Internet Overview
In Iowa

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Iowa state

About Iowa State

“Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain” is this state’s motto. The official Hawkeye state’s nickname comes from an earlier leader of the region, a Native American called Chief Black Hawk.

Located in the Midwest region of the United States, Iowa borders six states: Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota. It is part of the Northern-Central part of the United States.

Iowa lies between the mississippi River and the Missouri River and as the Indiana State, it is part of the Corn Belt region. Its capital, Des Moines, is also the largest city and metropolitan area in the state. It is a low-densely populated state, the 36th in the overall ranking.

Although in the Mid 20th century the Iowan economy have diversified a lot, it is still one of the most agriculturally productive areas of the country. Also known as the Tall Corn State, Iowa handles a great share of the food production of the entire country.

Other than that, manufacturing is highlighted as the largest sector in this state. Besides the food sector, chemical, electrical, primary metal and machinery products are also major in this sector. Health insurance, Finance, Energy, Taxation and Transportation are other large sectors in Iowa economy.

Most Popular Providers in IA

In this state, about 422 internet service providers or carriers currently offer internet connections such as Cable, DSL, Fiber and Satellite networks for residential, business, and other options.

Relatively, there is a great number of companies available in the internet market there. However, Iowa ranks in the 45th position in terms of broadband interconnectivity, in comparison to all the other American States.

To have an idea of what corroborates to that data, about 100.000 residents there cannot access a wired internet service from their household location. Plus, 457.000 Iowans can only access one wired internet company.

So, in terms of the digital technology distribution a development, there is still a big gap in the state. On the other hand, it is possible to find high speed internet plans and good options to connect by contracting packages from reliable brands, like Frontier Communications, AT&T, CenturyLink, HughesNet and Cox.

Now some of the internet services providers working in this State, considering popularity and highest coverage rates:

DSL AND FIBER

87%%

COVERAGE

FIBER

99%%

COVERAGE

DSL AND FIBER

97%%

COVERAGE

GEO SATELLITE & SATELLITE INTERNET

99%%

COVERAGE

FIBER

86%%

COVERAGE

Internet Connection in IA

internet_providers_woman-in-globe
Iowa is the 45th American State in the broadband access ranking, 81.3% of its territory is covered by a broadband service, that means, by the FCC definition, internet with speeds of at least 25 Mbps for download and 3 Mbps for upload.

The ranking includes factors such as speeds, equal divide, services’ quality, diversity, accessibility, availability, etc. In general, the state is not between the best, but nor is among the worst in terms of the services it can count with.

It is possible to conclude that the connection situation there is somehow vulnerable considering its position in the overall analyzes. In terms of technology inequity, even with more than 400 providers actively selling plans in the state’s territory, 457 million Iowans have only one company available in their location.

Besides that, only 18.5% of residents there can access low-priced internet plans, which shows a low affordability in general when it comes to broadband services. The national average for affordable plans (meaning $60 per month or less) is 51.5%, to have an idea.

Internet Speeds by City

Check out the 5 top cities with the fastest internet connections!

In Iowa, the average speeds are 60.5 Mbps. Now check out how internet speeds’ levels are distributed there:
  • 89.7% have access to wired broadband with 25 Mbps speeds or more.
  • 88.4% have access to 100 Mbps or more.
  • 78.6% have access to 1 gigabit speeds.

Internet Speeds by City

Check out the 5 top cities with the fastest internet connections!

CITY
AVG. DOWNLOAD SPEED
1. Des Moines
60.1 MBPS
2. Cedar Rapids
64.2 MBPS
3. Davenport
41.2 MBPS
4. Sioux City
72.8 MBPS
5. Iowa City
117.9 MBPS

Types of Internet

The main types of network connections are fairly distributed throughout the state, configurating the scenario below:

76% Cable

86% DSL

36% Fiber Optic

84% Satellite

Best Cities to Connect

In 2019 the Federal Communications Commission estimated that about 20% of American had access to a 1 Gigabit internet, which is an ultra-fast speed. Plus, about 80% of them had access to a high-speed broadband (25 Mbps).

In Idaho State, the prediction applies, as 89.7% of residents can access broadband service and 78.6% of them have access to ultra-fast services (1 gigabit internet).

According to the US News, and considering indicators of access and subscriptions per speeds, Idaho comes in 38th position of the States ranking in terms of access to internet services.

The research also pointed out that the state is the 38th when it comes to broadband subscription rate in comparison with the other 49 American States and in 27th in terms of access to gigabit internet.

Now see below the cities in Idaho that shows the highest internet service providers coverage (and their respective availability averages):
iowa State
  • Bettendorf (100%)
  • Clear Lake (100%)
  • Fairfax (100%)
  • Forest City (100%)
  • Hull (100%)
  • Lake Mills (100%)
  • Leon (100%)
  • Moville (100%)
  • Sioux Center (100%)
  • Windsor Heights (100%)
By analyzing all the cities in the Iowa territory, other 4 top fastest cities, and their respective average would be:
  • Mason City (23 Mbps)
  • North Liberty (23 Mbps)
  • Charles City (23 Mbps)
  • Waverly (22 Mbps)

More about internet and Iowa

Let’s start with the bad news and then get to the good ones.

If you live or plan to live in Iowa, there is a small chance you will have available for you any internet plan cheaper than $ 60 a month.

To be precise, only 18.5% of the addresses in the state have access to low price plans (less than $ 60) —the national average is around 50%, so the state’s figure is very low.

It gets even worse considering that the average download speed in Iowa is 74 Mbps, the second slowest in the United States —faster online than Alaska.

But on the other hand, over 80% of the addresses in the state have access to download speeds of 1000 Mbps (1 gigabit internet) or more —even though it is not cheap, at least it is fast.

When it comes to fiber connections, Iowa is ok. 47% of its addresses have fiber plans available.

There are three state programs active today focused on increasing broadband services in the state, and the local government has received almost $ 34 million from federal money to develop broadband infrastructure.

Since 2010, the Connected Nation Iowa program, made to expand high speed internet through the state, has received almost $6 million from federal grants itself.

There is only one provider in the state that offers an average download speed faster than 100 Mbps: Mediacom, with 154 Mbps.

So let's take a look at some of the most important cities in the state to see their broadband access.

Des Moines

Have you read it in a French accent?

The state’s capital, Des Moines, also reveals the state origin. During the 18 th and 19 th centuries, the region was part of Spanish Louisiana and, most of the time, of French Louisiana.

That is why the state’s flag looks very like the national flag of France —but with a motto written in the center of it.

The state was literally purchased from the Napoleonic French by the United States in 1803, in an episode called “The Louisiana Purchased”, when the US bought the French territory called Louisiana.

It was a 828 square miles, or 2.140.000 km², piece of land that goes from the actual state of Montanna, at North, to the actual state of Louisiana, at South. It is equivalent to 21% of the actual national territory.

The name of Des Moines comes from Fort Des Moines, which takes its names from the Des Moines Rivers. All those names, of course, are in French.

Historians have found that Des Moines means “from the monks”, and was derived from the term “Moingona”, the name of an important indigenous native clan of North America —the place where the city was built is known for being the first place where European explorers have encountered Moingona people.

Well, fast forward almost 300 years and you will get to today, when the city of Des Moines has over 214.000 residents, but an average download speed of only 80 Mbps.

That low average download speed might be explained by the fact that there are only two Internet Services Providers (ISP) in the city that offer 1 gigabit internet (those with around 1 Mbps download speed) and only one of them has fiber connections.

Fiber is the most recent technology for internet connections and is still being implemented throughout the United States. Although it has more data capacity and more speed capacity, it is not available everywhere.

In Des Moines, the only company that offers fiber internet is CenturyLink. The bad news is that the starting price for the company’s plans is $ 50, but the good news is that it only raises until $ 65.

The other alternative for very fast internet is Mediacom, that has a lower starting price ($ 20), but its most expensive plan costs $ 200 per month.

The problem is that Mediacom offers only cable connections. Although cable is very common and, as for today, it still delivers a good internet for almost anything we need in our houses, this technology will soon get obsolete.

The good news for people living in Des Moines is that fiber is available in almost 60% of the city’s addresses, but more than 2% of the residents of the city have no more than one provider available at their homes.

Some top internet providers in Des Moines

PROVIDER
AVG. DOWNLOAD SPEED
AVAILABILITY
FIBER AVAILABLE?
CenturyLink
940 Mbps
95.7%
yes
T-Home
115 Mbps
40%
no
Rise Broadband
25 Mbps
45.1%
no
ViaSat
100 Mbps
100%
no
HughesNet
25 Mbps
100%
no
Ultra
100 Mbps
34.2%
no
Mediacom
1000 Mbps
97.8%
no

Davenport

If you thought that the average download speed for Des Moines was not good, in Davenport it is ever worse: 52 Mbps.

The low average download speed gets ever more strange when you observe that there are three different Internet Services Providers (ISP) that offer 1 gigabit internet through fiber connections and one more that offers ir using cable connections.

The problem might be the prices. The only provider with gigabit internet and a starting plan price below $ 39.99 is Mediacom, which does not offer fiber internet.

From the three fiber alternatives, Geneseo is the only that has a starting price below $ 50, but it is only available in 8% of the city. Both CenturyLink and Metronet have starting prices of $ 50.

In fact, the city has an outstanding 68% fiber availability, of the best figures in the United States. That makes Davenport the 2 nd most connected city in the state of Iowa and a place where only 1.6% of its residents do not have access to two or more different internet providers.

One thing to know about Davenport is that the city is part of the Quad Cities: a region between Iowa and Illinois with four important cities: Davenport (the largest of them), Bettendorf, Rock Island and Moline.

It makes the city very important for regional politics and economy, even more considering it is half way from the capital Des Mondes to the city of Chicago, the third most populous city in the United States.

Some top internet providers in Davenport

PROVIDER
AVG. DOWNLOAD SPEED
AVAILABILITY
FIBER AVAILABLE?
CenturyLink
940 Mbps
96.2%
yes
Metronet
1,000 Mbps
99.8%
yes
T-Home
115 Mbps
40%
no
ViaSat
50 Mbps
100%
no
HughesNet
25 Mbps
100%
no
Ultra
100 Mbps
40%
no
NextLink
100 Mbps
99.2%
no
Mediacom
1000 Mbps
96.4%
no
Geneseo
1000 Mbps
8%
yes

Iowa City

If you were expecting one more city with bad download speed, forget it. You have got to Iowa City.

The city average download speed is 204 Mbps, almost three times the state’s average, and faster than cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston or Philadelphia.

There are four different alternatives for fiber connections in the city, but the top Internet Services Provider (ISP) is still CenturyLink.

It tops its fiber competitors even though it offers slightly slower download speed (940 Mbps against 1000 Mbps). This happens because CenturyLink has more more competitive prices (starting at $ 50 and raising only to $ 65) and is much more available them the other companies,

Metronet, which is also a nationwide company just as CenturyLink, is only present in less than 4% of the city's addresses. While ImOn gets to 26%, Sharon Telephone gets to 9% and does not offer very fast internet speeds —even having fiber connections.

Mediacom gets the second place in the city. It does not offer fiber connections, but its cable services get up to 1000 Mbps, are available for over 95% of the residents and the starting price is $ 20.

Another interesting alternative is Windstream. Although it is only available in 2% of Iowa City, it offers up to 200 Mbps (a good halfway for those who need more than 100 Mbps, but not as much as 1000 Mbps) and its starting plan price is also set at $ 20.

Some top internet providers in Iowa City

PROVIDER
AVG. DOWNLOAD SPEED
AVAILABILITY
FIBER AVAILABLE?
CenturyLink
940 Mbps
96.1%
yes
Rise Broadband
50 Mbps
86.5%
no
T-Home
115 Mbps
56.9%
no
ViaSat
50 Mbps
100%
no
HughesNet
25 Mbps
100%
yes
Ultra
100 Mbps
56.9%
no
Metronet
1000 Mbps
3.6%
yes
Windstream
200 Mbps
2%
no
Mediacom
1000 Mbps
95.5%
no
ImOn
1000 Mbps
26.6%
yes
Sharon Telephone
100 Mbps
9.1%
yes

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