Internet in Berkeley, California
Fiber is available at 91.6% of the 25,783 homes and businesses the FCC counts in Berkeley, and wired broadband of at least 100/20 Mbps at 99.8%. 92.0% of locations have a choice of two or more wired providers at that speed; at 7.8% there is only one.1
FCC National Broadband Map, availability as of June 30, 2026 (data revised November 10, 2026), as reported by providers.
Berkeley in California
Berkeley's fiber comes mainly from Sonic, a company that reports almost all of its service in California, rather than from AT&T: Sonic reports fiber at 83.1% of the city's homes and businesses and AT&T at 36.9%. Xfinity's cable reaches 99.3%1, and two regional fixed wireless networks cover most of the city as well.
Who reports service in Berkeley
The FCC counts 25,783 homes and businesses in Berkeley, using the city limits of the 2020 Census. As of June 30, 2026 (file revision of November 10, 2026), 11 companies report service other than satellite at some of them. Three run wired networks across most of the city: Xfinity at 99.3% of locations, AT&T at 96.9% and Sonic at 83.1%. The company reported at the most locations is not a wired provider at all: Unwired, a licensed fixed wireless network, lists 99.8%1.
| Unwired Ltd | Licensed wireless | 99.8% | 99.8% | 250 Mbps | – |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xfinity | Fiber Cable | 99.3% | 99.3% | 2 Gbps | 7.4% |
| AT&T | Fiber DSL Licensed wireless | 96.9% | 54.6% | 5 Gbps | 0.1% |
| Sonic Telecom, LLC | Fiber | 83.1% | 83.1% | 1 Gbps | 0.3% |
| Etheric Networks | Licensed wireless | 81.2% | 81.2% | 250 Mbps | – |
| Verizon | Licensed wireless | 74.8% | 46.5% | 300 Mbps | – |
| T-Mobile | Licensed wireless | 65.7% | 27.5% | 100 Mbps | – |
| Google Fiber | Fixed wireless | 0.2% | 0.2% | 1 Gbps | – |
| Sail Internet | Fiber DSL Fixed wireless | 0.1% | 0.1% | 1 Gbps | – |
| GeoLinks | Licensed wireless | 0.1% | 0.1% | 1 Gbps | – |
| Latigo | Fiber | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1 Gbps | – |
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. Share of the area's broadband serviceable locations where the provider reports service as of June 30, 2026. "Only wired option" is the share of locations where it is the single wired provider at 100/20 Mbps. Provider-reported and challengeable; speeds are advertised maximums, not measured; no prices. Satellite providers (HughesNet, Starlink, Viasat) report service at nearly every location and are left out of the table.
Each share is the part of the city's locations where a company says it serves customers or could install standard service within ten business days. These are the providers' own filings, and anyone can challenge one on the FCC National Broadband Map, where a single address can also be checked. Starlink, HughesNet and Viasat report satellite service at every location; no location in Berkeley depends on satellite alone.
Sonic, not AT&T, carries most of the fiber
Fiber to the premises from at least one company reaches 91.6% of Berkeley's locations, a share that ranks tied for 51st highest among the 343 US cities of 100,000 or more. California's share is 47.8%1.
The unusual part is whose fiber it is. Sonic reports fiber at 83.1% of locations, a higher Sonic share than in any other large city in this release; in Oakland the figure is 70.4% and in San Francisco 48.7%. AT&T reports fiber at 36.9% of Berkeley's locations, less than half its Oakland share of 77.9%. Sonic reports 403,930 locations in California and 2,527 in Texas1, all of them fiber.
The two networks mostly serve different locations. Two or more fiber providers report service at 28.3% of Berkeley's locations, against 58.6% in Oakland and 47.5%1 in Richmond.
| Area | Fiber available | Two or more fiber networks | 2 Gbps or more | Three or more wired choices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkeley, California | 91.6% | 28.3% | 33.6% | 41.6% |
| Oakland, California | 90.1% | 58.6% | 94.8% | 62.2% |
| Richmond, California | 78.2% | 47.5% | 86.8% | 48.9% |
| San Francisco, California | 60.8% | 26.8% | 64.0% | 41.8% |
| California | 47.8% | 5.8% | 62.5% | 6.5% |
| United States | 62.6% | 12.1% | 61.0% | 11.1% |
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. FCC file revision of November 10, 2026. Shares are of broadband serviceable locations (homes and businesses), not people.
Fiber was already this widespread when the FCC map began. It was reported at 90.8%2 of locations in June 2022, and the share has risen by 0.9 percentage points since, a gain tied for 25th lowest1 among large cities. In 2022 the same network was filed under the Sonic.net name, at almost the same number of Berkeley locations as Sonic Telecom, LLC reports now, so Sonic's footprint in the city has hardly changed.
Gigabit nearly everywhere, multi-gigabit at a third
A 1 Gbps download is advertised at 99.7% of locations. Gigabit service with uploads of at least 100 Mbps, the FCC's 1,000/100 tier, is advertised at 92.3%, almost all of it over fiber. That share fell by 0.7 percentage points1 between December 31, 2025 and June 30, 2026, from 93.0%3.
Faster tiers are less common than the fiber coverage suggests. Sonic's fastest advertised download in Berkeley is 1 Gbps, while AT&T advertises up to 5 Gbps where it has fiber. At 66.1% of locations the fastest advertised download is at least 940 Mbps but under 2 Gbps; at 33.6% it is 2 Gbps or more, up from 13.0%2 in June 2022. In Oakland, 2 Gbps or more is the top tier at 94.8% of locations, and across California at 62.5%1. Every speed here is a provider's advertised maximum, not a measurement.
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. Maximum advertised download speed (Mbps) of any wired or fixed wireless offer at the location, as reported by providers to the FCC; satellite excluded. Advertised, not measured.
Show the numbers
| Area | Under 25 Mbps or none | 25–99 | 100–249 | 250–499 | 500–939 | 940–1,999 | 2,000 or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkeley | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 66.1% | 33.6% |
| Oakland | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.6% | 0.0% | 4.6% | 94.8% |
| California | 1.7% | 1.0% | 1.7% | 1.0% | 1.5% | 30.7% | 62.5% |
Two or three wired choices at almost every address
Wired service of at least 100/20 Mbps is reported at 99.8% of locations. Counted address by address, 41.6% of locations have three or more wired providers at that speed, 50.4% have two and 7.8% have one. Two or more is the case at 92.0% of Berkeley's locations, which ranks tied for 47th highest among large cities, against 49.9%1 statewide.
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. Different wired providers (fiber, cable or DSL; FCC provider IDs) reporting 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up or more at the same location. Fixed wireless and satellite are not counted.
Show the numbers
| Area | None | One | Two | Three or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkeley | 0.2% | 7.8% | 50.4% | 41.6% |
| California | 6.9% | 43.2% | 43.4% | 6.5% |
| United States | 7.8% | 36.6% | 44.6% | 11.1% |
Where only one wire offers 100/20 Mbps, it is nearly always Xfinity's cable, the sole wired option at 7.4% of locations. Just 54 locations have no wired provider at that speed, and fixed wireless offers 100/20 Mbps at each of them (54 locations). The share of Berkeley's locations that count as unserved under the BEAD program's definition is 0.0%, and the underserved share is 0.0%1.
Licensed fixed wireless at 100/20 almost everywhere
Licensed fixed wireless sends internet by radio to a receiver at the home or business, using spectrum outside the shared unlicensed bands. It is reported at 99.9% of Berkeley's locations, tied for 4th highest among large cities, and at 100/20 Mbps or faster at 99.8%, tied for 2nd highest1.
Two regional networks account for most of it. Unwired reports 99.8% of locations and Etheric Networks 81.2%, each with downloads advertised up to 250 Mbps. The carriers' 5G and LTE home internet reaches less of the city at 100/20 Mbps: Verizon at 46.5% of locations, T-Mobile at 27.5%1.
Counting wired and wireless together, 98.0% of locations have three or more providers of any non-satellite technology at 100/20 Mbps, a share that ranks 6th highest among large cities. Across California it is 51.1%1.
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. Share of broadband serviceable locations where at least one provider reports the technology, at any speed; a location can have several. Satellite is reported almost everywhere and is left out.
Show the numbers
| Technology | Berkeley | California |
|---|---|---|
| Fiber | 91.6% | 47.8% |
| Cable | 99.3% | 90.5% |
| DSL (copper) | 67.3% | 43.7% |
| Licensed fixed wireless (incl. 5G home) | 99.9% | 88.1% |
| Unlicensed fixed wireless | 0.3% | 35.3% |
Copper retreats, wireless filings shift
DSL over the copper telephone network was reported at 74.5%2 of locations in June 2022 and 67.3% in June 2026, a drop of 7.3 percentage points. DSL is still reported at 17,3381 locations, almost all of them by AT&T.
Wireless filings moved more than any wire. Unlicensed fixed wireless, which uses shared spectrum such as Wi-Fi bands, was reported at 99.8% of locations in June 2022 and at 0.3% in June 2026, while licensed fixed wireless at 100/20 Mbps went from 5.4%2 to 99.8%1. These are the technology codes the providers filed; the filings do not say why they changed.
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2022; FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of December 31, 2025; FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. Shares of broadband serviceable locations in each FCC release (latest revision of each); the small number is the change in percentage points since June 30, 2022. The FCC's count of locations is updated with each release, so shares are compared rather than counts.
Show the numbers
| Measure | June 30, 2022 | December 31, 2025 | June 30, 2026 | Change (points) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSL available | 74.5% | 67.4% | 67.3% | −7.3 pts |
| Unlicensed fixed wireless | 99.8% | 0.3% | 0.3% | −99.5 pts |
| Fixed wireless 100/20 | 5.4% | 99.8% | 99.8% | 94.4 pts |
| 2 Gbps or more | 13.0% | 32.1% | 33.6% | 20.7 pts |
Symmetrical wired service of 100/100 Mbps or more rose by 1.5 percentage points over the same four years, to 92.2%1 of locations.
What Berkeley households subscribe to
The Census Bureau's American Community Survey counts households, not locations, and its figures are estimates. In 2025, 87.0% of Berkeley households had a cable, fiber or DSL subscription (margin of error ±2.6 percentage points), the 23rd highest estimate among large cities, against 78.8% statewide. Only 6.9% relied on a cellular data plan alone (±2.2 percentage points), compared with 12.4% in Oakland and 12.9% across California, and 4.2% had no internet subscription (±1.7 percentage points4).
In Alameda County as a whole, 30.3%1 of locations have a single wired provider at 100/20 Mbps; the California page has the county map.
Questions and answers
What internet providers are available in Berkeley, California?
Over wires: Xfinity (99.3% of locations, almost all cable), AT&T (96.9%, by fiber, DSL or fixed wireless) and Sonic (83.1%, fiber only). By fixed wireless: Unwired (99.8%), Etheric Networks (81.2%), Verizon (74.8%) and T-Mobile (65.7%1). These are the companies' own reports to the FCC as of June 30, 2026.
Is fiber internet available in Berkeley?
Fiber is reported at 91.6% of Berkeley's locations, as of June 30, 2026, against 47.8% across California and 62.6% nationally. Sonic covers most of that footprint. Two or more fiber providers report service at 28.3%1 of locations.
How many internet providers does Berkeley have?
11 companies report non-satellite service somewhere in the city, up from 82 in June 2022. 5 of them report wired service, but at a single address the usual number of wired providers offering 100/20 Mbps is two (50.4% of locations) or three or more (41.6%1).
Is 5G home internet available in Berkeley?
Verizon reports fixed wireless home internet at 74.8% of locations and T-Mobile at 65.7%; they advertise 100/20 Mbps at 46.5% and 27.5%1 respectively. Both carriers decide address by address whether they can take a new customer, because a tower sector's capacity is shared.
Checking one address in Berkeley
The figures on this page describe the whole area. Which providers report service at a single home or apartment is shown only on the FCC's own map: search the address at broadbandmap.fcc.gov. If a provider is listed there but cannot actually connect you within ten business days, or the location is missing or misplaced, the map has a button to file a challenge; providers must respond, and corrections flow into later releases. Prices and plans are not part of the FCC data: each provider must show them on its broadband facts label at the point of sale.
More on internet in California
The state picture, county by county: internet in California. Other large cities in the state: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach, Oakland, Bakersfield, Anaheim, Stockton and Riverside. Compare Berkeley with any other city or state in the comparison tool.
Sources
- FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026; Availability as of June 30, 2026; released November 10, 2026. broadbandmap.fcc.gov
- FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2022; Availability as of June 30, 2022; released May 10, 2024. broadbandmap.fcc.gov
- FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of December 31, 2025; Availability as of December 31, 2025; released November 3, 2026. broadbandmap.fcc.gov
- Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2025 1-year detailed tables; 2025 (calendar-year sample); released October 29, 2026. api.census.gov
Margins of error (±) are at the 90% confidence level. A difference is called significant only when it passes the Census Bureau's test at that level. How every figure is built: methodology. Found an error? Write to [email protected]; corrections are listed on the updates page.