AT&T Fiber vs Cox
These two overlap in 56 metro areas and 749 towns and cities, so for a lot of people this is a real choice rather than a hypothetical one. The first question is not which is better. It is which of them can reach you.
AT&T Fiber vs Cox at a glance
| Measure | AT&T Fiber | Cox |
|---|---|---|
| Main technology | Fiber | Cable |
| Residential locations on that technology | 19,375,365 | 6,447,111 |
| Single technology or mixed | Mixed | Mixed |
| Full coverage detail | Where AT&T Fiber is available | Where Cox is available |
We do not publish speeds or prices here. Both providers change them constantly and by market, and a stale number is worse than no number. Coverage is the part that is federally reported and verifiable.
Where you can get both
Metro areas where both AT&T Fiber and Cox report service, ranked by how well covered the less available of the two is because that is what decides whether you genuinely get a choice.
These percentages count each operator's whole reported network. 23.8% of what AT&T Fiber files with the FCC is fiber. The FCC publishes that split nationally and never per metro, so a high number here means the operator reaches the metro, not that it reaches it on that technology.
| Metro area | AT&T Fiber | Cox |
|---|---|---|
| Wichita, KS Metro Area | 77% | 83% |
| Baton Rouge, LA Metro Area | 75% | 75% |
| Oklahoma City, OK Metro Area | 75% | 76% |
| Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR Metro Area | 70% | 77% |
| Salina, KS Micro Area | 72% | 69% |
| New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area | 83% | 69% |
| Garden City, KS Micro Area | 71% | 68% |
| Topeka, KS Metro Area | 67% | 68% |
| Hutchinson, KS Micro Area | 66% | 68% |
| Lafayette, LA Metro Area | 66% | 73% |
| Tulsa, OK Metro Area | 66% | 73% |
| Manhattan, KS Metro Area | 64% | 69% |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area | 79% | 63% |
| Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL Metro Area | 62% | 66% |
| Fort Smith, AR-OK Metro Area | 65% | 62% |
| Macon-Bibb County, GA Metro Area | 60% | 66% |
| Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metro Area | 60% | 79% |
| Warner Robins, GA Metro Area | 59% | 76% |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ Metro Area | 56% | 84% |
| Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL Metro Area | 80% | 52% |
| Gainesville, FL Metro Area | 48% | 60% |
| Roanoke, VA Metro Area | 48% | 52% |
| Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metro Area | 48% | 80% |
| Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV Metro Area | 47% | 91% |
| Tucson, AZ Metro Area | 46% | 57% |
Showing 25 of 56 metro areas where both operate.
Where only one of them reaches
AT&T Fiber reports service in 47 states and Cox in 18, and they share 17 of them. Overlap is the exception, not the rule, so if you are outside the table above this is the part that answers your question.
818 metro areas have AT&T Fiber and not Cox
- San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA Metro Area 91% covered
- Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Metro Area 89% covered
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL Metro Area 87% covered
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metro Area 87% covered
- Akron, OH Metro Area 87% covered
- Gainesville, GA Metro Area 85% covered
- Key West, FL Micro Area 85% covered
- Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL Metro Area 85% covered
1 metro areas have Cox and not AT&T Fiber
- Hailey, ID Micro Area 79% covered
States where only AT&T Fiber reports service: Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi and 18 more. States where only Cox reports service: Idaho.
Showing the eight best covered of each. Ranked by reported coverage within the metro, from the same FCC filing as the table above. Providers self report and overstate, so read these as a ceiling on where a company will sell to you, not a promise about your street.
Which should you pick?
Honestly, in most of the places above only one of them will actually reach your building, and that settles it. Where both do reach you, the useful question is the technology rather than the brand.
That is the case here: AT&T Fiber is mainly fiber and Cox is mainly cable. The practical difference is upload speed and consistency rather than headline download speed, we explain what that means here.
See which one reaches your address →
What we will not do is tell you one is better because it pays us more. See the affiliate disclosure for how that works.