Boulder is a small metro with big-metro fiber density. You have Comcast coax in nearly every commercial building, CenturyLink fiber in a lot of them, a municipal fiber backbone the city has been quietly extending for years, and now an ALLO overbuild starting in 2025. That mix is unusual for a city of 100,000. The practical result: most commercial addresses have at least two real fiber options, sometimes three, plus cable. If you're paying Comcast prices on a single circuit, you're almost certainly leaving money on the table because a competitor is on-net in your building and you don't know it.
Boulder is mostly a Comcast and CenturyLink market with a growing list of fiber overbuilders. Comcast Business has the dominant cable footprint. CenturyLink (Lumen) has fiber in parts of the city. The City of Boulder has been building out municipal fiber. T-Mobile fixed wireless is widely available.
The pricing problem in Boulder is paying Comcast prices when CenturyLink fiber or muni fiber sit in the same building. Boulder has more fiber options on commercial blocks than most cities its size.
What's specific to Boulder
Boulder commercial demand sits in three places. Downtown Boulder along Pearl Street holds the legal, financial, and small-business core. Boulder Junction north of downtown is the planned mixed-use commercial district anchored by Class A office and the regional transit depot. East Boulder along Pearl Parkway and Arapahoe is the suburban office and light-industrial spine. The University of Colorado Boulder and BAE Systems are two of the largest commercial accounts in the metro and shape what enterprise pricing looks like for the rest of the market.
In November 2024, the City of Boulder announced a fiber lease agreement with ALLO Communications to extend high-speed internet citywide, with construction expected to begin in 2025. That puts a serious fiber overbuilder against Comcast and CenturyLink for the first time in this metro, and is the most active piece of broadband news here in years.
What you should be paying
These are dedicated internet ranges from current carrier wholesale data, marked up to typical retail.
Boulder dedicated internet, typical retail (mid 50%)
Monthly recurring charge, dedicated internet access (DIA). Numbers are derived from current carrier wholesale quotes. Shown as a metro-tier band where city-level data is thin.
| Speed | Typical retail (mid 50%) | Sample size |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Mbps | $630 – $1,060/mo | n = 6 |
| 500 Mbps | $955 – $1,660/mo | n = 6 |
| 1 Gbps | $1,195 – $2,000/mo | n = 7 |
| 10 Gbps | $1,560 – $6,250/mo | n = 6 |
If your bill sits above the high end of the band, you are likely overpaying.
Analyze My Bill FreeFor Comcast Business coax at 600 Mbps, the fair price is $150 to $230 a month for a single office. For CenturyLink fiber at 1 Gbps, expect $150 to $230 a month.
Carriers worth quoting in Boulder
Five carriers cover most addresses in the metro.
- Comcast Business. Coax everywhere, fiber in select buildings.
- CenturyLink (Lumen) Business. Fiber where they have rebuilt, copper elsewhere.
- Crown Castle Fiber. Common in commercial buildings downtown.
- T-Mobile Business Internet. $85 a month for 200 to 300 Mbps. Useful benchmark.
- Verizon 5G Business Internet. $99 a month at 400 Mbps.
If you have not had three of these on a quote sheet, you have not run a real comparison.
What to do this week
- Pull your most recent invoice. Find the contract end date and the side fees.
- Get one quote outside Comcast. T-Mobile Business Internet is the fastest benchmark.
- Compare your base rate to the bands above. If you are 20 percent above the high end, the retention call is worth making.
See where your Boulder bill sits against current rates
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Carriers worth a quote here
- Comcast Business
Dominant cable footprint across Pearl Street, East Boulder, and the Gunbarrel commercial parks. Aggressive on broadband pricing when you have a written CenturyLink fiber quote in hand, much less aggressive when you don't.
- Lumen Business
CenturyLink fiber covers chunks of downtown, Boulder Junction, and the Pearl Parkway corridor. Pricing is competitive on 1 Gbps DIA in on-net buildings but jumps fast for off-net addresses that need a build.
- ALLO Fiber
Signed a fiber lease with the City of Boulder in November 2024 and is building out starting in 2025. Expect ALLO to use the city's existing conduit to reach commercial addresses faster than a typical overbuilder.
- AT&T Business
Not an ILEC in Colorado, so AT&T sells mostly as a national wireline option for multi-site customers headquartered elsewhere. Limited local fiber, usually delivered over a leased loop from Lumen or a regional carrier.
- Crown Castle Fiber
On-net in select Class A buildings in Boulder Junction and along the Pearl Parkway tech corridor. Worth quoting if you need a wave or a second diverse path that isn't reselling Lumen's loop.
- T-Mobile Business
Fixed wireless is widely available across Boulder and useful as a cheap secondary circuit. Don't use it as a primary for anything latency-sensitive or for a site that needs an SLA.
What internet costs in Boulder, Colorado right now
Boulder, Colorado market notes
Common questions about business internet in Boulder, Colorado
Is CenturyLink fiber actually available at my Boulder address?
Maybe. CenturyLink fiber covers parts of downtown, Boulder Junction, and the Pearl Parkway corridor, but coverage is building-by-building, not neighborhood-by-neighborhood. The only reliable answer is a serviceability check at your specific address. Ask for a written quote with the install timeline, because an on-net quote and an off-net build quote can differ by thousands of dollars in NRC.
When will ALLO Fiber reach my building?
ALLO's agreement with the City of Boulder was announced in November 2024 and construction was expected to begin in 2025. The build uses existing city conduit, which should be faster than a greenfield overbuild, but no carrier hits every address at once. Check ALLO's serviceability tool quarterly. If you're up for renewal soon, don't sign a 3-year deal without asking when ALLO is reaching your block.
What is a fair price for 1 Gbps dedicated internet in Boulder?
In an on-net Lumen or Crown Castle building, $1,195 to $1,500 a month on a 36-month term is reasonable for a single-site SMB. Off-net or single-tenant buildings push higher because the carrier has to recover loop or build costs. If you're being quoted above $1,700 for 1 Gbps DIA in a multi-tenant Boulder office, push back and get a competing quote.
Can I use T-Mobile fixed wireless as my primary business circuit?
Only if you can tolerate variable latency and have no real uptime requirement. T-Mobile fixed wireless is fine for a coffee shop, a small retail location, or a backup path behind fiber. It's not appropriate for VoIP-heavy offices, hosted desktop users, or anything with an SLA in a customer contract. Use it as a $50 to $100 secondary, not a primary.
How does Boulder pricing compare to Denver?
Denver is a denser Tier B market with more carrier competition, so DIA pricing in Denver runs 10 to 20 percent below Boulder for equivalent products in on-net buildings. Boulder closes that gap in commercial corridors with Lumen fiber and will close it further as ALLO builds out. If you're a multi-site customer with locations in both, don't accept the same per-circuit price across the metro without asking.
Should I sign a 3-year contract before ALLO finishes its build?
It depends on what you're signing and the auto-renewal terms. A 36-month Comcast or Lumen deal at a fair price is fine if it has a clean portability clause and a 30-day non-renewal window. Avoid 60-month terms right now. The Boulder market is going to shift over the next 24 months, and you want the option to move when ALLO lights up your building.