Internet in Albany, New York

Spectrum, and little other wired service

The FCC counts 24,380 homes and businesses inside Albany's city limits. Spectrum reports service at 96.5% of them, offers 100/20 Mbps or more at 96.5% and advertises downloads up to 1 Gbps. No other wired company comes close. The only other wired provider for homes is Massivemesh Networks, which reports fiber at 18¹ locations.

The rest of the list is wireless. T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T report fixed wireless home internet across most of the city, and Hudson Valley Wireless at 19.2%¹ of locations. These are provider reports as of June 30, 2026, in the FCC's revision of November 10, 2026. A location counts as served when the provider says it can install service there within ten business days, and the report can be challenged on the FCC map; an apartment building is one location, not one per unit.

One wired choice at almost every address

Wired service of 100/20 Mbps or more is reported almost everywhere in Albany, at 96.5% of locations. Choice is the gap. Exactly one wired provider offers that speed at 96.1% of locations, the 2nd highest share among large cities, and two or more at 0.4%. Across New York State, 60.5%¹ of locations have two or more.

NoneOneTwoThree or more

Albany

Albany County

New York

United States

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.

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Area	None	One	Two	Three or more
Albany	3.5%	96.1%	0.4%	0.0%
Albany County	3.6%	45.3%	51.1%	0.0%
New York	3.7%	35.8%	56.3%	4.2%
United States	7.8%	36.6%	44.6%	11.1%

That single provider is Spectrum, the only wired option at 100/20 Mbps at 96.1% of the city's locations. The figure has barely changed: two or more wired choices went from 0.3%² of locations in June 2022 to 0.4%¹ in June 2026.

Copper retired, wireless in its place

In June 2022, DSL over copper telephone lines was reported at 78.8%² of Albany's locations. By June 2026 it was reported at 0 locations. The city's second wire did not become fiber; it all but left the map, and Albany's DSL share is now tied for the lowest¹ among large cities.

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

DSL available0.0% −78.8 pts

Fiber available2.0% +1.6 pts

Fixed wireless 100/2057.0% +25.6 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.

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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
Fixed wireless 100/20	31.4%	69.9%	57.0%	25.6 pts

Fixed wireless filled the space. Licensed fixed wireless, which includes 5G home internet, is reported at 99.1% of locations. AT&T reported no service in Albany in June 2022 and now reports fixed wireless at 69.8%. What matters for a household comparing with cable is the share at 100/20 Mbps: licensed fixed wireless at that speed rose from 31.4%² in 2022 to 57.0%, below the 69.9%³ reported in December 2025. By carrier, Verizon offers 100/20 Mbps at 42.9% of locations, T-Mobile at 24.2% and AT&T at 7.0%¹.

Counting every non-satellite technology, 17.9%¹ of locations have three or more providers at 100/20 Mbps. Wireless capacity is shared by everyone on a tower sector, so carriers decide address by address whether to take a new customer; a reported location is not a guaranteed opening.

Fiber: one of the lowest shares of any large city

Among the 343 cities with 100,000 or more residents, Albany's fiber share ranks 3rd lowest. Fiber is reported at 2.0% of Albany's locations, against 70.0% for New York State and 62.6%¹ nationally.

Yonkers, New York96.3%

New York, New York90.3%

Syracuse, New York69.7%

United States62.6%

Buffalo, New York59.9%

Rochester, New York53.3%

Albany, New York2.0%

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.

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Large city	Fiber available
Yonkers, New York	96.3%
New York, New York	90.3%
Syracuse, New York	69.7%
United States	62.6%
Buffalo, New York	59.9%
Rochester, New York	53.3%
Albany, New York	2.0%

What fiber there is comes from several companies, none of them at scale. Spectrum reports fiber at 1.6% of locations, alongside its cable network. Verizon reports fiber at 0.4%, and Massivemesh Networks at 0.1%. Two different fiber networks overlap at 7¹ locations.

The share has moved little. It was 0.4% in the first National Broadband Map, as of June 30, 2022, a gain of 1.6 percentage points in four years; over the same period New York's statewide share rose from 51.9%² to 70.0%¹.

A fiber gap that follows the city line

Albany's low figure is not a regional pattern. Across Albany County as a whole, city included, fiber reaches 54.2% of 100,066 locations, and 51.1% have two or more wired providers at 100/20 Mbps. Neighboring Schenectady County reports fiber at 74.0%. Rensselaer County looks more like the city: fiber at 8.0%, one wired choice at 92.1%¹.

Verizon is Albany County's second-largest provider, reporting fiber or fixed wireless at 83.5% of the county's locations, with a fastest advertised download of 940 Mbps. The FCC's gigabit tier needs at least 1,000 Mbps down and 100 Mbps up, so fiber advertised below 1,000 Mbps does not count toward it, and neither does cable with slower uploads. Albany County has the lowest gigabit (1,000/100) share of any New York county, 2.2%¹, even with fiber at more than half its locations.

Gigabit downloads, slow uploads

Spectrum's network puts an advertised 1 Gbps download within reach of 96.5% of locations. Uploads are the limit. Gigabit service with uploads of at least 100 Mbps is advertised at 1.6% of locations (394 homes and businesses), the 3rd lowest share among large cities, and symmetrical 100/100 Mbps service at 2.0%, a share that ranks the lowest¹ among them. Both shares were higher in December 2025 (4.8% and 5.2%³) even as fiber edged up; the map records what providers report, not why a report changed. All are advertised maximums, not measured speeds.

Fewer subscriptions than coverage suggests

Near-universal wired coverage has not produced near-universal subscription. In the Census Bureau's 2025 American Community Survey, 88.9% of Albany households had a broadband subscription of any kind (margin of error ±3.2 percentage points), the 5th lowest share among large cities by point estimate. 11.1% had no internet subscription (±3.1 percentage points), against 6.2% statewide, and 12.4%⁴ relied only on a cellular data plan.

Wired 100/20 Mbps available (FCC, share of locations)96.5%

Households subscribing to cable, fiber or DSL (Census)72.9% ±3.5

Households relying only on a cellular data plan12.4% ±2.8

Households with no internet subscription11.1% ±3.1

Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026; Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2025 1-year detailed tables. Availability is a share of locations as of June 30, 2026 (FCC); subscriptions are a share of households from the American Community Survey, 2025 (whiskers: 90% margin of error). Different units and dates: read the gap as a sign, not an exact number.

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Measure	Share	MOE
Wired 100/20 Mbps available (FCC, share of locations)	96.5%
Households subscribing to cable, fiber or DSL (Census)	72.9%	±3.5
Households relying only on a cellular data plan	12.4%	±2.8
Households with no internet subscription	11.1%	±3.1

The survey counts households over a year; the FCC counts locations on one date, so the two describe the city in different units. The FCC data contain no prices. Lifeline, the standing federal discount on phone or internet service, had 15,854⁵ subscribers in Albany County in December 2025, and New York's participation rate among eligible households, 33.2%, is the 4th highest⁶ among states.

Albany beside New York's other large cities

Each of New York's other large cities reports fiber at a majority of its locations; Albany, with one cable network and wireless behind it, is the exception. Syracuse is at 69.7%, most of it from Verizon; Buffalo is at 59.9%, with 4 fiber providers; Rochester is at 53.3%¹.

Yonkers96.3%

New York90.3%

New York70.0%

Syracuse69.7%

United States62.6%

Buffalo59.9%

Rochester53.3%

Albany2.0%

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

Area	Fiber available
Yonkers	96.3%
New York	90.3%
New York	70.0%
Syracuse	69.7%
United States	62.6%
Buffalo	59.9%
Rochester	53.3%
Albany	2.0%

The New York page maps every county, including Albany County, where the city holds 24,380 of the county's 100,066¹ locations.