Des Moines is mostly a Mediacom and CenturyLink market with growing Metronet fiber competition. Mediacom Business has the dominant cable footprint. CenturyLink (Lumen) has fiber in parts of the city. Metronet has been aggressively building fiber across the metro. T-Mobile fixed wireless is widely available.
The pricing problem in Des Moines is the assumption that the new fiber overbuilder is too small to take seriously. Metronet often comes in 25 to 30 percent below the incumbent on fiber to the building.
Des Moines on the commercial side
Des Moines's commercial activity sits in three places. Downtown Des Moines holds the legal, financial, and government corridor and is the backbone of the metro's insurance and banking economy. The Historic East Village, just east of the Capitol, is the renovated mixed-use commercial district with small-business and creative-office tenancy. The Avenues of Ingersoll & Grand, west of downtown, is the linear commercial corridor with steady mid-size office and retail tenancy. Wells Fargo and Principal Financial Group are two of the largest commercial accounts in the metro and shape what enterprise pricing looks like for the rest of the market.
In 2025, Metronet said it completed its $70 million fiber-optic build in Des Moines, extending symmetrical multigig service to homes and businesses across the city. One regulatory wrinkle: Iowa cable and video franchises run through state-issued certificates of franchise authority under Iowa Code chapter 477A via the Iowa Utilities Commission rather than city-by-city franchising, so franchise-renewal leverage at the city level is largely off the table.
What you should be paying
These are dedicated internet ranges from current carrier wholesale data, marked up to typical retail.
Des Moines 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 Mediacom Business coax at 600 Mbps, the fair price is $150 to $230 a month for a single office. For Metronet Business Fiber at 1 Gbps, expect $130 to $200 a month.
Carriers worth quoting in Des Moines
Five carriers cover most addresses in the metro.
- Mediacom Business. Coax everywhere, fiber in select buildings.
- CenturyLink (Lumen) Business. Fiber where they have rebuilt, copper elsewhere.
- Metronet. Aggressive fiber overbuilder, growing footprint across the metro.
- 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 from Metronet if they reach your address.
- 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 Des Moines bill sits against current rates
Upload your latest business internet invoice. We will run it against Des Moines carrier wholesale data and flag the side fees that should not be there.
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