How we rank
Every ranking on DecideHome is produced by the same procedure: collect dated facts from primary sources, normalize them across the providers being compared, apply published weights, and show the result with the inputs attached. This page is the specification. If a number on a ranking page cannot be traced back to this method, that is a bug and we want to hear about it.
1. Facts first
For each provider we record a fact sheet: entry and top plan names, advertised prices and speeds, promo length and post-promo price, contract and early-termination terms, equipment and installation fees, data caps, availability footprint, and independent satisfaction results (the latest ACSI telecommunications study and J.D. Power regional results). Each fact carries the URL it came from and the date we observed it. Pricing is taken from the provider's own plan page where it can be fetched; otherwise from a dated secondary source, which is named.
When a fact cannot be verified we record unknown. We never estimate a price, speed, or fee. Unknown values are scored at the median of the field and flagged on the page.
2. Criteria and weights (home internet)
| Criterion | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Value (price per 100 Mbps at entry tier) | 25% | Advertised entry price divided by advertised download speed, lower is better. |
| Top speed available | 15% | Fastest advertised download tier, log-scaled so 8 Gig does not dwarf 1 Gig. |
| Upload performance | 10% | Symmetrical fiber scores highest; cable and 5G score on advertised upload. |
| Fees & contract transparency | 20% | No contract, no data cap, equipment included, no activation/install surprise, clear post-promo price. |
| Customer satisfaction | 20% | Latest ACSI score and J.D. Power regional results. |
| Availability | 10% | Share of US households that can actually order it. |
Moving, home-protection and other categories use their own published criteria, shown in the sidebar of each ranking page.
3. Normalization
Each criterion is min–max normalized to 0–1 across the full field of providers in the category (not just the providers on a given sub-page), inverted where lower is better (price per 100 Mbps). Speed uses a log scale so an 8 Gig tier does not dominate a 1 Gig tier out of proportion to real-world benefit. The weighted sum is reported as a score from 0 to 100. Because scores are relative to the field, a provider's score can change when another provider's facts change.
4. Sub-lists and filters
"Best fiber", "cheapest", "for gaming" and similar pages apply an eligibility filter (connection type, entry price, minimum top speed) and then re-rank by the same global score. Providers that fail the filter are shown separately as not eligible rather than silently removed.
5. What never enters the score
- Whether a provider pays us a commission, how much, or whether an application is pending.
- Traffic, click or conversion data from our own site.
- Advertiser requests. Providers may submit corrections with evidence; corrections flow through the fact sheet, never directly into the score.
6. Freshness
Fact sheets are re-verified at least monthly and whenever a provider announces a pricing change we become aware of. Every ranking page shows its verification date. Facts older than 45 days trigger an internal re-check.
7. Limits
Availability is address-specific; our footprint figures describe national coverage, not your street. Advertised speeds are maximums. Satisfaction studies survey national or regional customer bases and may not reflect a provider's performance in your market. Treat our ranking as a shortlist, then confirm the three or four providers that actually serve your address.
Corrections
Email hello@decidehome.com with the page URL and a source. We re-verify within two business days and note material corrections on the page.