Internet in Wilmington, North Carolina
Fiber is available at 68.9% of the 40,332 homes and businesses the FCC counts in Wilmington, and wired broadband of at least 100/20 Mbps at 97.4%. 67.0% of locations have a choice of two or more wired providers at that speed; at 30.5% there is only one.1
FCC National Broadband Map, availability as of June 30, 2026 (data revised November 10, 2026), as reported by providers.
Wilmington in North Carolina
Fiber in Wilmington comes from four companies, and none of them covers the whole city. AT&T reports fiber at 49.1% of its homes and businesses, Metronet at 14.8%, T-Mobile at 9.4% and Spectrum at 5.7%. Together they reach 68.9%, but the networks rarely overlap: only 10.0%1 of locations have two fiber companies to choose between.
Spectrum citywide, AT&T on a mixed network
Spectrum is the one network that reaches almost all of Wilmington: it reports service at 95.8% of the city's 40,332 homes and businesses, as of June 30, 2026, nearly all of it over cable. AT&T's footprint is nearly as wide, at 88.2%, but it is a mix of fiber, older DSL lines and fixed wireless, and AT&T offers 100/20 Mbps at only 52.7% of locations. Verizon and T-Mobile report home internet over their wireless networks across most of the city. Metronet reports fiber at 14.8% of locations and T-Mobile at 9.4%1.
| Spectrum | Fiber Cable | 95.8% | 95.8% | 1 Gbps | 28.9% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | Fiber DSL Licensed wireless | 88.2% | 52.7% | 5 Gbps | 1.3% |
| Verizon | Licensed wireless | 82.9% | 25.7% | 300 Mbps | – |
| T-Mobile | Fiber Licensed wireless | 82.2% | 40.3% | 5 Gbps | – |
| Metronet | Fiber | 14.8% | 14.8% | 5 Gbps | 0.3% |
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 (HughesNet, Starlink, Viasat) report service at nearly every location and are left out of the table.
The wired list stops there: 41 wired providers report home service in the city, and they do not all reach the same streets. "Available" here means a provider told the FCC it can install standard service within ten business days; any listing can be challenged on the FCC map.
Four fiber networks, side by side rather than on top of each other
Wilmington's fiber share, 68.9%, sits above North Carolina's 65.3% and the national 62.6%. What sets the city apart is how that coverage is divided. AT&T's fiber reaches 49.1% of locations, Metronet's 14.8%, T-Mobile's 9.4% and Spectrum's own fiber 5.7%. Each mostly covers ground the others do not: two or more fiber companies are reported at 10.0% of locations, a share that ranks 138th highest1 among the 343 cities of 100,000 or more.
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% |
| Fayetteville | 45.9% |
| Greensboro | 28.0% |
| North Carolina | 17.4% |
| Charlotte | 16.8% |
| United States | 12.1% |
| Wilmington | 10.0% |
| Winston-Salem | 5.6% |
In practice, whether a Wilmington home has fiber, and from whom, depends on the street.
Gigabit uploads follow the fiber line exactly
Spectrum's cable network advertises downloads of 1 Gbps, so a gigabit download is available at 97.4% of locations. Upload speed is where the networks differ. Service of 1,000/100 Mbps, the FCC's gigabit tier with fast uploads, is advertised at 68.9% of locations, exactly the fiber share, and symmetrical 100/100 Mbps is also at 68.9%. The fastest advertised download tier is 2 Gbps or more at 62.0% of locations, up from 26.2%2 in 2022; AT&T advertises fiber tiers of up to 5 Gbps1. These are maximum advertised speeds reported by the providers, not measurements.
| Measure | Wilmington | North Carolina | United States | Rank among largest cities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiber available | 68.9% | 65.3% | 62.6% | 195th of 343 |
| Gigabit (1,000/100) | 68.9% | 65.3% | 72.3% | 276th of 343 |
| 1 Gbps download | 97.4% | 92.3% | 91.0% | tied 225th of 343 |
| Wired 100/100 Mbps | 68.9% | 65.9% | 73.7% | 279th of 343 |
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. Rank 1 is the highest value. FCC file revision of November 10, 2026. Shares are of broadband serviceable locations (homes and businesses), not people.
From one wire to two since 2022
On the first National Broadband Map, as of June 30, 2022, fiber reached 36.3% of the city's locations and just one wired provider offered 100/20 Mbps at 59.4%. Four years later fiber is up 32.6 percentage points, a gain close to the statewide 32.4 percentage points, and the single-wire share has fallen to 30.5%. Locations with two or more wired choices at 100/20 Mbps rose from 35.7% to 67.0%, above North Carolina's 54.7%. The number of companies reporting fiber in the city went from 22 to 41.
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 | 36.3% | 65.0% | 68.9% | 32.6 pts |
| One wired choice | 59.4% | 34.1% | 30.5% | −28.9 pts |
| Two or more wired choices | 35.7% | 62.9% | 67.0% | 31.3 pts |
| Fixed wireless 100/20 | 18.6% | 51.5% | 50.0% | 31.4 pts |
In the six months after December 31, 2025 the fiber share changed by +3.9 percentage points1. Because the FCC's list of locations changes with every release, these comparisons use shares, not counts.
One wire at three addresses in ten
Spectrum is the only wired provider offering 100/20 Mbps at 28.9% of Wilmington's locations. That is below both the North Carolina single-wire share of 39.5% and the national 36.6%1. Fayetteville, where one wired provider was the only 100/20 option at 66.5%2 of locations in 2022, is shown for comparison.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilmington | 2.6% | 30.5% | 61.4% | 5.5% |
| Fayetteville | 0.8% | 13.9% | 40.7% | 44.7% |
| North Carolina | 5.8% | 39.5% | 40.3% | 14.5% |
| United States | 7.8% | 36.6% | 44.6% | 11.1% |
Three-way wired competition remains rare: 5.5% of locations have three or more wired providers at 100/20 Mbps. Gaps in basic coverage are almost absent. The FCC data list 796 locations without any terrestrial service of 100/20 Mbps and 11 reachable only by satellite.
Verizon and T-Mobile over the air
Licensed fixed wireless, the category that includes 5G home internet, is reported at 95.9% of locations. Verizon reports it at 82.9%, with an advertised maximum of 300 Mbps, and offers 100/20 Mbps at 25.7%. T-Mobile reports 82.2% across fiber and fixed wireless combined. Fixed wireless of at least 100/20 Mbps reached 50.0%1 of locations, against 18.6%2 in June 2022. A tower sector's capacity is shared, so carriers limit sign-ups by address even where they report coverage.
Many households on a phone plan alone
Wired networks are close to universal; wired subscriptions are not. In the Census Bureau's 2025 survey, 17.7% of Wilmington households had only a cellular data plan for internet (margin of error ±3.9 percentage points), the 31st highest estimate among large cities and above the state's 11.8%. In the 2019 survey the figure was 9.1% (±2.6 percentage points5); the two ranges do not overlap. 74.6% of households subscribed to cable, fiber or DSL (±2.6 percentage points) and 5.9%4 had no subscription.
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) | 97.4% | |
| Households subscribing to cable, fiber or DSL (Census) | 74.6% | ±2.6 |
| Households relying only on a cellular data plan | 17.7% | ±3.9 |
| Households with no internet subscription | 5.9% | ±2.1 |
The survey counts households and the FCC counts locations, so the two sources describe the same city in different units.
Compared with Fayetteville, the Triad and the Triangle
The table puts Wilmington beside six larger North Carolina cities, using the same FCC release and the same Census survey. Its phone-only estimate is second to Greensboro's among them, though the survey margins of the cities overlap.
| Wilmington, North Carolina | 68.9% | 4 | 30.5% | 17.7% ±3.9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fayetteville, North Carolina | 87.8% | 5 | 13.9% | 15.5% ±1.7 |
| Winston-Salem, North Carolina | 67.2% | 6 | 30.0% | 11.1% ±2.1 |
| Greensboro, North Carolina | 81.8% | 4 | 16.8% | 19.9% ±2.3 |
| Charlotte, North Carolina | 83.6% | 8 | 15.2% | 12.5% ±1.3 |
| Raleigh, North Carolina | 91.5% | 6 | 7.1% | 10.1% ±1.6 |
| Durham, North Carolina | 89.5% | 6 | 10.5% | 8.2% ±2.0 |
| North Carolina | 65.3% | 50 | 39.5% | 11.8% ±0.4 |
| United States | 62.6% | 1,485 | 36.6% | – |
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026; Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2025 1-year detailed tables. FCC file revision of November 10, 2026. Shares are of broadband serviceable locations (homes and businesses), not people. ± is the 90% margin of error.
Wilmington lies in New Hanover County, where fiber reaches 68.2%1 of locations.
Questions and answers
What internet providers serve Wilmington, NC?
Spectrum reports service at 95.8% of the city's locations, mostly over cable. AT&T reports 88.2%, through fiber, DSL and fixed wireless, but offers 100/20 Mbps at only 52.7%. Verizon (82.9%) and T-Mobile (82.2%1) report home internet over their wireless networks.
Is fiber internet available in Wilmington?
At 68.9% of homes and businesses, as of June 30, 2026, compared with 65.3% across North Carolina and 62.6%1 nationally. AT&T has the largest fiber footprint; Metronet, T-Mobile and Spectrum each cover smaller parts of the city.
How many internet providers are there in Wilmington?
4 companies report wired service somewhere in the city, up from 22 in June 2022, but only Spectrum and AT&T reach most of it. At a typical location the count of wired providers offering 100/20 Mbps is one or two: 30.5% of locations have one, 61.4% have two and 5.5%1 have three or more.
Is 5G home internet available in Wilmington?
Verizon reports fixed wireless home internet at 82.9% of locations and T-Mobile at 82.2%. Fixed wireless of 100/20 Mbps or faster is reported at 50.0%1. Carriers decide sign-ups address by address, because a tower's capacity is shared.
Checking one address in Wilmington
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, Durham, Winston-Salem, Fayetteville, Cary, High Point and Concord. Compare Wilmington 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.