Dallas is one of the most competitive fiber markets in the country, and that fact does not show up on most invoices. Three or four carriers will quote the same building, but the incumbent rarely volunteers a match. Stemmons Corridor density makes downtown and near-downtown pricing closer to a Tier A market than the Tier B benchmark suggests. Push two miles out into Plano, Irving, or Garland and you are back to standard Tier B economics. The other thing worth knowing: Frontier's overbuild changed the math in 2023 and 2024. Customers still on pre-overbuild AT&T contracts are often paying 30 to 50 percent above what the same building can get today.
Dallas-Fort Worth is the rare US metro where you usually have at least three real fiber options on the same block. Frontier rebuilt aggressively. AT&T fiber is on most commercial properties. Spectrum has fiber in select buildings on top of its coax footprint. There is also a real fiber overbuilder market.
The result is that the carrier with the lowest published price often is not the carrier you are with. That gap is the leverage you have not used.
What's particular to Dallas
Dallas's commercial demand sits in three places. The Stemmons Corridor, running along Stemmons Freeway northwest of downtown, holds the metro's heaviest carrier and data-center concentration, anchored by Infomart at 1950 Stemmons Freeway. Uptown is the dense mixed-use commercial cluster north of downtown, with significant Class A office and corporate headquarters tenancy. The Dallas Design District, west of Uptown, has shifted from showroom-only into a mixed creative-office and small-business spine. AT&T, headquartered downtown, and UT Southwestern Medical Center are two of the largest commercial accounts in the metro.
In 2026, Crow Holdings announced a 245 MW data center campus on roughly 40 acres along the Stemmons Corridor, explicitly citing proximity to Infomart at 1950 Stemmons Freeway and 2323 Bryan Street as the connectivity advantage. That kind of carrier density at the metro's primary peering point shows up downstream as more competitive pricing on dedicated fiber. One pricing wrinkle: Uptown Dallas property owners fund the PID through special assessments at a rate of 4.5 cents per $100 of valuation, which often passes through in commercial leases.
What you should be paying
These are dedicated internet ranges from current carrier wholesale data captured in Dallas, marked up to typical retail.
Dallas 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 | $610 – $800/mo | n = 6 |
| 500 Mbps | $955 – $1,315/mo | n = 5 |
| 1 Gbps | $1,195 – $1,605/mo | n = 7 |
| 10 Gbps | $2,190 – $2,760/mo | n = 6 |
If your bill sits above the high end of the band, you are likely overpaying.
Analyze My Bill FreeFor Frontier Business Fiber broadband, a 1 Gbps line should land between $130 and $200 a month. The 2 Gbps tier is around $200 to $280. The 5 Gbps tier is $300 a month at the published rate.
For AT&T Business Fiber at 1 Gbps, expect $150 to $250 a month. For Spectrum coax at 600 Mbps, expect $150 to $230. Anything materially above those numbers is a sign of an aged contract.
The case study we keep referencing
A 60-person manufacturing firm in north Dallas had been paying $890 a month for Spectrum DIA 100 Mbps with a 5-year term. Two issues. The speed was way under-spec for the office. And the customer did not actually need dedicated access. There was no SLA-driven application running on the line.
We pulled a Frontier Business Fiber quote at $510 a month for 1 Gbps shared fiber. Higher speed, lower cost, no SLA. The customer accepted the tradeoff. Net savings of $380 a month, $4,560 a year on a 60-month term.
The lesson is that DIA is the right answer about 30 percent of the time. The rest of the time, the customer was sold up and a bill review can catch that.
Carriers worth quoting in Dallas
Five carriers cover most addresses in the metro.
- Frontier Business Fiber. Aggressive on price, especially at 2 Gbps and 5 Gbps tiers.
- AT&T Business Fiber. Strong coverage, competitive on price.
- Spectrum Business. Coax everywhere, fiber in select buildings. Common default for legacy customers.
- T-Mobile Business Internet. 5G fixed wireless, $85 a month for 200 to 300 Mbps.
- Lumen and other regional fiber. Common in office parks and downtown towers.
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 your current carrier. Frontier Business Fiber publishes most rates online and 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 Dallas bill sits against current rates
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Related reading
Carriers worth a quote here
- AT&T Business
Headquartered in Dallas, so commercial fiber coverage is dense across downtown, Uptown, and most Class A office stock. AT&T is not the cheapest quote in this metro, but they will match if you bring a real competing offer in writing.
- Frontier Business
Rebuilt aggressively across the DFW footprint and is currently the most price-aggressive incumbent fiber option in many neighborhoods. Strong in Plano, Irving, Arlington, and parts of the Design District. Sales reps have room to discount.
- Spectrum Business
Coax broadband everywhere, with fiber selectively pulled into commercial buildings in Uptown, Las Colinas, and Stemmons. Their fiber product is competitive on price when they have it on-net, less so when they have to build.
- Lumen Business
Strong in Stemmons Corridor and at Infomart for wave services, IP transit, and carrier-class DIA. Less common for small single-site SMBs, but worth a quote if you have a data center cross-connect requirement.
- Crown Castle Fiber
Dense metro fiber across downtown, Uptown, and the medical district near UT Southwestern. Often on-net in buildings the cable carriers are not. Good option for multi-site customers wanting a non-incumbent path.
- Lightpath
Expanded into Dallas through acquisition and now serves select commercial buildings in the urban core. Pricing tends to be aggressive when they are on-net because they are trying to win share against the incumbents.
- Comcast Business
Smaller footprint here than in most major metros since Spectrum is the dominant cable operator. Comcast does serve pockets of the northern suburbs. Treat their quotes the same way you would in any market: watch the equipment rental and surcharge lines.
- Verizon Business
Not an ILEC in Texas, so no fiber-to-the-building footprint to speak of. Shows up as a managed services and SD-WAN overlay on top of other carriers' circuits. Useful for national multi-site contracts, less so for a single Dallas office.
What internet costs in Dallas, Texas right now
Dallas, Texas market notes
Common questions about business internet in Dallas, Texas
Is Frontier or AT&T cheaper for business fiber in Dallas?
Frontier is usually the more aggressive quote right now, especially in neighborhoods where they completed the fiber overbuild. AT&T will often match if you bring the Frontier quote to them in writing. The right move is to get both quotes for the same speed and term before signing anything. Do not assume the incumbent will volunteer their best price.
Why is my Stemmons Corridor building priced like a Tier A market?
Because it effectively is one. Infomart at 1950 Stemmons Freeway is one of the densest carrier meet-me points in the country, and most national carriers are on-net in surrounding buildings. That density means provisioning is fast and competitive bids are real. If you are in Stemmons and paying Tier B rates for 1G or 10G DIA, you are overpaying.
Do I need DIA or will business broadband work for my Dallas office?
If you have under 25 employees, no VoIP-heavy call center, and no compliance requirement, business broadband from Frontier or AT&T at 500 Mbps to 1 Gbps usually does the job for $150 to $300 a month. DIA makes sense when you need a real SLA, symmetric upload for backups or video, or a static IP block for hosted services.
How long does a new fiber install take in Dallas?
On-net to an existing fiber-lit building: 2 to 4 weeks is typical. Off-net builds that require new construction or right-of-way permitting through the City of Dallas can run 60 to 120 days, sometimes longer in dense downtown blocks. Always ask the carrier in writing whether your address is on-net before signing. The answer changes the timeline by months.
Should I trust a carrier's claim of redundancy with two circuits in my building?
Not without verification. In Dallas, several carriers resell each other's local loops, which means two contracts can land on the same physical fiber entering the same riser. Ask for a written diversity statement that names the conduit path, building entry point, and riser for each circuit. If the carrier will not put it in writing, the circuits are probably not truly diverse.
When is the best time of year to renegotiate in Dallas?
End of quarter, every quarter. Carriers in this metro have real targets and Dallas reps have room to move because the competitive set is genuine. The best windows are the last three weeks of March, June, September, and December. Start the renegotiation conversation 90 to 120 days before your contract end date so you are not negotiating from a weak position.