New Hampshire Ranks 7th in Internet Speed as Strafford County Hits 443.8 Mbps

Q: How did New Hampshire secure a top ten national internet ranking when almost none of its counties cracked the top 200?

New Hampshire ranked seventh because its statewide internet performance was strong and unusually consistent, even if few individual counties were national standouts. Faro’s county data show that only Strafford County cracked the top 200, at No. 60 with 443.8 Mbps. But the state’s slowest county, Coos, still averaged 277.8 Mbps. That meant New Hampshire had a relatively narrow gap between its best and worst county — about 1.6 times — compared with a 7.1-fold spread nationally. In other words, New Hampshire did not rely on a handful of elite counties; it benefited from having no truly catastrophic weak spots by national standards. That matters because state rankings reward broad overall performance. Hillsborough and Rockingham also posted solid speeds, even if they missed the top 200, and much of southern New Hampshire and the Seacoast has strong cable and fiber service. Faro also found that 98.2% of premises in the state were serviceable at 100 Mbps or better, while 90.8% of measured devices actually reached that mark. Other speed studies support the same picture. HighSpeedInternet.com ranked New Hampshire third nationally by median download speed, at 185.18 Mbps, behind only Delaware and New Jersey. Separate Ookla-based findings also credited providers such as Fidium with strong statewide fiber performance. The short answer is that New Hampshire’s top-10 finish came from solid speeds across nearly all counties, not from dominating the very top of the county leaderboard.

2 articles · Updated · The Union Leader · Aug 25

New Hampshire placed seventh nationwide for internet speed in Faro’s latest study, even though just one of its 10 counties cracked the national top 200.
Strafford County posted the state’s fastest average speed at 443.8 Mbps, ranking 60th among 2,530 U.S. counties that qualified for the survey.
The gap suggests New Hampshire’s statewide standing is being supported by generally strong service rather than a broad cluster of top-ranked counties.
Faro, an AI readiness expert group, produced the ranking as part of a nationwide assessment of internet speeds.