retail (mid 50%)
Monthly recurring charge, dedicated internet access (DIA). Numbers are derived from current carrier wholesale quotes.
| Speed | Typical retail (mid 50%) | Sample size |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Mbps | $660 – $800/mo | n = 1 |
| 1 Gbps | $1,195 – $1,455/mo | n = 1 |
If your bill sits above the high end of the band, you are likely overpaying.
Analyze My Bill FreeFor Verizon Fios for Business broadband, a 1 Gbps line should land between $200 and $300 a month for a single office. We routinely see the same product billed at $410 a month on auto-renewed legacy accounts.
For Comcast Business coax at 500 Mbps, the fair price is $150 to $230 a month. Anything above $300 is a sign of an aged contract.
Carriers worth quoting in Boston
Five carriers cover most addresses in the metro.
- Verizon Fios for Business. Strongest fiber footprint in the metro. Often the right answer for offices inside Route 128.
- Comcast Business. Coax everywhere, fiber in select buildings. Default for most existing customers.
- Astound (RCN). Strong in Boston proper, Cambridge, and parts of the inner suburbs.
- Crown Castle Fiber. Common in commercial buildings downtown and in Cambridge.
- Verizon 5G Business Internet. $99 a month at 400 Mbps. Useful benchmark.
If you have not had three of these on a quote sheet, you have not run a real comparison.
What to do this week
- Pull your most recent invoice. Find the contract end date and the side fees.
- Get one quote outside your current carrier. Verizon 5G is the fastest benchmark.
- Compare your base rate to the bands above. If you are 20 percent above the high end, the retention call is worth making.
See where your Boston bill sits against current rates
Upload your latest business internet invoice. We will run it against Boston carrier wholesale data and flag the side fees that should not be there.
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