Short answer: Quantum Fiber, clearly
This is not a close comparison. Quantum Fiber is fiber to the home; CenturyLink is DSL over the copper telephone line, where speed falls off with distance from the exchange and upload capacity is a fraction of fiber's. The only reason to consider CenturyLink is that it reaches an address Quantum Fiber does not.
- Quantum Fiber is fiber to the home, operated by Lumen Technologies, Inc.. CenturyLink is dsl / copper, operated by Lumen Technologies, Inc..
- Quantum Fiber: plans commonly range from 500 Mbps up to 8 Gbps where available.
- CenturyLink: copper tiers commonly top out well below 100 Mbps and vary sharply with distance from the exchange.
- Their footprints overlap in few of the markets FiberNear tracks, so at most addresses only one of the two is actually orderable.
- Both are built out address by address. Whichever reaches your specific property usually settles the question before preference does — FiberNear checks that free.
Quantum Fiber vs CenturyLink, side by side
| Quantum Fiber | CenturyLink | |
|---|---|---|
| Connection type | Fiber to the home | DSL / copper |
| How it reaches you | Fiber-to-the-home | DSL over copper telephone line — Lumen sells its fiber under the Quantum Fiber brand instead |
| Speeds | Plans commonly range from 500 Mbps up to 8 Gbps where available | Copper tiers commonly top out well below 100 Mbps and vary sharply with distance from the exchange |
| Where it runs | A wide western and midwestern footprint inherited from CenturyLink | A large legacy copper network across the West and Midwest |
| Known for | Flat, all-in monthly pricing with no contracts on fiber plans | Being progressively replaced by Quantum Fiber wherever Lumen has built fiber |
| Operated by | Lumen Technologies, Inc. | Lumen Technologies, Inc. |
Speeds and footprints are advertised by each provider, vary by address, and change without notice. FiberNear does not set or guarantee them.
How often each one is actually available
Specifications decide which connection is better. Availability decides which one you can buy, and it is the part comparison pages usually skip. Across the 29 markets FiberNear holds FCC data for, this is how much of each city the two technologies reach at 100/20 Mbps or better:
- Quantum Fiber is fiber, and fiber reaches a median of 64.2% of locations in a typical tracked market.
- CenturyLink is copper, and copper reaches a median of 5.8%.
- So in a typical market, Quantum Fiber's technology reaches about 58.5% more of the city — which is why the comparison so often ends up being decided by the address rather than by the plan.
Source: FCC Broadband Data Collection, residential fixed broadband, as of December 31, 2025. Figures are advertised availability self-reported by providers, not measured speeds. These are technology-level figures, not brand-level ones — the FCC's public summary files report how much fiber or cable reaches a city, but not which brand owns it, so no coverage percentage here should be read as a figure for Quantum Fiber or CenturyLink specifically.
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See Which One Reaches My Address →Common questions
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