How much choice does South Dakota actually have?
South Dakota ranks 49 of 52 for wired internet choice, among the worst in the country. 35.8% of homes here have at most one wired company able to serve them, against 15.7% nationally.
Free to cite with attribution to WhereFiber. Rank 1 is the state with the fewest such homes. contact@wherefiber.com
| South Dakota | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Residential locations | 391,050 | 114,550,235 |
| At most one wireline company in the block | 35.8% | 15.7% |
| In a block where nobody reports fiber | 17.5% | 27.9% |
| In a block with exactly one fiber company | 71.1% | 52.2% |
South Dakota has less wireline choice than the country as a whole. More of the state sits in blocks where a single company is the only wired option. These are floors rather than estimates, for reasons we set out in the national study.
Providers serving South Dakota
Share of South Dakota residential locations each operator reports it can reach. A low percentage is not a bad network. It usually means a network concentrated in a few towns.
| Provider | Technology | Share of South Dakota covered |
|---|---|---|
| Midco | Cable | 61.0% |
| T-Mobile Fiber | Fiber | 51.9% |
| Quantum Fiber | Fiber | 47.0% |
| Verizon Fios | Fiber | 41.4% |
| Bluepeak | Fiber | 34.5% |
| AT&T Fiber | Fiber | 34.3% |
| Mediacom | Cable | 3.7% |
| Rise Broadband | Fixed Wireless | 3.7% |
| Nextlink Internet | Fixed Wireless | 1.0% |
| Sparklight | Cable | 1.0% |
| Great Plains Communications | Mixed | Under 0.1% |
Covers the 69 operators we have mapped from FCC holding-company names to the brand people actually buy. Smaller operators that file under a name we have not yet matched are not listed here, so a local provider missing from this table may still serve you, because the address check below reads the raw filing and will show it.
What speeds are available across South Dakota
Share of South Dakota homes where at least one provider reports offering that speed on that technology. This is genuine state level data, the level the FCC actually publishes it at.
| Technology | 25/3 Mbps | 100/20 Mbps | 250/25 Mbps | 1 Gbps / 100 Mbps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiber | 66% | 66% | 66% | 63% |
| Cable | 57% | 56% | 56% | 23% |
| Fixed wireless | 75% | 52% | 1% | 1% |
| Any technology | 100% | 100% | 100% | 77% |
Reading this page honestly
A statewide percentage tells you about South Dakota. It does not tell you about your street. Fiber in particular was built out block by block, and nationally up to one in nine residential locations sits in a block where fiber exists and still does not reach the building, so a provider showing strong statewide coverage here can still tell you no.
Providers report their own coverage to the FCC and the data is known to overstate it. Where a provider says it cannot serve you, it is right and the filing is wrong.
Related: how much choice Americans have, state by state · fiber vs cable · fiber providers · cable providers