Denver is a three-way market where the old duopoly is actually being challenged. Comcast still owns the cable footprint, CenturyLink rebuilt fiber across most of the city under the Quantum Fiber brand, and the published Quantum rates are aggressive enough to drag the whole market down. That matters because most Denver businesses signed Comcast contracts in 2020 to 2022 and have not tested anything since. The other quirk is altitude and building stock. RiNo conversions and older Cherry Creek buildings often have access problems that turn an on-net quote into an off-net build with a six-figure NRC ask.
Denver is mostly a Comcast and CenturyLink (Lumen) market with growing fiber competition. Comcast Business has the dominant cable footprint. CenturyLink rebuilt fiber in many parts of the city. Quantum Fiber, the rebranded CenturyLink fiber product, has aggressive published rates. T-Mobile fixed wireless covers most of the metro.
The pricing problem in Denver is that many businesses signed long-term Comcast contracts during the 2020 to 2022 period and have never tested the new fiber options that arrived since.
Denver's commercial centers
Denver's commercial demand sits in three districts. Downtown Denver holds the legal, financial, and government corridor through the central business district. Cherry Creek North, southeast of downtown, is one of the metro's strongest mid-size office and Class A retail clusters and has held up better than downtown on occupancy in recent years. River North Art District (RiNo), just north of downtown, has shifted from industrial-loft creative tenancy into a mixed Class A office and tech corridor. Denver's broadcast, telecommunications, and financial-services clusters drive most of the metro's enterprise telecom demand.
In 2025, CoreSite hit a major construction milestone for its new DE3 Denver data center at 4900 Race Street, expanding the metro's interconnection and cloud infrastructure footprint. One regulatory wrinkle: Colorado's SB23-183, approved May 1, 2023, removed the voter-approval requirement before local governments can provide broadband, telecommunications, or cable service or partner on related infrastructure, which clears the way for muni or public-private fiber projects.
What you should be paying
These are dedicated internet ranges from current carrier wholesale data, marked up to typical retail.
Denver dedicated internet, typical retail (mid 50%)
Monthly recurring charge, dedicated internet access (DIA). Numbers are derived from current carrier wholesale quotes.
| Speed | Typical retail (mid 50%) | Sample size |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Mbps | $660 – $800/mo | n = 1 |
| 1 Gbps | $1,195 – $1,455/mo | n = 1 |
| 10 Gbps | $2,190 – $2,660/mo | n = 1 |
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 Quantum Fiber at 1 Gbps, expect $130 to $200 a month, which is one of the better headline rates available in the metro.
Carriers worth quoting in Denver
Five carriers cover most addresses in the metro.
- Comcast Business. Coax everywhere, fiber in select buildings. Default for most existing customers.
- Quantum Fiber (Lumen / CenturyLink). Aggressive on price where they have rebuilt.
- T-Mobile Business Internet. $85 a month for 200 to 300 Mbps. Useful benchmark.
- Verizon 5G Business Internet. $99 a month at 400 Mbps.
- Local fiber overbuilders. Denver has a small but real fiber overbuilder market, especially in RiNo and the Highlands.
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. Quantum 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 Denver bill sits against current rates
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Related reading
Carriers worth a quote here
- Comcast Business
Dominant cable footprint across the metro, including most of downtown, Cherry Creek, RiNo, and the Tech Center. Comcast rarely cuts price on renewal in Denver unless you have a written Quantum or AT&T quote in hand.
- Lumen Business
The ILEC. Lumen's enterprise team handles DIA, waves, and dark fiber across Denver, with strong density downtown and into CoreSite DE1/DE2 and the new DE3 on Race Street. Lumen is hungry right now and will negotiate harder than Comcast on multi-year deals.
- AT&T Business
Not the ILEC here, but AT&T has built selective fiber into commercial buildings downtown and along the I-25 corridor south to DTC. On-net pricing is competitive, off-net quotes are not worth the wait.
- Crown Castle Fiber
Strong metro fiber rings through downtown, RiNo, and out to the Tech Center. Crown Castle is a good second carrier when you need real physical diversity from Lumen or Comcast, since the routes are genuinely different.
- Everstream
Regional fiber operator that has been pushing west into Denver. Limited on-net building list, but if you are in one of their buildings the pricing on 1G and 10G waves beats the nationals by 15 to 25 percent.
- T-Mobile Business
5G fixed wireless covers most of the metro and works well as a failover circuit for small offices. Not a primary for anything bandwidth-heavy, but the price point ($60 to $200 a month) makes it a cheap backup.
- Ting Internet
Fiber buildouts in parts of the metro, mostly residential-adjacent but with business plans available where they are on-net. Worth checking for small offices in their footprint before signing a Comcast renewal.
What internet costs in Denver, Colorado right now
Denver, Colorado market notes
Common questions about business internet in Denver, Colorado
Is Quantum Fiber actually cheaper than Comcast Business in Denver?
For published business broadband and DIA, yes, in most cases. Quantum lists symmetric fiber pricing that Comcast will only match if you push them with a written quote. The catch is footprint. Quantum is on-net in a lot of Denver but not everywhere, and the install timeline can run 30 to 60 days. Get a serviceability check before you assume it is an option.
What is a fair price for 1Gbps DIA in downtown Denver?
$1,195 to $1,455 a month is the fair range for a 2 to 3 year term in an on-net building. Lumen, Crown Castle, and Everstream will all compete in that range if your building is on their fiber. If a carrier quotes you $1,700 or more for 1Gbps DIA downtown, the building is likely off-net and you are absorbing build cost in the MRC.
How do I verify real diversity between two carriers in Denver?
Ask each carrier for the building entry point, the conduit path to the street, and the manhole where the fiber leaves your block. If two carriers share the same entrance facility or the same lateral, you do not have physical diversity. In older Cherry Creek and downtown buildings, this is common because the second carrier leased the local loop from the first.
Should I use T-Mobile 5G as a primary internet connection for my Denver office?
Probably not as primary if you do voice, video conferencing, or anything latency-sensitive. As a failover behind a fiber primary, it is one of the cheapest insurance policies you can buy in this metro. Plan on $60 to $200 a month depending on data cap and SLA. Test it during business hours before you rely on it.
My Comcast Business contract is auto-renewing. What do I do?
Pull the contract and check the notice window. Comcast's standard is 30 days, but some commercial agreements require 60. Get a Quantum Fiber quote and a Lumen quote for the same address before you call Comcast retention. With written quotes in hand, you should be able to cut 30 to 50 percent off a 2020 to 2022 era Comcast price without changing carriers.
Why is my off-net fiber quote so high in Denver?
Denver right-of-way permitting runs 60 to 90 days, and the carrier has to pay a contractor to trench or pull fiber to your building. That cost gets amortized into the MRC or charged as an NRC. If the build quote is over $20,000 NRC or adds more than $400 a month to MRC, get a second carrier to bid the same build or pick a different on-net building.