WISP Report Card: Data Shows Most Fail FCC’s 100/20 Mbps Benchmark

There are around 2,000 U.S. wireless internet service providers, and about nine million Americans get their internet service from these companies, according to the Wireless ISP Association. Many of these WISPs are very small and provide service to just a few hundred customers. Using Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence data, we examined the performance of eight of the larger US WISPs from Q1 2021 through Q2 2025. Highlights include:

• Starry, which is being acquired by Verizon, delivered the highest median download speeds (202.25 Mbps in Q2 2025) of all eight US WISPs that we studied. 
• GeoLinks uses a combination of licensed and unlicensed high-band spectrum as well as some mid-band spectrum, and it delivered the slowest median download speeds (22.74 Mbps in Q2 2025) of the WISPs we reviewed. Its users in the 75th percentile (those in the upper end of the typical speed range) experienced download speeds of 56.58 Mbps in Q2 2025. 
• Because of Starry’s faster speeds, the WISP was able to deliver the Federal Communications Commission’s minimum requirement for broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbps to 66.88 percent of Speedtest users in Q2 2025. 
• WISPs face a growing threat from low-Earth orbit satellite providers like Starlink, which can reach rural users with download speeds that are often faster than WISPs. 
• To continue to compete in the broadband space, WISPs need to find ways to secure more spectrum to avoid network congestion and interference.