Internet in Durham, North Carolina
Fiber is available at 89.5% of the 86,084 homes and businesses the FCC counts in Durham, and wired broadband of at least 100/20 Mbps at 97.6%. 87.1% of locations have a choice of two or more wired providers at that speed; at 10.5% there is only one.1
FCC National Broadband Map, availability as of June 30, 2026 (data revised November 10, 2026), as reported by providers.
Durham in North Carolina
In Durham, three different companies each report fiber at more than half of the homes and businesses: Google Fiber at 66.4%, AT&T at 54.7% and Frontier at 49.7%. Four years ago two fiber networks overlapped at 12.7%2 of locations; by mid-2026 the overlap covered 67.2%1.
Spectrum plus three fiber builders
Inside Durham's city limits, as drawn for the 2020 Census, the FCC's National Broadband Map has 86,0841 homes and businesses. Below are the providers on file for them in the release dated June 30, 2026 (file revision of November 10, 2026). A company appears when it already serves a location or states it could install service there within ten business days. Anyone who spots a wrong entry can file a challenge through the FCC's map.
| Spectrum | Fiber Cable | 97.3% | 97.3% | 1 Gbps | 10.2% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-Mobile | Fiber Licensed wireless | 86.9% | 42.0% | 5 Gbps | – |
| AT&T | Fiber DSL Licensed wireless | 76.7% | 55.6% | 5 Gbps | 0.2% |
| Frontier | Fiber DSL | 69.1% | 49.7% | 7 Gbps | 0.1% |
| Google Fiber | Fiber Fixed wireless | 66.4% | 66.4% | 8 Gbps | 0.0% |
| Verizon | Licensed wireless | 37.9% | 12.0% | 1 Gbps | – |
| Hotwire Communications | Fiber | 0.1% | 0.1% | 8 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 (Starlink, HughesNet, Viasat) report service at nearly every location and are left out of the table.
Spectrum is the one network found almost everywhere, at 97.3% of locations. Most of that is cable, but Spectrum lists fiber at 5.5%, which is why cable on its own registers a lower 92.5%, tied for 68th lowest1 among large cities.
The other three wired networks are fiber builders. Google Fiber has fiber at 66.4% of Durham. AT&T appears at 76.7%: fiber at 54.7%, fixed wireless or DSL in the remainder. Frontier appears at 69.1%, with fiber at 49.7% and DSL elsewhere; none of that DSL meets 100/20 Mbps, so Frontier's 100/20 share equals its fiber share. Frontier is what separates Durham from Raleigh, where the company appears at only 1.4%1 of locations.
After those four the list thins out. Hotwire Communications has fiber at 651 locations.
Fiber from three directions
Fiber from one company or more covers 89.5% of Durham's locations. The overlap is the rarer feature: at 67.2% of them, at least two separate companies list fiber, placing Durham 21st highest among the 343 largest US cities. The equivalent share is 17.4% statewide, 12.1% nationally and 16.8%1 in Charlotte.
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 | Two or more fiber networks |
|---|---|
| Raleigh | 67.5% |
| Durham | 67.2% |
| Greensboro | 28.0% |
| North Carolina | 17.4% |
| Charlotte | 16.8% |
| United States | 12.1% |
| Winston-Salem | 5.6% |
Add Spectrum to the three fiber footprints, and 65.6% of locations end up with three or more wired companies offering 100/20 Mbps. Across North Carolina, 14.5%1 do.
Four years of catching up with Raleigh
On choice, Durham and Raleigh are now almost twins. Two fiber networks overlap at 67.2% of Durham's locations and 67.5% of Raleigh's; three or more wired providers reach 65.6% and 66.2%1. In the FCC's first broadband map, dated June 30, 2022, the two cities were far apart: fiber stood at 62.6% in Durham against 82.9% in Raleigh, and fiber overlap at 12.7% against 37.1%2.
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 | 62.6% | 88.7% | 89.5% | 26.9 pts |
| Two or more fiber networks | 12.7% | 63.1% | 67.2% | 54.5 pts |
| Three or more wired choices | 12.2% | 61.8% | 65.6% | 53.4 pts |
| DSL available | 64.5% | 26.1% | 22.7% | −41.8 pts |
Durham's fiber share has since climbed 26.9 percentage points, and its overlap share 54.5 percentage points. No provider in the city added more locations to its filings over those four years than Google Fiber. Copper moved the opposite way. DSL, nearly all of it Frontier's here, dropped from 64.5%2 of locations in 2022 to 22.7%, while North Carolina as a whole still lists it at 42.3%1.
The pace has eased. From December 2025 to June 2026 fiber went from 88.7%3 to 89.5%, and fiber overlap gained 4.1 percentage points. These comparisons rely on shares, since the FCC redraws its list of locations every release; Durham's count has changed by +5,3991 locations since June 2022.
Where Spectrum is still the only wire
Back in June 2022, a single wired company offered 100/20 Mbps at 35.4%2 of Durham's locations. The figure is now 10.5%, near Raleigh's 7.1% and well under North Carolina's 39.5%. That lone wire is nearly always Spectrum, which is the sole wired 100/20 option at 10.2%1 of the city.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durham | 2.4% | 10.5% | 21.5% | 65.6% |
| Raleigh | 2.1% | 7.1% | 24.5% | 66.2% |
| North Carolina | 5.8% | 39.5% | 40.3% | 14.5% |
What remains below that is a matter of dozens. 2,059 locations lack any wired 100/20 provider. 10 count as unserved by the federal standard, meaning neither a wired nor a licensed fixed wireless provider lists 25/3 Mbps. 21 can be reached by satellite alone.
Advertised speeds: multi-gigabit is the usual ceiling
At 87.0% of locations, the top download tier on offer is 2 Gbps or faster, up from 57.3%2 in June 2022; the statewide share is 52.5%. Nearly every other location tops out between 940 Mbps and 2 Gbps (10.6%). The fastest listed tiers are 8 Gbps from Google Fiber, 7 Gbps from Frontier, 5 Gbps from AT&T and 1 Gbps1 from Spectrum.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durham | 1.0% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 10.6% | 87.0% |
| Raleigh | 0.4% | 0.5% | 1.2% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 9.4% | 88.4% |
| North Carolina | 2.7% | 1.9% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.1% | 41.5% | 52.5% |
| United States | 2.4% | 1.6% | 1.8% | 1.4% | 0.9% | 31.0% | 61.0% |
Uploads follow the fiber. The FCC's gigabit tier with uploads of 100 Mbps or more (1,000/100) is on offer at 89.5% of locations, and 100/100 Mbps symmetrical service at 89.5%1, matching the fiber share. Cable's upload speeds sit far below its download speeds, so the parts of Durham with cable alone fall outside both. Each speed on this page is a provider's advertised maximum as filed with the FCC; none was measured.
5G home internet: wide reach, fewer fast addresses
3 providers list licensed fixed wireless, the FCC technology class covering 5G home internet, and together they reach 93.2% of locations. T-Mobile reaches 86.9%, selling 100/20 Mbps at 42.0%. Verizon reaches 37.9%, selling 100/20 at 12.0%, with a top listed tier of 1 Gbps1. AT&T also lists its own fixed wireless service in part of the city.
The fast slice of that wireless coverage got smaller in the newest release. Fixed wireless on licensed spectrum at 100/20 Mbps or above reached 52.3%3 of locations in December 2025 and 46.3%1 in June 2026, though that is still more than the 22.7%2 of June 2022. Each tower sector has finite capacity shared by its users, so carriers approve new customers one address at a time, and a listed location may still be declined.
Durham and its population peers
Durham sits here next to the US cities nearest to it in population, every figure taken from one FCC release.
| Area | Fiber available | Gigabit (1,000/100) | Two or more wired choices | Fiber networks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln, Nebraska | 99.9% | 99.9% | 98.3% | 4 |
| Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | 94.7% | 99.6% | 94.5% | 4 |
| St. Paul, Minnesota | 91.6% | 94.8% | 91.7% | 2 |
| Jersey City, New Jersey | 91.1% | 96.3% | 90.7% | 5 |
| Cincinnati, Ohio | 90.1% | 98.2% | 87.7% | 3 |
| Durham, North Carolina | 89.5% | 89.5% | 87.1% | 6 |
| Greensboro, North Carolina | 81.8% | 81.8% | 80.5% | 4 |
| North Las Vegas, Nevada | 44.1% | 97.0% | 25.7% | 3 |
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.
Subscriptions: more households on wired service than in 2019
Availability is the FCC's measure; what households actually pay for comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Its 2025 one-year figures put Durham households with a cable, fiber or DSL subscription at 84.2% (margin of error ±3.0 percentage points), compared with 78.3% (±2.7 percentage points) in 2019. Those intervals do not touch. Households without any internet subscription went from 9.4% (±1.8 percentage points) to 4.9% (±1.7 percentage points), again with no overlap. Cellular-only households, 8.2% (±2.0 percentage points4), are below the 2019 estimate of 10.3%5, but within the margins.
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.
Show the numbers
| Measure | Share | MOE |
|---|---|---|
| Wired 100/20 Mbps available (FCC, share of locations) | 97.6% | |
| Households subscribing to cable, fiber or DSL (Census) | 84.2% | ±3.0 |
| Households relying only on a cellular data plan | 8.2% | ±2.0 |
| Households with no internet subscription | 4.9% | ±1.7 |
County figures, Durham County among them, and the state's BEAD plan are on the North Carolina page. Raleigh and Cary are the Triangle's other Google Fiber cities. Charlotte, the largest city in the state, mostly has a single fiber network.
Durham internet questions
Which internet providers serve Durham, NC?
In the FCC data for June 30, 2026, Spectrum covers 97.3% of Durham's locations, mostly with cable. Three companies have fiber across large parts of the city: Google Fiber (66.4%), AT&T (76.7% overall, 54.7% on fiber) and Frontier (69.1% overall, 49.7% on fiber). T-Mobile (86.9%) and Verizon (37.9%1) list 5G or LTE home internet; the three satellite companies list the whole city.
Can I get Google Fiber in Durham?
Google Fiber lists 66.4% of Durham's 86,084 homes and businesses, with tiers up to 8 Gbps advertised. Its share is smaller here than in Raleigh (77.2%) or Cary (86.2%1). To see one address, use the FCC map.
Is fiber internet available in Durham?
Across most of the city. Fiber from one company or more is listed at 89.5% of locations within Durham's 2020 Census boundary, tied for 78th highest of the 343 cities with 100,000 or more people. North Carolina stands at 65.3% and the US at 62.6%1. Durham's share in June 2022 was 62.6%2.
How many internet companies does Durham have?
6 firms list wired service at some address in Durham, and 6 list fiber, yet only four wired networks reach large areas. Per location, the average number of wired providers at 100/20 Mbps is 2.681.
Checking one address in Durham
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 North Carolina
The state picture, county by county: internet in North Carolina. Other large cities in the state: Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Fayetteville, Cary, Wilmington, High Point and Concord. Compare Durham 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
- Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019 1-year detailed tables; 2019. 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.