Gigabit internet availability: why a cable gigabit and a fiber gigabit are counted differently

Three answers to "how many can get gigabit"

How many locations have gigabit internet depends on which test is applied, and the FCC itself uses more than one. The figures below are shares of the FCC's broadband serviceable locations (each house, apartment building or small business counts once) as of June 30, 2026, revision of November 10, 2026. Every speed is the provider's maximum advertised speed, not a measurement, and "available" means the provider reports it could connect the location within ten business days, a claim anyone can challenge.

• 1 Gbps download, any upload: 91.0% of locations. This is the loosest reading: any plan with a 1 Gbps download counts, whatever its upload.
• 1,000 Mbps down and 100 Mbps up: 72.3%¹. This is the top speed field, `speed_1000_100`, in the FCC's specifications for National Broadband Map data downloads, and the definition this site uses for "gigabit".
• 940 Mbps down and 500 Mbps up: the top tier in the FCC's report Internet Access Services: Status as of December 31, 2025, published in November 2026. It lets in plans advertised at 940 Mbps and leaves out plans that upload below 500 Mbps.

For comparison, wired symmetrical service of at least 100/100 Mbps reaches 73.7% of locations, and fiber of any speed 62.6%¹. Satellite is left out of all of these.

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

1 Gbps download91.0% +6.7 pts

Gigabit (1,000/100)72.3% +42.9 pts

Wired 100/100 Mbps73.7% +36.6 pts

2 Gbps or more61.0% +47.7 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)
1 Gbps download	84.3%	90.3%	91.0%	6.7 pts
Gigabit (1,000/100)	29.3%	69.5%	72.3%	42.9 pts
Wired 100/100 Mbps	37.1%	71.3%	73.7%	36.6 pts
2 Gbps or more	13.3%	57.2%	61.0%	47.7 pts

A gigabit download that uploads slowly

The two shares differ only on upload. A location counted in the first but not the second has an offer of at least 1 Gbps download, but no offer that reaches both 1,000 Mbps down and 100 Mbps up. Nationally that describes the difference between 91.0% and 72.3%¹ of locations.

Cable networks are one source of that combination. Cable is reported at 80.3% of US locations, and the largest cable operators file their fastest plans at 1 Gbps or more: Spectrum at 1 Gbps, Xfinity at 2 Gbps, Cox at 2 Gbps¹. The same filings record the upload paired with each plan.

The clearest case is Worcester, Massachusetts. Spectrum reports service at 96.6% of the city's locations, with a fastest advertised download of 1 Gbps, so 96.6% of Worcester has a 1 Gbps download offer. Only 0.7% has one at 1,000/100, the lowest share among the 343 largest US cities. At nearly every location, then, Spectrum's 1 Gbps plan is filed with an upload below 100 Mbps. The city's main fiber network does not close the gap either: Verizon reports fiber at 34.7% of locations, but its fastest advertised download in Worcester is 940 Mbps¹, under the 1,000 Mbps line.

Albany, New York shows the same split with almost no fiber: 2.0% of locations. Spectrum is the only wired provider at 100/20 at 96.1% of locations; 96.5% of the city has a 1 Gbps download offer and 1.6%¹ has 1,000/100.

In Corona and Santa Clarita, the 1,000/100 share sits close to the fiber share: 13.6% against 13.0% in Corona, 18.4% against 18.3%¹ in Santa Clarita. Where the cable plan does not carry a 100 Mbps upload, only the fiber footprint reaches the full tier.

Fiber that falls short of 1,000/100

Fiber is not a guarantee of the 1,000/100 tier. Richmond, Virginia has fiber at 91.0% of locations, almost all of it Verizon's (91.0%), and Xfinity reports service at 99.1% with a fastest download of 2 Gbps. Yet only 32.9% of Richmond has any offer at 1,000/100, while 94.9% has wired 100/100. At most locations, neither the fiber plan nor the cable plan clears both halves of the test. Syracuse is similar: fiber at 69.7% of locations, 1,000/100 at 1.3%¹.

Rhode Island puts the two cases side by side. In Kent County, fiber reaches 95.4% of locations, and only 20.3% have 1,000/100. In Bristol County, fiber reaches 9.8%, yet 77.3% have 1,000/100. Bristol's two largest providers, Cox and i3 Broadband, both report cable with some fiber, at up to 2 Gbps, while the largest fixed wireless provider there tops out at 100 Mbps¹. So most of Bristol's 1,000/100 offers must come from cable filed with an upload of 100 Mbps or more.

The same pattern appears in some large cities where cable or fixed wireless filings, not fiber, carry the 1,000/100 share. Fiber reaches 18.0% of Naperville, Illinois and 27.4% of Bellevue, Washington, yet 95.7% and 93.5%¹ of locations have a 1,000/100 offer. City-wide shares like these show which technologies are present, not which one carries the 1,000/100 offer; the FCC map shows that address by address.

The states with the widest upload gap

At state level the measures rank very differently. Rhode Island is 17th highest for a 1 Gbps download offer (92.9%) but 6th lowest for 1,000/100 (55.5%). Massachusetts is 3rd highest on the first (98.9%) and 18th lowest on the second (68.4%). Nevada, by contrast, is 2nd highest for 1,000/100 at 93.4%, almost level with its 93.9% for a 1 Gbps download, although fiber reaches only 44.7%¹ of its locations.

New Mexico (81.1% against 47.5%), Michigan (91.1% against 58.1%) and Wisconsin (85.9% against 55.8%¹) also show wide gaps. In each of them cable reaches more locations than fiber. The full state list for the 1,000/100 measure is in the internet speed by state ranking.

How the gap closed after 2022

In the FCC data as of June 30, 2022, 84.3% of locations already had a 1 Gbps download offer, but only 29.3%² had 1,000/100. Four years later the download share is up 6.7 percentage points and the 1,000/100 share is up 42.9 percentage points. That rise is larger than fiber's own gain over the period (+25.4 percentage points¹), so new fiber explains only part of it.

Rhode Island had 0.0% of locations at 1,000/100 in June 2022 and 55.5% as of June 30, 2026, while its 1 Gbps download share fell slightly (98.6%, then 92.9%). Richmond, Virginia also started from 0.0%. Worcester stayed near zero: 0.0%² then, 0.7%¹ now.

The fastest advertised download moved as well. The share of locations whose best offer sits from 940 Mbps up to just under 2 Gbps fell from 71.3% to 31.0%, and the share with 2 Gbps or more rose from 13.3%² to 61.0%¹.

Under 25 Mbps or none25–99100–249250–499500–939940–1,9992,000 or more

United States

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
United States	2.4%	1.6%	1.8%	1.4%	0.9%	31.0%	61.0%

Reading a gigabit listing

A plan sold as "gig" or "1 Gig" tells you the download half. For anyone who uploads large files, works from home on video calls or backs up to the cloud, the upload half is where plans sold under the same "gig" name differ in the FCC data. Three things to check for an address:

• The technology. The FCC National Broadband Map lists each provider's reported technology at the address: fiber to the premises, cable or fixed wireless.
• The advertised upload. The same map shows the maximum advertised upload with each download speed. A 1 Gbps download with an upload well under 100 Mbps is the cable pattern described above.
• The typical speeds. Under the FCC's 2022 broadband label order, providers must show a label at the point of sale with typical download and upload speeds and latency. Those typical figures come from the provider, not from the FCC map.

For what each technology can carry, see fiber and cable. For why other sites publish different gigabit percentages, see why coverage numbers disagree.