Kauai County is better served than most rural counties. Fiber already reaches 85.4% of locations, so the first question is not what to buy but whether fiber has reached your road.
Everything below comes from the FCC's Broadband Data Collection, the filings providers are legally required to make about where they offer service. It describes the county; your own address can differ, and that is exactly why the technology mix matters.
Where Kauai County sits in Hawaii
Share of addresses with no fixed broadband at 25/3 Mbps
0.0% to 2.1%
2.1% to 7.7%
7.7% and above
NaN% and above
NaN% and above
NaN% and above
NaN% and above
not published
This county is outlined. Darker means a larger share of addresses with no fixed broadband. Select any county to open it.
What reaches homes in Kauai County
Locations covered by each technology, out of 22,444 broadband serviceable locations. An address can be reached by more than one technology, so these add up to more than 100%.
Fiber19,156 · 85%
Cable21,637 · 96%
Licensed fixed wireless5,320 · 24%
Unlicensed fixed wireless0 · 0.0%
DSL over copper0 · 0.0%
Served, underserved, unserved
The FCC's three categories. "Served" means at least 100/20 Mbps is available; "underserved" means at least 25/3 but below 100/20; "unserved" means below 25/3 or nothing at all.
Category
Locations
Share of county
Served
21,963
97.9%
Underserved
3
0.0%
Unserved
478
2.1%
What that means if you live here
The USDA classes Kauai County as a nonmetro county with an urban population of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area (continuum code 5).
Population is around 73,454, which works out to about 3.3 people for every address on the list.
Only 478 locations, 2.1%, are recorded with nothing at 25/3 Mbps or better.
The most widely available technology here is cable, reaching 21,637 locations (96.4%); next is fiber at 85.4%.
Fiber already reaches 85.4% of the county (19,156 locations), which puts Kauai County well ahead of most rural America.
Cable reaches 96.4% of locations, more than fiber does, and it will be concentrated in the built-up parts of the county.
9 providers file coverage in Kauai County: 3 with fiber, 1 with cable, 3 with licensed fixed wireless.
In twelve months fiber went from 17,664 locations to 19,156 here.
Served locations rose 0.78% year on year.
What people actually measure in Hawaii
Median of real speed tests run on each network during 2024, from M-Lab. This is measured performance, not an advertised plan speed, and not a customer review. The middle-half column shows how consistent a network is: a wide spread means your experience depends heavily on where and when.
Network
Median download
Middle half of tests
Median upload
Latency
Tests
Charter Communications
94.8 Mbps
33.2 Mbps to 204 Mbps
10.5 Mbps
63 ms
59,923
Hawaiian Telcom Services Company
88.3 Mbps
23.0 Mbps to 192 Mbps
54.6 Mbps
64 ms
21,035
Verizon Business
16.1 Mbps
3.8 Mbps to 42.1 Mbps
4.5 Mbps
91 ms
4,717
AT&T Enterprises
34.8 Mbps
17.3 Mbps to 57.9 Mbps
6.3 Mbps
63 ms
2,092
Servpac
61.7 Mbps
22.1 Mbps to 95.9 Mbps
32.0 Mbps
66 ms
579
AS-ANEXIA Anexia Cloud Solutions GmbH
9.5 Mbps
3.6 Mbps to 20.6 Mbps
2.5 Mbps
274 ms
524
CDNEXT Datacamp
38.5 Mbps
14.8 Mbps to 84.9 Mbps
5.2 Mbps
43 ms
212
Cellular networks, measured
The same measurement for the mobile networks behind 5G home internet. These tests come from phones as well as home gateways, so treat them as an indication of network health in the state rather than a home-internet plan speed.
Network
Median download
Middle half of tests
Median upload
Latency
Tests
T-Mobile USA
52.0 Mbps
14.0 Mbps to 116 Mbps
7.7 Mbps
80 ms
7,950
Latency is the number that decides whether video calls and gaming feel right, and it is where satellite differs most from everything else. Measured data is statewide: below county level there are usually too few tests to report an honest number.
Disclosure: some links on this page are affiliate links. If you sign up for a service or buy equipment through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes which options we list or the order we rank them in, and we do not accept payment for a better placement.
Your realistic options in Kauai County
Fiber
Fiber, if it has reached you
The best outcome by a distance: symmetric speed, low latency, no weather sensitivity, no data ceiling in practice.
Best for
Anyone whose address is inside a fiber build. Always check this first.
Watch out
Coverage stops abruptly at the edge of a build. Being a mile from fiber is the same as being fifty.
Fixed wireless
A local fixed-wireless provider
A regional operator beaming service from a tower or ridge to an antenna on your roof. In much of rural America this is the fastest thing available.
Best for
Counties where the FCC data shows large licensed fixed-wireless coverage, which this page tells you
Watch out
Needs line of sight. Quality varies enormously between operators; ask neighbours, not the sales page.
5G home internet
T-Mobile Home Internet
Home internet over T-Mobile’s cellular network. A gateway box you plug in yourself; no truck roll, no dish.
Best for
Rural addresses that still get a usable T-Mobile signal, often near a highway or a town
Watch out
Availability is decided address by address, not by town. Speed varies with how busy the local tower is.