Orleans County is genuinely hard to serve. 15.3% 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 Orleans 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 Orleans County
Locations covered by each technology, out of 15,412 broadband serviceable locations. An address can be reached by more than one technology, so these add up to more than 100%.
Fiber3,227 · 21%
Cable7,987 · 52%
Licensed fixed wireless800 · 5.2%
Unlicensed fixed wireless0 · 0.0%
DSL over copper298 · 1.9%
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
10,457
67.8%
Underserved
2,602
16.9%
Unserved
2,353
15.3%
What that means if you live here
The USDA classes Orleans 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 27,546, which works out to about 1.8 people for every address on the list.
2,353 locations, 15.3% of the county, have nothing that reaches 25/3 Mbps.
A further 16.9% of the county sits in the middle: served, but below the 100/20 Mbps mark.
The most widely available technology here is cable, reaching 7,987 locations (51.8%); next is fiber at 20.9%.
Fiber reaches 3,227 locations, 20.9% of the county.
Cable reaches 51.8% of locations, more than fiber does, and it will be concentrated in the built-up parts of the county.
16 providers file coverage in Orleans County: 5 with fiber, 1 with cable, 4 with licensed fixed wireless.
In twelve months fiber went from 1,719 locations to 3,227 here.
Served locations rose 10.86% year on year.
Orleans County is harder-served than the typical Vermont county, where the median unserved share is 5.2%.
Fiber lags the rest of Vermont, where the median county is at 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.
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Your realistic options in Orleans 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