Orange County is better served than most rural counties. Fiber already reaches 79.3% 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 Orange County sits in Vermont
Share of addresses with no fixed broadband at 25/3 Mbps
0.0% to 1.4%
1.4% to 3.8%
3.8% to 5.0%
5.0% to 5.6%
5.6% to 6.6%
6.6% 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 Orange County
Locations covered by each technology, out of 14,534 broadband serviceable locations. An address can be reached by more than one technology, so these add up to more than 100%.
Fiber11,522 · 79%
Cable4,104 · 28%
Licensed fixed wireless2,169 · 15%
Unlicensed fixed wireless0 · 0.0%
DSL over copper57 · 0.4%
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
12,814
88.2%
Underserved
945
6.5%
Unserved
775
5.3%
What that means if you live here
The USDA classes Orange 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 29,541, which works out to about 2.0 people for every address on the list.
775 locations, 5.3% of the county, have nothing that reaches 25/3 Mbps.
A further 6.5% of the county sits in the middle: served, but below the 100/20 Mbps mark.
The most widely available technology here is fiber, reaching 11,522 locations (79.3%); next is cable at 28.2%.
Fiber already reaches 79.3% of the county (11,522 locations), which puts Orange County well ahead of most rural America.
17 providers file coverage in Orange County: 8 with fiber, 2 with cable, 4 with licensed fixed wireless.
In twelve months fiber went from 9,966 locations to 11,522 here.
Served locations rose 9.19% year on year.
Fiber is further along here than in most of Vermont, where the median county reaches 65.3%.
What people actually measure in Vermont
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
133 Mbps
52.8 Mbps to 284 Mbps
16.2 Mbps
23 ms
21,454
Fidium
21.4 Mbps
6.9 Mbps to 104 Mbps
2.1 Mbps
22 ms
8,406
Selectronics
23.5 Mbps
11.3 Mbps to 55.9 Mbps
21.1 Mbps
22 ms
2,222
Charter Communications
129 Mbps
61.5 Mbps to 243 Mbps
10.3 Mbps
37 ms
2,096
Burlington Telecom
120 Mbps
41.7 Mbps to 222 Mbps
88.3 Mbps
20 ms
2,092
Vermont Telephone Company
93.0 Mbps
26.4 Mbps to 287 Mbps
89.2 Mbps
18 ms
2,033
ECFiber
89.2 Mbps
48.6 Mbps to 275 Mbps
79.6 Mbps
19 ms
1,897
FirstLight Fiber
61.4 Mbps
30.2 Mbps to 101 Mbps
45.4 Mbps
15 ms
1,193
Stowe Communications
44.8 Mbps
18.0 Mbps to 96.4 Mbps
19.5 Mbps
20 ms
1,055
TDS TELECOM
31.7 Mbps
10.6 Mbps to 162 Mbps
10.1 Mbps
24 ms
551
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 Orange 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.