Best Internet Providers in Santa Barbara, CA

Cox Elite Gamer and Frontier Fiber are the top internet providers in Santa Barbara, with Cox being the best of the two. Its cable connection with offers download speeds up to 2 Gbps through its Panoramic Wifi system, which is more than enough speed to handle all your household internet needs. Cox also offers the least expensive internet plan in the city, with its cheapest plan costing as little as $50 per month.

If you’re looking for a fiber internet provider, Frontier Fiber is a good alternative to Cox. With Fiber 7 Gig speeds delivered through its Frontier Fiber Gateway with Total Home Wi-Fi and prices starting at $29.99 per month with MyFrontier app access, Frontier is a great internet provider in Santa Barbara.

If Frontier and Cox aren’t available at your address, or you’re looking for an alternative to traditional internet providers, T-Mobile 5G Home Internet with its Gateway device is a viable option that uses 5G technology to speed up the wireless home internet experience. Customers can get T-Mobile 5G Home Internet for as low as $50 per month (with AutoPay).

Frontier - Fastest Provider
Frontier - Cheapest Provider
Starlink - Widely Available
Viasat - Great for Rural Areas
AT&T - Offers 5G Home Internet
Frontier - Great Value

What’s a Good Internet Speed?

Internet Speed	Appropriate For	Providers in your Area offering this Speed	Availability in your Area
100 Mbps	Streaming Video chat Online gaming Larger households	AT&T Viasat T-Mobile Verizon Hughesnet XNET WiFi Starlink	100%
1000 Mbps (1 Gbps)	Heavy streaming (4K video multiple devices etc.) Video chat Lag-free gaming Large households	Cox Frontier EarthLink	89.14%

Learn more about internet speeds:

Internet Availability in Santa Barbara, CA

Santa Barbara residents have access to a few wired internet providers: Cox, EarthLink, and Frontier. Depending on where you live in the city, these providers offer various connection types with their plans.

First up in availability is Cox, which covers 89.1% of Santa Barbara. Known for its cable service, Cox has the strongest presence in Alta Mesa and East Mesa. In most cases, you’ll have access to Cox given its widespread coverage, but the rare patches of unavailability are at Harding Elementary School and the business plaza along West Gutierrez Street and State Street.

EarthLink is another wired internet provider in Santa Barbara that offers 45.2% coverage. If you live within its coverage zone and prefer fiber over cable internet, EarthLink is your best option. If you don’t have access to EarthLink, Frontier is an alternative fiber internet provider, covering 64.9% of the city. Frontier is noticeably absent in the central neighborhoods between El Camino Real and Garden Street. However, it has coverage on the west and east sides of the city.

Cox and Frontier overlap with their coverage in Alta Mesa, West Mesa, and East Alta Mesa. If you want to stick with Frontier but don’t live within its fiber availability, you can opt for its DSL service, which has almost the same coverage as Cox. It isn’t, however, available in Turtle Pond or in the neighborhood between East Canon Perdido Street and E De La Guerra Street, which is east of Santa Barbara High School.

Provider Connection Types in Santa Barbara, CA

Connection Type	About this Connection Type	Availability in Santa Barbara, CA
Satellite	Available even in very rural areas Typically has high latency (lag)	100%
DSL	Typically about 100 Mbps Slower than Cable or Fiber	2.36%
Cable	Typically 250 Mbps - 1 Gbps Widely available A good choice for most users	98.22999999999999%
Fiber	Typically 1 Gbps or faster Upload speeds match download speeds	33.42%