DSL's retreat: how far copper has fallen back, and where it is still the main wire

The short answer: down by a third in four years

As of June 30, 2026 (FCC revision of November 10, 2026), at least one provider reports DSL over copper telephone wire at 41.9 million US homes and businesses, 36.2% of the locations the FCC counts. In the first map, as of June 30, 2022, the share was 54.8%¹. The fall of 18.6 percentage points is the largest of any technology on the map, and it has not stopped: 1.2 percentage points² came off between December 31, 2025 and June 30, 2026.

"Reported" is the key word. A location has DSL when a provider files that it offers service there, or could install it within ten business days; anyone can challenge a listing. The filings say nothing about who subscribes, and the speeds in them are the fastest each provider advertises. The national total also hides three quite different stories, which show up only city by city and county by county.

Where copper gave way to fiber

In most of the cities where DSL disappeared, a fiber network arrived in the same four years. Norfolk, Virginia is the clearest case. DSL was reported at 83.0% of its locations in June 2022 and at 0.0% in June 2026; fiber went from 2.2%¹ to 89.6%, most of it from Metronet, which now reports service at 88.7% of the city. Two or more wired providers at 100/20 Mbps are now reported at 85.0%² of Norfolk's locations.

Killeen, Texas followed a similar path through its own phone company. DSL fell from 72.8% to 6.3% while fiber rose from 14.9%¹ to 92.3%. Brightspeed, the local telephone company there, reports service at 89.7% of locations and 100/20 at 86.4%. That 100/20 footprint is fiber: across the country, Brightspeed files DSL at 100/20 at only 1,022² locations.

United States−18.6 pts

St. Petersburg, Florida−63.2 pts

Stamford, Connecticut−64.0 pts

Concord, North Carolina−64.6 pts

Killeen, Texas−66.5 pts

Rochester, New York−72.0 pts

Peoria, Illinois−73.6 pts

Buffalo, New York−75.8 pts

Albany, New York−78.8 pts

Alexandria, Virginia−81.9 pts

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma−82.1 pts

Norfolk, Virginia−83.0 pts

Gresham, Oregon−92.0 pts

Baltimore, Maryland−92.6 pts

Hillsboro, Oregon−97.8 pts

Everett, Washington−99.0 pts

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.

Show the numbers

Large city	DSL available: change since June 30, 2022
United States	−18.6 pts
St. Petersburg, Florida	−63.2 pts
Stamford, Connecticut	−64.0 pts
Concord, North Carolina	−64.6 pts
Killeen, Texas	−66.5 pts
Rochester, New York	−72.0 pts
Peoria, Illinois	−73.6 pts
Buffalo, New York	−75.8 pts
Albany, New York	−78.8 pts
Alexandria, Virginia	−81.9 pts
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma	−82.1 pts
Norfolk, Virginia	−83.0 pts
Gresham, Oregon	−92.0 pts
Baltimore, Maryland	−92.6 pts
Hillsboro, Oregon	−97.8 pts
Everett, Washington	−99.0 pts

Where copper left and nothing wired replaced it

In other cities the copper listing vanished without a new wire. In Albany, New York, DSL fell from 78.8% to 0.0%, while fiber from any provider moved only from 0.4%¹ to 2.0%. Verizon still reports service at 86.2% of Albany's locations, but with fiber reaching so few of them, most of that listing is licensed fixed wireless (5G home internet). The result is a one-wire city: exactly one wired provider offers 100/20 at 96.1% of locations, and Spectrum, the cable company, reports service at 96.5%².

June 30, 2022December 31, 2025June 30, 2026

DSL available0.0% −78.8 pts

Fiber available2.0% +1.6 pts

Cable available96.3% +4.1 pts

Licensed fixed wireless99.1% +0.8 pts

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	78.8%	0.0%	0.0%	−78.8 pts
Fiber available	0.4%	2.1%	2.0%	1.6 pts
Cable available	92.2%	96.3%	96.3%	4.1 pts
Licensed fixed wireless	98.3%	99.1%	99.1%	0.8 pts

Rancho Cucamonga, California shows a milder version. DSL dropped from 58.6% to 0.5%; fiber rose from 9.8%¹ to 21.7%, so most of the locations that lost a copper listing did not gain a fiber one. Cable remains near-universal at 96.1%, and 76.7%² of locations have a single wired choice at 100/20.

For a reader in such a city the change matters less for speed than for choice. A DSL line below 100/20 was never a match for cable, but it was a second wire. Where it went without fiber, the remaining alternatives to cable are wireless.

Where DSL grew: the Phoenix suburbs

Against the national trend, the DSL share rose in several large Arizona cities. In Tempe it went from 69.9% to 82.6%, in Scottsdale from 64.5% to 78.2%, and in Mesa from 59.3%¹ to 73.5%. The listings are CenturyLink's, and they are slow ones: CenturyLink reports service at 82.6% of Tempe's locations but 100/20 at 4.2%, and at 73.5% of Mesa's with 100/20 at 6.1%².

Mesa and Tempe also show why a wide copper footprint says little about choice. Fiber in Mesa rose from 9.4%¹ to 58.6% over the same period, and two or more wired providers at 100/20 are reported at 55.7% of its locations. In Tempe, where fiber is at 22.3%, a single wired provider at 100/20 is the situation at 83.7%² of locations, DSL listings notwithstanding.

Where copper is still the main wire

The places where DSL still matters most are not cities. They are thinly settled counties where a local telephone company or cooperative files copper at most locations and neither cable nor fiber is reported at more than a small share. In the counties below, DSL is reported at most locations, while fiber and cable each reach only a small share.

The wire is there, but it is mostly slow. In Rock County, Nebraska, Fastwyre Broadband reports DSL at 72.1% of locations with a fastest advertised download of 25 Mbps, and 100/20 at 0.0%. Fixed wireless fills part of the gap: at 45.0% of the county's locations, 100/20 is available only without a wire. In Newton County, Arkansas, Right Fiber files DSL at 80.9% of locations, again with a top tier of 25 Mbps, and 93.1%² of the county has no wired or fixed wireless offer at 100/20.

Bristol Bay Borough in Alaska is the extreme. Bristol Bay Telephone Cooperative Inc reports DSL at 84.6% of locations, fiber and cable are reported at 0.0% and 0.0% of locations, and 98.2%² of locations count as unserved under the BEAD definition, which requires reliable service of at least 25/3 Mbps. Copper reaches most of the borough without meeting even that older benchmark at most of it.

Subsidized, but to an older standard

These counties also received federal high-cost support. USAC's Connect America Fund map data record the locations that carriers built out with that support, each with the speed tier the carrier was obliged to deliver; many of the older obligations are 10/1 Mbps. In Newton County, Arkansas, 5,592 locations were built with that support and 0 of them at an obligated tier of 100 Mbps or more. Mineral County, Montana, shows 1,652 supported locations and 0 at 100 Mbps; Bristol Bay Borough 1,149 and 0⁴.

An obligated tier below 100 Mbps falls short of today's 100/20 benchmark. Under the definitions the BEAD program uses, DSL below 100/20 does not make a location served, however recently the line was upgraded; only a faster wired or licensed fixed wireless offer does. Each state page shows its own BEAD plan and county figures.

The big phone companies: copper and fiber side by side

Nationally, 402 brands still report DSL somewhere, but five carry most of it. AT&T files DSL at 23.3 million locations and fiber at 23.5 million, nearly equal footprints; in a December 3, 2024 press release filed with the SEC, the company said it was working to exit its legacy copper network operations across the large majority of its wireline footprint by the end of 2029. Frontier reports DSL at 2.0 million locations against fiber at 6.9 million; Kinetic 1.4 million against 1.6 million. Brightspeed still has more copper than fiber, 3.0 million against 2.0 million, and CenturyLink is almost entirely copper, 9.7 million DSL locations against 151,000² fiber.

Verizon is the exception: it filed DSL in June 2022 and files none in the June 2026 data. Its listings now consist of fiber and licensed fixed wireless, which is the pattern Albany shows at city scale.

Reading a DSL listing

A DSL entry on the FCC map for an address means the provider reports it can install service there; the speed shown is the fastest it advertises, not a measurement. The FCC data hold no prices. For anyone comparing a copper offer, the useful checks are whether it reaches 100/20, and whether a fiber, cable or fixed wireless listing sits beside it. The DSL technology page maps where the remaining copper footprint is, and our methodology explains how the shares on this page are counted.