Internet Providers in NYC

The fastest way to answer "what are my options" is New York State's own broadband availability map, run by the Public Service Commission: search an address and see which providers report service at that location. It will not tell you whether your specific unit is actually wired for a given provider, since a building can show a provider as available at the address while only certain lines or floors are connected. What the building's wiring actually determines is a separate question from what the map shows, worth checking with building management or a super before you commit to a provider based on the map alone.

What The Map Will Not Tell You

• Whether the specific line into your unit is active or needs a new installation.
• Whether building management restricts which company gets to install new wiring.
• Real-world speed at your address, which a provider's own coverage claim does not guarantee.

Fiber, cable, and fixed wireless are not interchangeable, and a building's wiring decides which ones are physically possible in your unit. Fiber needs its own line run into the building and often into each apartment; cable rides on older coaxial wiring many pre-war buildings already have; fixed wireless, marketed as 5G or 4G home internet, skips building wiring entirely by picking up a signal through a window-facing router. A building's maintenance history is a rough proxy for its wiring too, since a property with a long record of unresolved electrical work is less likely to have had fiber run through it recently.

Why Some Buildings Show Only One Real Option

Building owners can still control who gets to install new wiring, even where regulation bars an outright exclusive contract for a single provider. Public Knowledge, a nonprofit that has pushed federal regulators on this exact gap, argues a landlord can still functionally lock a building to one company by controlling access for a competing installation, even without a formal exclusivity clause. That is the practical reason a coverage map can list several providers while only one is realistically installable in your unit.

New York's Affordable Broadband Act requires large internet providers to offer a plan at $15 a month for at least 25 Mbps, or $20 a month for at least 200 Mbps, to households that qualify by income or by enrollment in a program such as SNAP, Medicaid, or free and reduced-price school lunch. No bundles or added fees are allowed on top of that price, and enrollment runs through the provider directly once eligibility is confirmed, not through a separate city office.

Big Apple Connect For NYCHA Residents

NYCHA residents have a separate option: through Big Apple Connect, eligible NYCHA households can get home internet and basic cable TV for as low as $0 a month. As of its 2023 expansion the program had enrolled more than 150,000 households across roughly 220 NYCHA developments, and it is not available outside NYCHA housing.

A landlord cannot flatly refuse to let a cable or internet company install service in a building; state law allows only reasonable conditions to protect the property's safety, function, and appearance, such as approved entry times or damage liability. If a landlord denies access outright or sets conditions that amount to a refusal, the Public Service Commission can grant the company an order of entry over the landlord's objection. That protection runs to the installer, not directly to you as a tenant, so getting a new provider wired in still goes through your landlord or management company first, and a super who has fielded the request before usually moves faster than one hearing it for the first time.

Before You Book

• Ask the provider to confirm your specific apartment number is serviceable, not just the building address.
• Ask what installation involves, a technician visit, drilling, or running a cable along baseboards, and whether building approval is required for any of that.
• Ask about the contract term and any early termination fee before you sign, especially on a short-term lease.
• On a tight move-in schedule, what to sort out in your first week in a new apartment usually includes booking installation early, since appointment windows can run one to two weeks out.