How to ensure you have adequate internet service when buying a home

The report found that Arkansas, Mississippi and New Mexico are the three states with the largest share of homes without internet access, with an average of 19.17 percent without an internet connection.

When to lock in your mortgage rate

For more context and advice about internet access, we turned to Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association; and Robert Gilbert, CEO of Fiber Homes, which has a platform to help consumers find communities with broadband service. Both responded via email and their responses were edited.

How many locations in the U.S. lack high-speed internet access?

Gilbert: While great progress is being made bridging America’s digital divide, it’s estimated that more than 20 million homes still lack access to what would be considered high-speed internet. The majority of these homes are in the more rural areas of the country.

Even with so much focus on expanding high-speed internet access, if someone is looking to buy or rent a home outside of a major metropolitan market, it is far from guaranteed that they will be able to get the level of high-speed internet they need.

Bloomfield: That is a tougher question to answer than it should be because of complications with definitions and shortcomings in the mapping of broadband coverage. The answer depends first on how you define high-speed access. The FCC previously indicated that just over four percent of Americans lack access to broadband speeds of 25 megabits per seconds (Mbps), with eight percent lacking access to 100 Mbps. But even as work is underway to improve them, the FCC’s current maps measure broadband based only upon advertised speeds and they admittedly overstate coverage. So, we all have to work with estimates — but it’s clear that millions of Americans lack access to robust broadband, and it’s also clear that many of the unserved and underserved parts of the country are in rural America. But there are also hundreds of community-based broadband providers in the U.S. who serve some of the hardest-to-reach parts of rural America. In these areas, connectivity is great. For example, 75 percent of our members provide fiber-to-the-home connectivity, which doesn’t always happen even in urban locations.

How can home buyers find out about internet access ahead of a purchase? Is this info typically in an MLS listing?

Gilbert: Unlike utilities, internet access is rarely included in Multiple Listing Service (MLS) listings even though access to reliable broadband is increasingly crucial, especially for remote workers. As a result, some MLSs are working to make this data available to their members and consumers. For example,

Triangle MLS, located near Raleigh, N.C., is working with Fiber Homes to incorporate the information directly into their data service so that consumers can search for homes with broadband as easily as they search for three bedrooms and three baths. The hope is that more MLSs around the country will follow their lead.

Is there a way to test how well the internet works before making an offer to buy a place?

Gilbert: Short of physically conducting a speed test on your device at the property, asking the seller or the seller’s agent is the best option, but not always the most reliable. For instance, the current resident may not know the options available at the address or even what service or speed they currently get.

The most reliable way to know would be to identify and contact the local internet provider directly and find out what types of internet service are available specifically at that address. If it has fiber-optic access, the buyer can be confident they will get the fastest and most consistent internet available. If it has cable internet access, the quality of service may still be good, but not guaranteed. If the home only has access to DSL or satellite, the quality of internet may very well be below the standard the buyer expects or needs.

Bloomfield: Testing a connection before buying a place can be tricky. At NTCA we recommend asking about the internet service providers (ISPs) in a community and their offerings before choosing a home. Particularly if the ISP is a community-based company or cooperative, they have a vested interest in providing the best possible services and speeds because they also live and raise families in the areas they serve.

What’s the basic level of internet service someone needs if they plan to work at home or if they stream movies or play video games?

Bloomfield: Years ago, a 4 Mbps download speed was considered good enough for the average consumer and the FCC has defined 25 Mbps as effectively a “baseline” for broadband more recently. But the pandemic has highlighted how we need more robust and reliable connectivity everywhere. When life moved almost exclusively online, we saw parents working from home and kids on Zoom for school — all at the same time. You need bandwidth to be able to do all that. While every household is a little different, NTCA has recommended the FCC set the standard at 100/100 Mbps so we can better keep pace with the ever-evolving level of services that consumers need.

Gilbert: If your household likes to use multiple devices at once — for example, you want your kids to stream a show while you do a video call for work — you’ll probably want at least 250 Mbps of download speed and 100 Mbps of upload speed. Just remember that the more speed you have, the easier it will be to use multiple devices in your home without buffering, lagging or dropped connections.

If a home doesn’t have high speed internet, is there anything a buyer or homeowner can do about it?

Gilbert: There are not many options in that case. They can contact their local internet provider about bringing service to the home, but often the homeowner will have to pay some or all of the construction costs associated with building service to their home, which can be very expensive. Satellite internet is available in most locations, but the download and upload speeds are going to be much lower than fiber internet and other options.

Bloomfield: If looking for a home that is well-connected is not an option, I would recommend contacting the local ISP to see if broadband-level service can be provided in the future. Fiber is the gold standard (and the technology most suited for future bandwidth demands) but other options like satellite and fixed wireless connections might provide at least some basic level of connectivity when fiber is not available.