McKean County is genuinely hard to serve. 10.5% 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 McKean County sits in Pennsylvania
Share of addresses with no fixed broadband at 25/3 Mbps
0.0% to 3.5%
3.5% to 6.6%
6.6% to 8.2%
8.2% to 11%
11% to 14%
14% to 18%
18% 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 McKean County
Locations covered by each technology, out of 20,374 broadband serviceable locations. An address can be reached by more than one technology, so these add up to more than 100%.
Fiber4,236 · 21%
Cable15,583 · 76%
Licensed fixed wireless11,251 · 55%
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
17,523
86.0%
Underserved
717
3.5%
Unserved
2,134
10.5%
What that means if you live here
The USDA classes McKean County as a nonmetro county with an urban population of 5,000 to 20,000, not adjacent to a metro area (continuum code 7).
Population is around 39,941, which works out to about 2.0 people for every address on the list.
2,134 locations, 10.5% of the county, have nothing that reaches 25/3 Mbps.
A further 3.5% of the county sits in the middle: served, but below the 100/20 Mbps mark.
The most widely available technology here is cable, reaching 15,583 locations (76.5%); next is licensed fixed wireless at 55.2%.
Fiber reaches 4,236 locations, 20.8% of the county.
Licensed fixed wireless covers 55.2% of the county. It does not reach as far as cable does here, but it reaches places cable does not.
Cable reaches 76.5% of locations, more than fiber does, and it will be concentrated in the built-up parts of the county.
21 providers file coverage in McKean County: 9 with fiber, 5 with cable, 4 with licensed fixed wireless.
In twelve months fiber went from 1,779 locations to 4,236 here.
Served locations rose 1.80% year on year.
McKean County is harder-served than the typical Pennsylvania county, where the median unserved share is 4.5%.
Fiber lags the rest of Pennsylvania, where the median county is at 40.4%.
What people actually measure in Pennsylvania
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
Comcast Cable Communications
126 Mbps
49.7 Mbps to 295 Mbps
19.7 Mbps
21 ms
330,898
Verizon Business
162 Mbps
51.4 Mbps to 328 Mbps
90.2 Mbps
8 ms
160,532
PenTeleData
118 Mbps
51.3 Mbps to 253 Mbps
12.7 Mbps
16 ms
55,954
RCN
132 Mbps
48.2 Mbps to 295 Mbps
22.9 Mbps
12 ms
26,358
Breezeline
102 Mbps
49.3 Mbps to 217 Mbps
17.0 Mbps
23 ms
18,839
AT&T Enterprises
61.5 Mbps
23.0 Mbps to 131 Mbps
6.5 Mbps
17 ms
18,532
Armstrong
112 Mbps
58.2 Mbps to 263 Mbps
19.2 Mbps
28 ms
16,896
Charter Communications
111 Mbps
44.4 Mbps to 248 Mbps
10.7 Mbps
36 ms
12,388
Windstream Communications
53.2 Mbps
13.9 Mbps to 203 Mbps
23.4 Mbps
27 ms
11,405
Brightspeed
8.5 Mbps
3.5 Mbps to 17.4 Mbps
0.7 Mbps
32 ms
5,619
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
45.2 Mbps
10.9 Mbps to 127 Mbps
7.5 Mbps
32 ms
119,956
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 McKean 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