Rural internet in Illinois
1.9% of locations in Illinois have no fixed broadband at 25/3 Mbps. The state median rural county sits at 4.6% unserved and 58.4% fiber coverage. Pick your county below for the specific picture.
65 of Illinois's 102 counties are classed as rural by the USDA. Across the whole state the FCC records 79,928 locations with no fixed broadband, out of 4,126,949.
The ten hardest-served rural counties in Illinois
Ranked by the share of locations with no fixed service at 25/3 Mbps or better.
| County | Locations | Unserved | Share unserved | Fiber share |
|---|
| Henderson County | 4,574 | 1,264 | 27.6% | 66.2% |
|---|
| Pope County | 3,023 | 800 | 26.5% | 67.8% |
|---|
| Lee County | 19,007 | 4,446 | 23.4% | 43.5% |
|---|
| Hamilton County | 4,798 | 991 | 20.7% | 62.9% |
|---|
| Putnam County | 3,528 | 676 | 19.2% | 52.8% |
|---|
| Clark County | 8,509 | 1,544 | 18.1% | 58.5% |
|---|
| Schuyler County | 4,257 | 697 | 16.4% | 59.0% |
|---|
| Wabash County | 5,778 | 883 | 15.3% | 52.0% |
|---|
| Pike County | 9,735 | 1,321 | 13.6% | 47.0% |
|---|
| Brown County | 3,011 | 391 | 13.0% | 65.7% |
|---|
Every rural county in Illinois
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Options that work statewide
Satellite
Starlink
Low-earth-orbit satellite. Latency is low enough for video calls and most gaming, unlike older satellite services.
- Best for
- Anywhere with a clear view of the sky and no wired option
- Watch out
- Hardware costs money up front, and heavy tree cover or a north-facing obstruction will cost you throughput
See Starlink
5G home internet
T-Mobile Home Internet
Home internet over T-Mobile’s cellular network. A gateway box you plug in yourself; no truck roll, no dish.
- Best for
- Rural addresses that still get a usable T-Mobile signal, often near a highway or a town
- Watch out
- Availability is decided address by address, not by town. Speed varies with how busy the local tower is.
See T-Mobile Home Internet
5G home internet
Verizon Home Internet
The same idea on Verizon’s network, offered as 5G Home or LTE Home depending on what reaches your address.
- Best for
- Addresses with Verizon coverage where T-Mobile is weak
- Watch out
- LTE Home and 5G Home behave very differently. Confirm which one your address actually qualifies for.
See Verizon Home Internet
Fixed wireless
A local fixed-wireless provider
A regional operator beaming service from a tower or ridge to an antenna on your roof. In much of rural America this is the fastest thing available.
- Best for
- Counties where the FCC data shows large licensed fixed-wireless coverage, which this page tells you
- Watch out
- Needs line of sight. Quality varies enormously between operators; ask neighbours, not the sales page.
Sources
Page last updated 2026-09-01. The date moves when the underlying data moves, not when the site is rebuilt.