Longmont’s NextLight shone as the best-loved internet service provider in the nation, winning the PC Magazine Readers’ Choice Awards for both home and business ISPs.

“NextLight is not only the overall top ISP this year, but it also earns stellar scores unlike any we’ve seen before in any category for Readers’ Choice,” the publication wrote. “Customers consider NextLight the perfect ISP.

PC Magazine bases the award on reader surveys, asking ISP customers to rate their provider in a number of areas such as speed, reliability and value. The editors then evaluate the scores before deciding the awards.

“These awards speak to NextLight’s greatest strength: our community,” said Valerie Dodd, NextLight’s executive director. “We began because our residents and businesses had a need for high-quality internet and it’s their passion for what we provide that allows NextLight – and Longmont – to keep getting better and better.”

In addition to Top Home ISP (Overall) and Employee’s Choice, NextLight also received Top Home ISP (Fiber).

It’s not the first time that PC Magazine has placed Longmont on a national stage. The publication has ranked NextLight among the fastest ISPs in the nation since 2018 – most recently ranking no. 2 in 2022 – and also named the service as the nation’s best gaming ISP for 2023. In addition, Longmont also ranked as one of the nation’s best work-from-home cities in 2022, with NextLight cited as a significant reason for it.

The announcement comes just two weeks after Colorado removed its restrictions on municipal broadband. From 2005 until this year, the state barred municipalities from providing their own internet service – either alone or in a public-private partnership – without first getting approval in a local election. Longmont voters cast that ballot in 2011, laying the foundation for NextLight’s start in 2014.

“The town of Longmont, Colorado, took broadband into its own hands and launched NextLight,” PC Magazine wrote. “The community made the right decision.”