Two different companies have been running fiber and cable out to Leelanau County houses for the last few years, and for the most part they didn't build to the same townships. If you're looking at a house past the village limits, that matters more than the kitchen.
What got built
Point Broadband, a fiber company, started connecting customers in Leelanau in the fall of 2023. By early October 2023 the Leelanau Ticker reported 1,804 addresses were live in Elmwood, Solon, Centerville, Kasson and Leland townships, at $79 a month for a gigabit, $69 for 500 Mbps and $59 for 300 Mbps. Those are 2023 prices, so treat them as a snapshot. By the end of August 2024 they'd hit their 1,000th customer and were adding about 100 connections a week.
The county put real money into that one. The original 2022 plan had Leelanau on the hook for roughly $5 million of a $17.4 million build, with some of it covered by federal ARPA dollars. That's unusual, and it's a big part of why fiber reached roads that a private company probably wouldn't have touched on its own.
Spectrum came at it from the other direction. In August 2024 they announced service to more than 660 homes and small businesses in parts of Cleveland, Glen Arbor, Empire and Kasson townships, with plans starting at 300 Mbps and going up to a gigabit. Kasson shows up on both lists, which tells you how patchy this gets at the road level.
What I don't know
I haven't seen a current, township-by-township completion report for either build. Everything above is from 2023 and 2024 announcements, and Point's own site still lists Leelanau County under "construction" without dates. So I can't tell you that the road you're looking at is covered, and anyone who says they can from memory is guessing.
What I can tell you is that the county launched an address lookup map back in 2022 where you type in an address and see the provider, the expected availability date and the projected speed. Use it, but treat it as a starting point.
Checking a specific address
Start with the FCC's National Broadband Map (broadbandmap.fcc.gov). It's free and it takes an address. I wouldn't trust it by itself, because it's built from what providers report, and a "served" location on paper can still mean a long, expensive line extension to reach a house set way back off the road. That's a question for the provider, and the answer should come in writing.
So call whoever the map says serves the address, give them the exact street number, and ask three things: is there already a connection at the house or the road, what does installation cost, and what's the install date. If the house is a remote-work house, I would not remove the internet contingency from a purchase agreement without that written answer. Ask the seller what they're paying now and who they're paying, too (a recent bill tells you more than the listing does).
Starlink is the backup plan for a lot of Leelanau addresses now, and it works, but it needs a clear view of the sky. Plenty of driveways out here are tunnels of maple and beech. If the plan is a dish, look up from the spot where it would actually mount.
Cell signal is separate. Stand inside the house, not in the driveway, and check your own carrier. Then check the carrier your spouse, your kids and your guests use.
Why I'd bother
A house on the water in Cedar or Northport with no usable internet still sells, but it sells to a smaller group, and it won't work as a rental for guests who assume wifi is a given. The other way around, a house on a fiber road in Elmwood Township or near Lake Leelanau is a better remote-work house than its listing photos suggest. Same story around Glen Arbor, where the Spectrum build landed.
If you want me to check a specific address before you write an offer, send it over and I'll run it down with you. Or browse what's on the market right now on our current listings page and tell me which ones you're curious about.
Taylor Brown, Realtor
Taylor@taylorbrownrealtor.com
(231) 360-1510
