Florence 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 Florence County sits in Wisconsin
Share of addresses with no fixed broadband at 25/3 Mbps
0.0% to 1.3%
1.3% to 2.5%
2.5% to 6.0%
6.0% to 8.6%
8.6% to 12%
12% to 22%
22% 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 Florence County
Locations covered by each technology, out of 4,940 broadband serviceable locations. An address can be reached by more than one technology, so these add up to more than 100%.
Fiber222 · 4.5%
Cable1,602 · 32%
Licensed fixed wireless771 · 16%
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
1,970
39.9%
Underserved
2,452
49.6%
Unserved
518
10.5%
What that means if you live here
The USDA classes Florence County as a completely rural county, or one with an urban population under 5,000, not adjacent to any metro area (continuum code 9).
About 4,593 people live across those locations, roughly 0.9 people per serviceable address.
10.5% of addresses here, 518 of them, fall below 25/3 Mbps or have no fixed option at all.
Another 2,452 can get something, but not the 100/20 Mbps the FCC now treats as the benchmark.
The most widely available technology here is cable, reaching 1,602 locations (32.4%); next is licensed fixed wireless at 15.6%.
Fiber reaches 222 locations, 4.5% of the county.
Cable reaches 32.4% of locations, more than fiber does, and it will be concentrated in the built-up parts of the county.
Filings come from 12 providers, of which 4 offer fiber and 3 licensed fixed wireless.
Fiber reached 169 more locations in Florence County over the last twelve months, a 3.4% swing in the county's total.
Served locations rose 17.12% year on year.
Florence County is harder-served than the typical Wisconsin county, where the median unserved share is 2.9%.
Fiber lags the rest of Wisconsin, where the median county is at 49.4%.
What people actually measure in Wisconsin
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
Charter Communications
168 Mbps
62.6 Mbps to 337 Mbps
11.4 Mbps
11 ms
111,518
AT&T Enterprises
92.8 Mbps
27.7 Mbps to 356 Mbps
65.8 Mbps
8 ms
37,023
TDS TELECOM
167 Mbps
48.6 Mbps to 321 Mbps
114 Mbps
10 ms
27,063
Airstream Communications
87.6 Mbps
32.0 Mbps to 156 Mbps
46.1 Mbps
17 ms
15,644
Brightspeed
10.4 Mbps
5.0 Mbps to 27.0 Mbps
0.8 Mbps
41 ms
12,989
Verizon Business
33.8 Mbps
9.8 Mbps to 90.3 Mbps
5.1 Mbps
31 ms
11,037
Frontier Communications of America
15.3 Mbps
6.1 Mbps to 31.2 Mbps
1.5 Mbps
20 ms
7,497
NetNet
22.4 Mbps
7.0 Mbps to 46.1 Mbps
3.9 Mbps
35 ms
4,253
WiscNet
82.9 Mbps
41.0 Mbps to 172 Mbps
85.4 Mbps
17 ms
4,244
Comcast Cable Communications
116 Mbps
44.7 Mbps to 263 Mbps
13.0 Mbps
29 ms
4,107
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
74.4 Mbps
19.6 Mbps to 164 Mbps
7.5 Mbps
29 ms
22,949
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 Florence 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