St. Louis is a split market. AT&T owns the fiber footprint in most commercial blocks, Spectrum owns the coax, and Brightspeed has been overbuilding fiber in pockets of the city and the inner suburbs. That sounds like competition, but it usually is not on a given block. Most buildings see one fiber provider and one cable provider, which keeps pricing closer to the Tier B benchmark than to a true Tier A market. The Cortex district and the BJC medical campus skew enterprise demand toward wave and dark fiber, which pulls Lumen, Everstream/Segra, and Crown Castle into deals SMBs rarely see.
St. Louis is mostly an AT&T and Spectrum market with growing fiber competition from Brightspeed. AT&T Business Fiber covers a large share of commercial blocks. Spectrum Business has the dominant cable footprint. Brightspeed rebuilt fiber across parts of the metro and the suburbs. T-Mobile fixed wireless is widely available.
The pricing problem in St. Louis is the same one that hits most Spectrum markets. Promo rates expire after 12 or 24 months and reset 30 to 50 percent higher, and most customers do not call to renegotiate.
St. Louis commercial corridors
St. Louis commercial demand sits in three places. Downtown holds the legal, financial, and government corridor that anchors the city's daytime workforce and the bulk of its Class A office tower stock. Downtown West, the redeveloped mixed-use district just west of the urban core, has filled in with creative-office, hospitality, and adaptive-reuse tenancy over the past two decades. The Cortex Innovation District, the master-planned bioscience and technology cluster anchored between the medical campus and the urban core, anchors a deep concentration of life-sciences, startup, and research-office tenancy. BJC HealthCare, the academic-medical system tied to the Washington University School of Medicine, and Washington University in St. Louis, the city's largest private research university, are two of the largest commercial accounts in the metro and drive heavy enterprise telecom demand.
On October 1, 2024, Segra announced its acquisition of Everstream's all-fiber network in the St. Louis metro, adding nearly 1,000 route miles and expanding business connectivity options for commercial accounts in the metro. One pricing wrinkle: properties inside the Downtown St. Louis Community Improvement District can be assessed based on lot square footage and upper-floor building square footage, adding a localized cost layer around core business addresses that is often passed through in commercial leases.
What you should be paying
These are dedicated internet ranges from current carrier wholesale data, marked up to typical retail.
St. Louis 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 AT&T Business Fiber at 1 Gbps, expect $150 to $230 a month for a single office. For Spectrum coax at 600 Mbps, the fair price is $150 to $230 a month.
Carriers worth quoting in St. Louis
Five carriers cover most addresses in the metro.
- AT&T Business Fiber. Strong commercial fiber footprint across the metro.
- Spectrum Business. Coax everywhere, fiber in select buildings.
- Brightspeed Business. Fiber overbuilder rebuilding former Lumen consumer footprint.
- 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 your current carrier. 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 St. Louis bill sits against current rates
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Carriers worth a quote here
- AT&T Business
Largest fiber footprint in the metro, with strong coverage in Downtown, Downtown West, Clayton, and the Central West End. AT&T is the default fiber quote for most office buildings here and is reasonably negotiable at renewal if you have a Spectrum or Brightspeed quote in hand.
- Spectrum Business
Dominant cable footprint across the city and St. Louis County. Promo pricing is the trap. Rates reset 30 to 50 percent higher after the intro window, and reps will hold the line on price unless you can show a competing fiber quote.
- Brightspeed Business
Rebuilt fiber across parts of the city and the western suburbs after taking over the former Lumen consumer/SMB territory. Aggressive on new-build pricing, but coverage is patchy block to block. Worth a serviceability check before assuming they cannot quote your address.
- Lumen Business
Strong in downtown carrier hotels and on the long-haul routes that run through St. Louis. Most relevant for DIA 1G and up, waves, and dark fiber in Class A buildings. Currently hungry for business and more negotiable than usual on multi-year deals.
- Everstream
After Segra's October 2024 acquisition of Everstream's St. Louis network, this footprint is the main regional fiber alternative to AT&T and Lumen. Roughly 1,000 route miles concentrated around the medical campus, Cortex, and the I-64 corridor. Good fit for mid-market DIA and point-to-point.
- Crown Castle Fiber
On-net in a meaningful number of downtown and Clayton commercial buildings. Most useful for enterprise DIA, dark fiber, and wave services rather than SMB broadband. Pricing is competitive when the building is already lit.
- T-Mobile Business
Fixed wireless is widely available across the metro and works as a cheap backup for a fiber primary. Useful for small retail or satellite offices that don't need an SLA, not a replacement for DIA in a real production environment.
What internet costs in St. Louis, Missouri right now
St. Louis, Missouri market notes
Common questions about business internet in St. Louis, Missouri
What is a fair price for 1Gbps dedicated internet in St. Louis?
For an on-net building, $1,195 to $1,605 per month on a 36-month term is the realistic range from AT&T, Lumen, or Everstream. Off-net quotes will be higher because the carrier has to build or lease a local loop. If you are paying over $1,600 on-net, you are above market and should requote.
Is Spectrum Business or AT&T Business Fiber cheaper in St. Louis?
Spectrum coax is cheaper on the headline number, often $150 to $250 for 500Mbps to 1Gbps. AT&T Business Fiber at the same speed runs $180 to $400 but includes symmetric upload and better latency. For most office use, AT&T is the better value once the Spectrum promo expires and resets 30 to 50 percent higher.
Does Brightspeed actually serve my building?
Coverage is patchy. Brightspeed rebuilt fiber across parts of the city and the inner suburbs, but it is block by block. Run a serviceability check at your exact street address before assuming they cannot quote. If they can, their new-build pricing is often the most aggressive in the market.
What is the Segra and Everstream change in St. Louis?
Segra announced its acquisition of Everstream's St. Louis fiber network on October 1, 2024. The footprint is roughly 1,000 route miles concentrated near the medical campus, Cortex, and the I-64 corridor. For now, existing Everstream contracts continue, and the combined network is a real alternative to AT&T and Lumen on mid-market DIA.
How long does an off-net fiber install take in downtown St. Louis?
Plan for 90 to 150 days if the build requires a right-of-way permit inside city limits. St. Louis County is faster, often 60 to 90 days. If a carrier rep quotes you 30 to 45 days on an off-net city address, get the permit timeline in writing before you sign, because the construction date will slip.
Do I need dedicated internet or is business broadband enough?
If you run VoIP for a call center, host servers on-site, or need an SLA with credits for downtime, you want DIA. If you are a small office using cloud apps and Zoom, Spectrum or AT&T business broadband at 500Mbps to 1Gbps is usually fine and saves you $800 or more per month. The right answer depends on tolerance for an outage.