Hayes County is genuinely hard to serve. 50.2% 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 Hayes County sits in Nebraska
Share of addresses with no fixed broadband at 25/3 Mbps
0.0% to 0.8%
0.8% to 2.4%
2.4% to 4.0%
4.0% to 6.6%
6.6% to 8.9%
8.9% to 14%
14% 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 Hayes County
Locations covered by each technology, out of 630 broadband serviceable locations. An address can be reached by more than one technology, so these add up to more than 100%.
Fiber240 · 38%
Cable0 · 0.0%
Licensed fixed wireless161 · 26%
Unlicensed fixed wireless19 · 3.0%
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
270
42.9%
Underserved
44
7.0%
Unserved
316
50.2%
What that means if you live here
The USDA classes Hayes County as a completely rural county, or one with an urban population under 5,000, not adjacent to any metro area (continuum code 9).
Population is around 843, which works out to about 1.3 people for every address on the list.
More than half of Hayes County, 316 of 630 locations, has no fixed service reaching 25/3 Mbps. Very few counties in the country are in this position.
A further 7.0% of the county sits in the middle: served, but below the 100/20 Mbps mark.
The most widely available technology here is fiber, reaching 240 locations (38.1%); next is licensed fixed wireless at 25.6%.
Fiber reaches 240 locations, 38.1% of the county.
12 providers file coverage in Hayes County: 3 with fiber, 0 with cable, 3 with licensed fixed wireless.
Served locations fell 12.05% year on year, usually a filing correction rather than a loss of service.
Hayes County is harder-served than the typical Nebraska county, where the median unserved share is 4.0%.
Fiber lags the rest of Nebraska, where the median county is at 71.9%.
What people actually measure in Nebraska
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
136 Mbps
49.3 Mbps to 303 Mbps
22.3 Mbps
25 ms
36,268
Verizon Business
33.2 Mbps
9.7 Mbps to 100 Mbps
8.6 Mbps
43 ms
26,412
Allo Communications
166 Mbps
60.8 Mbps to 385 Mbps
105 Mbps
27 ms
12,542
CenturyLink Communications
83.1 Mbps
22.0 Mbps to 242 Mbps
42.8 Mbps
25 ms
12,393
Charter Communications
108 Mbps
53.8 Mbps to 213 Mbps
10.4 Mbps
47 ms
7,198
Great Plains Communications
101 Mbps
47.3 Mbps to 197 Mbps
36.9 Mbps
32 ms
6,947
Windstream Communications
60.9 Mbps
18.9 Mbps to 147 Mbps
23.0 Mbps
30 ms
5,795
Nextlink Broadband
23.9 Mbps
12.3 Mbps to 50.0 Mbps
4.3 Mbps
33 ms
2,469
HUNTEL.NET
81.3 Mbps
21.7 Mbps to 205 Mbps
25.7 Mbps
25 ms
2,213
Network Nebraska
88.1 Mbps
43.5 Mbps to 164 Mbps
90.2 Mbps
27 ms
1,570
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
Prairie Hills Wireless
39.7 Mbps
24.2 Mbps to 49.7 Mbps
30.9 Mbps
49 ms
349
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 Hayes 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