Elk County is genuinely hard to serve. 17.0% of locations here have no fixed broadband at all, so for a lot of addresses the real choice is satellite or a cellular home-internet gateway, not a wired provider.
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 Elk County sits in Kansas
Share of addresses with no fixed broadband at 25/3 Mbps
0.0% to 0.2%
0.2% to 1.8%
1.8% to 3.0%
3.0% to 5.1%
5.1% to 7.6%
7.6% to 9.7%
9.7% 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 Elk County
Locations covered by each technology, out of 2,005 broadband serviceable locations. An address can be reached by more than one technology, so these add up to more than 100%.
Fiber27 · 1.3%
Cable1,177 · 59%
Licensed fixed wireless807 · 40%
Unlicensed fixed wireless321 · 16%
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
1,536
76.6%
Underserved
129
6.4%
Unserved
340
17.0%
What that means if you live here
The USDA classes Elk County as a completely rural county, or one with an urban population under 5,000, adjacent to a metro area (continuum code 8).
Population is around 2,441, which works out to about 1.2 people for every address on the list.
340 locations, 17.0% of the county, have nothing that reaches 25/3 Mbps.
A further 6.4% of the county sits in the middle: served, but below the 100/20 Mbps mark.
The most widely available technology here is cable, reaching 1,177 locations (58.7%); next is licensed fixed wireless at 40.2%.
Fiber is essentially absent: 27 locations out of 2,005.
Licensed fixed wireless covers 40.2% of the county. It does not reach as far as cable does here, but it reaches places cable does not.
Cable reaches 58.7% of locations, more than fiber does, and it will be concentrated in the built-up parts of the county.
14 providers file coverage in Elk County: 1 with fiber, 2 with cable, 4 with licensed fixed wireless.
Served locations rose 13.69% year on year.
Elk County is harder-served than the typical Kansas county, where the median unserved share is 3.4%.
Fiber lags the rest of Kansas, where the median county is at 77.4%.
What people actually measure in Kansas
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
Cox Communications
110 Mbps
40.5 Mbps to 266 Mbps
12.0 Mbps
29 ms
39,183
AT&T Enterprises
103 Mbps
28.9 Mbps to 297 Mbps
60.2 Mbps
30 ms
24,763
Charter Communications
132 Mbps
55.4 Mbps to 238 Mbps
11.2 Mbps
51 ms
15,998
Verizon Business
20.5 Mbps
5.2 Mbps to 57.2 Mbps
4.5 Mbps
45 ms
7,589
Midcontinent Communications
102 Mbps
44.3 Mbps to 225 Mbps
26.9 Mbps
34 ms
4,366
IdeaTek Telcom
92.9 Mbps
45.6 Mbps to 208 Mbps
84.7 Mbps
32 ms
4,153
Rural Telephone Service Co
88.2 Mbps
37.3 Mbps to 162 Mbps
81.9 Mbps
28 ms
3,803
Brightspeed
14.5 Mbps
5.8 Mbps to 40.0 Mbps
1.4 Mbps
46 ms
2,707
Comcast Cable Communications
116 Mbps
52.0 Mbps to 290 Mbps
20.9 Mbps
27 ms
2,514
Everfast Fiber Networks
95.5 Mbps
40.5 Mbps to 263 Mbps
13.8 Mbps
28 ms
2,109
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
57.1 Mbps
15.8 Mbps to 132 Mbps
6.6 Mbps
46 ms
5,991
Wave Wireless
51.0 Mbps
8.4 Mbps to 126 Mbps
30.7 Mbps
38 ms
323
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.
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Your realistic options in Elk County
Satellite
Starlink
Low-earth-orbit satellite. Latency is low enough for video calls and most gaming, unlike older satellite services.
Best for
Anywhere with a clear view of the sky and no wired option
Watch out
Hardware costs money up front, and heavy tree cover or a north-facing obstruction will cost you throughput