Google Fiber vs Spectrum

These two overlap in 14 metro areas and 100 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.

Google Fiber vs Spectrum at a glance

Google FiberSpectrum
Main technology Fiber Cable
Residential locations on that technology 1,886,259 33,900,003
Single technology or mixed Mixed Mixed
Full coverage detail Where Google Fiber is available Coverage page coming

We do not publish speeds or prices here.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 Google Fiber and Spectrum 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.

Metro area Google Fiber Spectrum
Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area 56% 65%
Raleigh-Cary, NC Metro Area 33% 93%
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area 30% 88%
Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX Metro Area 22% 81%
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area 22% 86%
Huntsville, AL Metro Area 32% 12%
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area 11% 82%
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro Area 12% 10%
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA Metro Area 3% 17%
Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metro Area 8% 2%
Jefferson City, MO Metro Area 2% 8%
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area 2% 30%
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area 1% 85%
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metro Area 0% 2%

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: Google Fiber is mainly fiber and Spectrum 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.