Why every website gives a different internet coverage number
On November 13, 2026, six provider-comparison websites gave AT&T's availability in Columbus, Ohio as anything from 37% to 91.84%1 of the city. They were not all wrong in the same way: each number rests on choices its page never states. These are the choices that matter, measured on the FCC's own data.
Published November 13, 2026. Data: FCC National Broadband Map, availability as of June 30, 2026 (file revision of November 10, 2026).
The same city, six answers
We read the Columbus pages of six comparison sites on 6 different domains on the same day. AT&T's share of the city ranged from 37% to 91.84%; Spectrum's from 57% to 99%; a fiber service listed under T-Mobile from 5% to 98%. Only 11 of the sites named the FCC release behind its numbers anywhere, and not on the city page itself.
From the FCC's location-level files, as of June 30, 2026, AT&T reports service at 92.6% of the homes and businesses inside Columbus city limits and Spectrum at 96.8%2. Those are not the right answers in some absolute sense; they are answers with every choice written down. Here are the choices.
1. Which release, which revision
The FCC publishes a new map twice a year and revises each one every few weeks as challenges and corrections come in. Fiber was reported at 59.9%3 of US locations in the data as of December 31, 2025 and at 62.6%2 six months later. A site that refreshes its page today but still shows an older release looks current and is not. A refresh stamp ("updated yesterday") is not an as-of date.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiber available | 37.2% | 59.9% | 62.6% | 25.4 pts |
| Gigabit (1,000/100) | 29.3% | 69.5% | 72.3% | 42.9 pts |
| Licensed fixed wireless | 90.9% | 86.4% | 87.3% | −3.6 pts |
| Two or more wired choices | 36.7% | 53.6% | 55.6% | 18.9 pts |
2. Locations, units or people
The FCC counts locations: a house is one, and so is an apartment building of two hundred units. Its own summary tables instead weight by housing units. For the 50 states, DC and the territories, fiber is available at 62.7%2 of locations but at 57.2%5 of residential units in the FCC's summary. Both are correct. They measure different things, and a site that does not say which it uses cannot be compared with one that does. Older figures from FCC Form 477 counted people, and counted a whole census block as served if one home in it was.
3. Which area
"Columbus" can mean the city, Franklin County or the metropolitan area. Fiber reaches 40.4% of locations inside the city limits and 41.8%2 in Franklin County as a whole. ZIP codes, which several sites use, are not FCC geographies at all: they are postal routes that cross city and county lines, so any ZIP figure has been re-estimated by someone.
4. Which technology counts
Cable companies market "fiber-powered" service; the FCC counts it as cable. Fixed wireless at a few megabits and 5G home internet are both "fixed wireless". Satellite providers report service almost everywhere: 99.7%2 of US locations for one low-Earth-orbit service alone. A coverage number that includes satellite says almost nothing about choice, which is why this site leaves satellite out of headline figures.
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 | United States |
|---|---|
| Fiber | 62.6% |
| Cable | 80.3% |
| DSL (copper) | 36.2% |
| Licensed fixed wireless (incl. 5G home) | 87.3% |
| Unlicensed fixed wireless | 19.7% |
5. Brand or filer
The FCC lists filers by provider ID and holding company. AT&T, for instance, now files service under more than one brand name, and resellers that buy capacity from a network do not file at all. A site that lists a reseller as a separate provider, or splits one company's filings, will count "providers" differently. We group filers under the brand people know and never count resellers.
6. Available at what speed
"Available" can mean any service at all, 25/3 Mbps (the old benchmark), or 100/20 Mbps (the FCC's benchmark since 2024). In the US, 95.8% of locations have a terrestrial 100/20 offer, but only 92.3% have it over a wire, and only 55.6%2 have two or more wired providers at that speed.
7. Offers for homes, or for businesses only
Each record in the FCC's location files says whether the offer is for residential customers, for business customers only, or for both. Some fiber networks file business-only service across whole cities, so a count that keeps every record shows fiber in neighborhoods where no household can order it. The FCC's own published totals keep every record; this site's availability, choice and provider figures count only offers a household can order, while its BEAD served and unserved counts follow the FCC's files. In most states the difference is small; in a few cities it changes the fiber share a great deal.
How to read any coverage figure
Ask six questions: which FCC release and revision; locations, units or people; which area; which technologies; at what speed; and whether business-only offers are counted. If a page cannot answer them, its number cannot be compared with anyone else's. Every figure on this site answers all six, and the methodology shows how ours compare with the FCC's own totals.
Questions and answers
Which internet coverage number should I trust?
One that names its source, the FCC release and revision it uses, what it counts (locations, units or people) and the area it covers. Every figure on this site does; the FCC data here are as of June 30, 2026, revision of November 10, 2026.
Why does the FCC map show a provider at my address that cannot serve me?
Availability is reported by providers and can be wrong for a single address. The FCC map has a challenge button; providers must respond, and corrections reach later revisions.
Sources
- US Internet Map, Review of six provider-comparison websites, Columbus, Ohio pages.
- 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 December 31, 2025; Availability as of December 31, 2025; released November 3, 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 summary by geography (unit-weighted), as of June 30, 2026; released November 10, 2026. broadbandmap.fcc.gov
How every figure is built: methodology. Found an error? Write to [email protected]; corrections are listed on the updates page.