Internet in Raleigh, North Carolina

AT&T, Google Fiber and Spectrum: who reports service

The FCC counts 123,359¹ homes and businesses inside Raleigh's 2020 Census boundary. The table lists every provider that reported service to them as of June 30, 2026, in the file revision of November 10, 2026. A listing means the provider serves the location or says it can connect it within ten business days for a standard installation; listings that look wrong can be challenged on the FCC National Broadband Map.

Spectrum is listed at 96.5% of locations, nearly all over cable; its fiber accounts for 2.3%. AT&T is listed at 94.9% and Google Fiber at 77.3%. The two fiber footprints are almost the same size, AT&T's at 79.5% and Google Fiber's at 77.2%. Where AT&T has no fiber it falls back on copper DSL or fixed wireless, which is why it offers 100/20 Mbps at 81.3%¹ of locations rather than at all of them.

Everyone else is small. Brightspeed reports service at 2,473 locations and Frontier at 1,675, each partly fiber and partly DSL. Hotwire Communications lists 83¹ locations.

Three wired choices at most locations

Counting providers city-wide overstates choice in most places. Counting them address by address, Raleigh holds up: 66.2% of locations have three or more wired providers offering 100/20 Mbps, a share that ranks 21st highest among the 343 cities of 100,000 or more. Another 24.5% have two. Durham shows the same three-or-more share, 65.6%; neighboring Cary is higher at 81.2%¹.

NoneOneTwoThree or more

Raleigh

Durham

Cary

North Carolina

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.

Show the numbers

Area	None	One	Two	Three or more
Raleigh	2.1%	7.1%	24.5%	66.2%
Durham	2.4%	10.5%	21.5%	65.6%
Cary	1.3%	4.2%	13.3%	81.2%
North Carolina	5.8%	39.5%	40.3%	14.5%
United States	7.8%	36.6%	44.6%	11.1%

The single-wire pocket is small and belongs to one company. At 7.1% of locations only one wired provider offers 100/20 Mbps, and at 6.2% that provider is Spectrum, with neither fiber network listed. Below that, 2,607 locations have no wired 100/20 service, 20 are unserved under the federal definition (no wired or licensed fixed wireless service at 25/3 Mbps) and 6¹ are reported as reachable only by satellite.

Where the two fiber networks overlap

At 67.5% of Raleigh's locations, two or more different companies report fiber, tied for 18th highest among large cities. In North Carolina as a whole the share is 17.4%, and in Charlotte, where Google Fiber's footprint is much smaller, 16.8%¹. The overlap is what turns high fiber coverage into a choice between fiber providers.

The overlap is recent. In the first FCC map, with data as of June 30, 2022, two fiber networks were reported at 37.1% of locations and three or more wired 100/20 providers at 37.3%. Since then the two-network share has changed by +30.4 percentage points and the three-provider share by +29.0 percentage points, while fiber from any company grew less, from 82.9% to 91.5%. Most of the fiber added to the map since 2022 sits where another company's fiber was already listed. The number of companies reporting fiber in the city went from 4 to 6. Over the same years DSL fell from 56.2%² to 52.9%¹ of locations.

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

Two or more fiber networks67.5% +30.4 pts

Three or more wired choices66.2% +29.0 pts

One wired choice7.1% −7.2 pts

DSL available52.9% −3.3 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)
Two or more fiber networks	37.1%	66.0%	67.5%	30.4 pts
Three or more wired choices	37.3%	65.2%	66.2%	29.0 pts
One wired choice	14.3%	7.9%	7.1%	−7.2 pts
DSL available	56.2%	53.0%	52.9%	−3.3 pts

These are shares, not counts, because the FCC's list of locations is revised with each release; Raleigh's has changed by +6,150¹ since June 2022.

Multi-gigabit tiers and upload speed

For 88.4% of locations the fastest advertised download is 2 Gbps or more, up from 71.6%² in June 2022. Google Fiber lists tiers up to 8 Gbps, AT&T up to 5 Gbps and Spectrum up to 1 Gbps¹.

Uploads draw the sharper line. The FCC's 1,000/100 tier, a gigabit download with at least a 100 Mbps upload, is advertised at 91.6% of locations, and symmetrical 100/100 Mbps service at 91.5%¹. Both track fiber coverage almost exactly, because cable uploads are far slower than its downloads. Every speed here is a maximum that providers advertise to the FCC.

5G home internet from Verizon and T-Mobile

Licensed fixed wireless, the FCC category that includes 5G home internet, is reported at 96.6% of locations by 3 providers: Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. Verizon covers 87.6% and offers 100/20 Mbps at 31.3%, with tiers listed up to 1 Gbps. T-Mobile covers 86.0%, offers 100/20 at 41.9% and lists 100 Mbps¹ as its top tier.

Cary61.0%

Charlotte60.3%

Raleigh54.9%

United States47.9%

Durham46.3%

Greensboro45.2%

North Carolina37.4%

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	Fixed wireless 100/20
Cary	61.0%
Charlotte	60.3%
Raleigh	54.9%
United States	47.9%
Durham	46.3%
Greensboro	45.2%
North Carolina	37.4%

The change since 2022 is speed rather than reach: licensed fixed wireless at 100/20 Mbps or faster went from 25.1%² of locations to 54.9%¹. A tower sector's capacity is shared, so carriers accept sign-ups address by address, and a location shown as covered can still be turned away.

More households on wired service than in 2019

Availability comes from the FCC; subscriptions come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, which counts households rather than locations. In its 2025 one-year estimates, 83.7% of Raleigh households subscribed to cable, fiber or DSL (margin of error ±2.1 percentage points), up from 77.7% (±2.3 percentage points) in 2019; the two ranges do not overlap. The share with no internet subscription fell from 8.1% (±1.3 percentage points) to 4.7% (±1.2 percentage points). The share relying only on a cellular data plan did not move: 10.1%⁵ in 2019 and 10.1%⁴ in 2025.

Wired 100/20 Mbps available (FCC, share of locations)97.9%

Households subscribing to cable, fiber or DSL (Census)83.7% ±2.1

Households relying only on a cellular data plan10.1% ±1.6

Households with no internet subscription4.7% ±1.2

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)	97.9%
Households subscribing to cable, fiber or DSL (Census)	83.7%	±2.1
Households relying only on a cellular data plan	10.1%	±1.6
Households with no internet subscription	4.7%	±1.2

The North Carolina page has every county in the state and its BEAD plan. For the other two Google Fiber cities nearby, see Durham and Cary; Charlotte shows the state's largest city, where AT&T is the main fiber network.