Internet Providers in Raleigh, NC
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Residential Internet Statistics for Raleigh, NC
| Internet Providers: | 21 |
|---|---|
| Internet Plans: | 15 |
| Fastest Speed Available: | 2,000 Mbps |
| Average Plan Price: | $59.06 |
Most Popular Residential Internet Providers in Raleigh, North Carolina
100% Available
1,000 Mbps
Download
35 Mbps
Upload
87.6% Available
1,000 Mbps
Download
1,000 Mbps
Upload
11.1% Available
2,000 Mbps
Download
1,000 Mbps
Upload
Internet Access in Raleigh, North Carolina
The average resident in Raleigh has access to 4-5 Internet Service Providers, or "ISPs." This is a high amount of choice contrasted with similar-sized cities. Competition often results in more consumer-friendly regional pricing.
Spectrum is an second choice. They offer near one hundred percent local coverage and a maximum speed of 940 Mbps. Aside from residential Internet, there are also 12 providers in Raleigh marketing enterprise and business technologies like SD-WAN and MPLS. BroadbandNow includes all providers with business packages advertised on their website, although some sell both home and business broadband.
The data listed here is sourced from FCC filings, and is enhanced with privatized databases and direct provider reporting to provide more accurate resources than is available from the FCC directly. Speed and pricing data is sourced by manually collecting thousands of plans annually.
Viasat Internet (formerly Exede) is the most widespread option for Raleigh residents. close to one hundred percent of Raleigh census blocks can receive Internet service from them. HughesNet is the most likely second option, with coverage in practically one hundred percent of the area with predominantly Satellite broadband service. The fastest package we've found for HughesNet in Raleigh is 25 Mbps.
The takeaway is that Raleigh's broadband infrastructure follows a common pattern in North Carolina metro areas: widespread availability of cable and DSL, but limited choice since most houses are stuck with only one company for either Internet service. This pattern results from the fact that Broadband providers have their roots as cable TV and telephone corporations. So, they can use these pre-existing copper wired networks to deliver their broadband services. Fiber service is expanding as a third option. While some "Fiber" plans aren't actually 100% "Fiber to the Home" connections, 74.37 percent of Raleigh has access to fiber reaching at least as far as the block. Thanks to strong network competition around Raleigh, the local average download speed is 47.03 percent higher than the state average across all cities. Review the speed test results below for information about how major Internet providers add up over time.
- There are 21 internet providers in Raleigh with 9 of those offering residential service
- Raleigh is the 16th most connected city in North Carolina ahead of Garner, Wake Forest, and Knightdale, but behind Morrisville and Cary.
- The fastest zip code in Raleigh for April 2021 is 27606. (see all below).
Internet Statistics 2021
3.3% of consumers in Raleigh
16,000 People Only have access to 1 or fewer wired internet providers available at their address.This data is calculated from FCC datasets which providers are legally required to supply twice a year. We further validate this data for accuracy.
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Summary Of Fastest Internet Providers In Raleigh, North Carolina
| Provider | Speed | Type | Time To Download 1 GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T Internet | 1,000 Mbps | DSL and Fiber | 8s |
| Google Fiber | 2,000 Mbps | Fiber | 4s |
| Spectrum | 1,000 Mbps | Cable | 8s |
| CenturyLink | 940 Mbps | Fiber and DSL | 8s |
| Viasat Internet (formerly Exede) | 100 Mbps | Satellite | 1m 21s |
| HughesNet | 25 Mbps | Satellite | 5m 27s |
| Frontier Communications | 115 Mbps | DSL | 1m 11s |
Summary of Internet Providers Availability in Raleigh, North Carolina
- AT&T Internet - 87.6% Availability in Raleigh - Speeds up to 1,000 Mbps
- Spectrum - 100.0% Availability in Raleigh - Speeds up to 1,000 Mbps
- Google Fiber - 11.1% Availability in Raleigh - Speeds up to 2,000 Mbps
- CenturyLink - 7.6% Availability in Raleigh - Speeds up to 940 Mbps
- Frontier - 2.4% Availability in Raleigh - Speeds up to 115 Mbps
- Viasat - 100.0% Availability in Raleigh - Speeds up to 100 Mbps
- HughesNet - 100.0% Availability in Raleigh - Speeds up to 25 Mbps
Internet Providers in Nearby Cities
- Angier, NC
- Apex, NC
- Butner, NC
- Cary, NC
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Clayton, NC
- Creedmoor, NC
- Durham, NC
- Franklinton, NC
- Fuquay Varina, NC
- Garner, NC
- Holly Springs, NC
- Knightdale, NC
- Morrisville, NC
- New Hill, NC
- Pleasant Hill, NC
- Rolesville, NC
- Stem, NC
- Wake Forest, NC
- Wendell, NC
- Willow Spring, NC
- Youngsville, NC
- Zebulon, NC
Internet Provider Competition Map For Raleigh
The “Connected” metric is a citywide average based on FCC data showing the density of broadband options at the census block level.
This statistic is drawn from the population in census blocks not served by at least one wired broadband provider.
Fiber coverage data is sourced from FCC Form 477 filings and cross-validated through BroadbandNow with private datasets and direct provider reporting.
This coverage statistic is based on a mix of FCC and private provider reporting in the past two quarters.
Zip-based speed averages are calculated from M-Labs consumer speed tests run by IP addresses in the area.
Internet Service Access for Education in Raleigh
North Carolina State University At Raleigh and Meredith College are the biggest universities in Raleigh. For the 35,875 combined students living in the area, strong internet access is a must for accessing online course materials and conducting research. Students living around North Carolina State University At Raleigh and Meredith College are likely to be choosing between the major providers outlined above. Speed test records from the zip code where both campuses are located show an average speed of 85.27 Mbps. Average download speeds can be misleading due to the fact that they include household networking problems, and the real speed you can expect shouldn't be less than 10–30percent below the advertised speeds here. FCC and US Government reports often cite the need to better broadband availability for college and high school attendees. There is a recognized correlation between increased high-speed broadband access and increased education/employment opportunities, especially in small cities and rural areas.
Data Caps Around Raleigh
Data from our researchers shows that some of the common ISPs in Raleigh currently place some sort of limit on streaming on home Internet connections. Data caps are controversial since subscribers see caps as a tactic to limit video streaming. Providers explain that caps are a reasonable strategy for managing heavy network congestion. In either case, the culprit is the same: streaming services, which easily uses one to seven Gigabytes per hour.
Summary Of Internet Providers In Raleigh
Customer Reviews of Internet Providers in Raleigh
Internet speed is good
I get 200+ Mbps for the cheapest plan available at the time of writing this review. The only complaint that I have is the price hikes. Internet prices should be the same for old and new customers.
Not a completely satisfactory experience.
Most professional services businesses count on "24/7" reliable internet and VOIP connections to be competitive and provide an appropriate level of responsiveness. This company is reliable MOST of the time, however, if you have an outage you can count on being down for a day or two. Tens of thousands of dollars can be lost in one day so it matters. Further, the company consistently offers slower speeds than sales representatives offer. If you must increase bandwidth and need new equipment to accommodate it, you may be waiting for weeks.