Internet in Charleston, South Carolina
Fiber is available at 55.4% of the 49,227 homes and businesses the FCC counts in Charleston, and wired broadband of at least 100/20 Mbps at 99.7%. 76.1% of locations have a choice of two or more wired providers at that speed; at 23.6% there is only one.1
FCC National Broadband Map, availability as of June 30, 2026 (data revised November 10, 2026), as reported by providers.
Charleston in South Carolina
In Charleston, choice runs ahead of fiber. Xfinity's cable, a second cable network from WOW! and AT&T's fiber give 76.1% of homes and businesses at least two wired providers at 100/20 Mbps, against 54.8% statewide. Fiber itself reaches 55.4%1, less than across South Carolina as a whole.
AT&T, Xfinity and a second cable company
As of June 30, 2026, the FCC map counts 49,227 homes and businesses inside Charleston's city limits. Two companies report service at nearly all of them. AT&T reports service at 92.4%, through three technologies: fiber at 51.8% of locations, with older DSL and fixed wireless across much of the rest. Xfinity reports cable at 92.0%1, with 100/20 Mbps or more at all of it.
| AT&T | Fiber DSL Licensed wireless | 92.4% | 57.7% | 5 Gbps | 0.4% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xfinity | Fiber Cable | 92.0% | 92.0% | 2 Gbps | 22.3% |
| T-Mobile | Licensed wireless | 81.4% | 36.3% | 100 Mbps | – |
| Verizon | Licensed wireless | 77.4% | 28.1% | 300 Mbps | – |
| WOW! | Cable | 42.1% | 42.1% | 1.2 Gbps | 0.1% |
| Home Telecom | Fiber | 8.4% | 8.4% | 5 Gbps | 0.6% |
| IQ Fiber | Fiber | 1.8% | 1.8% | 5 Gbps | – |
| Hotwire Communications | Fiber | 0.4% | 0.4% | 8 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 (Viasat, Starlink, HughesNet) report service at nearly every location and are left out of the table.
What makes the list unusual is the fifth line. WOW!, a cable company that reports service at only 5.3% of South Carolina's locations, reports it at 42.1% of Charleston's. Three smaller fiber companies follow: Home Telecom at 8.4%, IQ Fiber at 1.8% and Hotwire Communications at 0.4%1.
"Reports service" has a precise meaning here: the provider tells the FCC it could connect the location within ten business days with a standard installation. The claim can be challenged, and it says nothing about price or about the speed a subscriber measures. Every speed on this page is a maximum advertised speed.
Fiber: past half the city, still behind the state
Fiber is available at 55.4% of Charleston's locations, a share 107th lowest among the 343 cities of 100,000 or more. Charleston trails South Carolina as a whole, where 67.4% of locations have it, and the US figure of 62.6%1.
| Area | Fiber available | Cable available | Two or more wired choices | Gigabit (1,000/100) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charleston, South Carolina | 55.4% | 91.9% | 76.1% | 78.7% |
| North Charleston, South Carolina | 43.2% | 95.7% | 83.7% | 73.3% |
| Columbia, South Carolina | 70.4% | 91.8% | 70.2% | 70.4% |
| South Carolina | 67.4% | 75.0% | 54.8% | 72.8% |
| United States | 62.6% | 80.3% | 55.6% | 72.3% |
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.
The gap is not stagnation. In June 2022 fiber reached 37.3% of the city's locations; the share has risen 18.1 percentage points since, and 1.3 percentage points in the six months since December 31, 2025. The state started from a similar point, 36.1%2 in 2022, and moved faster. Next door, North Charleston has fiber at 43.2%; in Columbia the share is 70.4%1.
The number of networks moved the other way. 5 providers report fiber in the city today, against 32 in June 2022, and only 7.3%1 of locations have two or more fiber networks.
Cable against cable, plus AT&T
Charleston's competition rests on a second cable line as much as on fiber. At 76.1% of locations, two or more wired providers offer 100/20 Mbps, well above the 54.8% for South Carolina and 55.6% nationally. Three or more compete at 24.0%, a share that has grown 7.2 percentage points1 since 2022.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charleston | 0.3% | 23.6% | 52.2% | 24.0% |
| South Carolina | 2.8% | 42.4% | 44.2% | 10.6% |
| United States | 7.8% | 36.6% | 44.6% | 11.1% |
The other side of the picture: at 23.6% of locations a single wired provider offers 100/20 Mbps, and nearly always that provider is Xfinity, the only such option at 22.3%. Neither AT&T nor WOW! reports wired 100/20 Mbps service at those addresses. Wired 100/20 service of any kind is missing at 1291 locations.
Similar-size cities
The table sets Charleston beside the large cities nearest to it in population, sorted by fiber, with the same FCC release for each. Against all 343 cities of 100,000 or more, Charleston's share of locations with two or more fast wires is tied for 168th lowest1, near the middle: high for South Carolina, ordinary for a large American city.
| Area | Fiber available | Gigabit (1,000/100) | Two or more wired choices | Fiber networks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paterson, New Jersey | 94.7% | 93.9% | 64.7% | 2 |
| Kansas City, Kansas | 94.2% | 94.2% | 91.7% | 5 |
| Alexandria, Virginia | 82.4% | 86.9% | 82.5% | 5 |
| Hayward, California | 65.1% | 93.4% | 67.4% | 4 |
| Charleston, South Carolina | 55.4% | 78.7% | 76.1% | 5 |
| Macon, Georgia | 49.3% | 85.9% | 45.7% | 7 |
| Salinas, California | 31.2% | 84.7% | 38.6% | 3 |
| Corona, California | 13.0% | 13.6% | 18.0% | 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.
From 1 Gbps to 2 Gbps in four years
A 1 Gbps download was already advertised at 98.8% of locations in 2022, mostly over cable. What changed are the top tier and the uploads. The share of locations where the fastest advertised download is 2 Gbps or more went from 22.2% to 72.3%. Gigabit service with uploads of at least 100 Mbps, the FCC's 1,000/100 tier, went from 38.2%2 to 78.7%. That is more than the share with fiber, so in part of the city cable service is also reported with uploads of 100 Mbps or more. On fiber, AT&T advertises up to 5 Gbps, Home Telecom up to 5 Gbps, IQ Fiber up to 5 Gbps and Hotwire up to 8 Gbps1 in the small area it serves.
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 | 37.3% | 54.1% | 55.4% | 18.1 pts |
| Gigabit (1,000/100) | 38.2% | 73.8% | 78.7% | 40.5 pts |
| Three or more wired choices | 16.8% | 23.4% | 24.0% | 7.1 pts |
| DSL available | 60.8% | 57.2% | 57.0% | −3.8 pts |
| One wired choice | 30.3% | 24.1% | 23.6% | −6.7 pts |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charleston | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 27.4% | 72.3% |
| South Carolina | 1.1% | 0.9% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.5% | 40.7% | 56.0% |
| United States | 2.4% | 1.6% | 1.8% | 1.4% | 0.9% | 31.0% | 61.0% |
Copper is retreating slowly. DSL is still reported at 57.0% of locations, down 3.8 percentage points1 since 2022.
Fixed wireless and satellite
Licensed fixed wireless, the category that includes 5G home internet, is now reported by 3 carriers in Charleston, against 2 in June 2022: T-Mobile at 81.4% of locations, Verizon at 77.4% and AT&T on part of its footprint. Fixed wireless at 100/20 Mbps or more is reported at 48.4%1 of locations, up from 18.0%2 in 2022. Fixed wireless capacity is shared by everyone on a tower sector, so availability is decided address by address.
Only 14 locations depend on fixed wireless for 100/20 Mbps, and 351 have satellite as their only option. HughesNet, Starlink and Viasat report service at every location, as they do almost everywhere.
Far fewer households offline than in 2019
The Census Bureau's survey measures subscriptions rather than availability, and it counts households rather than locations. In 2025, 4.5% of Charleston households had no internet subscription (margin of error ±1.8 percentage points), against 12.5% in 2019 (±2.9 percentage points), and the two ranges do not overlap. The estimate for subscriptions to cable, fiber or DSL moved from 72.5% to 79.4%, a rise at the edge of the margins of error (±3.9 percentage points5 and ±3.0 percentage points), and 13.8%4 of households relied on a cellular data plan alone.
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) | 99.7% | |
| Households subscribing to cable, fiber or DSL (Census) | 79.4% | ±3.0 |
| Households relying only on a cellular data plan | 13.8% | ±2.9 |
| Households with no internet subscription | 4.5% | ±1.8 |
The South Carolina page has every county and the state's BEAD plan.
Charleston internet questions
What internet providers are available in Charleston, SC?
8 wired and fixed wireless providers report service in the city, besides the satellite services. The widest are AT&T (92.4% of locations; fiber, DSL and fixed wireless), Xfinity (92.0%, cable), T-Mobile (81.4%) and Verizon (77.4%) with home internet over their wireless networks, and WOW! (42.1%1, cable). Home Telecom, IQ Fiber and Hotwire Communications report fiber in smaller parts of the city.
Is fiber internet available in Charleston?
At 55.4% of the city's locations, as of June 30, 2026, up from 37.3%2 in June 2022. Most of it is AT&T's network, reported at 51.8% of locations. South Carolina's share is 67.4% and the national share 62.6%1.
How many internet providers does Charleston have?
6 wired providers report service somewhere in the city, 5 of them over fiber. At a given address the number at 100/20 Mbps is smaller: one at 23.6% of locations, two at 52.2% and three or more at 24.0%1.
Can I get 5G home internet in Charleston?
T-Mobile reports fixed wireless home internet at 81.4% of locations and Verizon at 77.4%; AT&T also reports fixed wireless in part of the city. At 100/20 Mbps or faster the shares are 36.3% for T-Mobile and 28.1%1 for Verizon. Carriers confirm eligibility address by address.
Checking one address in Charleston
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 South Carolina
The state picture, county by county: internet in South Carolina. Other large cities in the state: Columbia and North Charleston. Compare Charleston 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.