AT&T Fiber – Best overall internet provider in Tulsa
- Prices: $55 – $180 per month
- Speeds: 300 – 5,000Mbps
- Key Info: Unlimited data, no contracts, equipment included
Cox – Best availability among Tulsa internet providers
- Prices: $40 – $100 per month
- Speeds: 25 – 2,000Mbps
- Key Info: 1.25TB monthly data allowance, lots of plan options, unique gaming add-on
T-Mobile Home Internet – Best alternative to wired home internet in Tulsa
- Prices: $50 per month
- Speeds: 72 – 245Mbps
- Key Info: Unlimited data, equipment included, no contracts, no additional fees
When it comes to Tulsa internet options, the choice is pretty simple: There’s AT&T Fiber, and then everything else that’s not as good. The provider offers symmetrical speeds on all its plans — you’ll get the same upload and download speeds — and its pricing is reasonable and straightforward.
We can’t say the same about AT&T’s main competition in the area, Cox. It offers good speeds at reasonable prices, but it’s difficult to untangle all the discounts Cox adds to each plan — and to prepare for when they may abruptly end.
Our team considers speeds, pricing, customer service and overall value to recommend the best internet service in Tulsa across various categories. Our evaluation includes referencing a proprietary database built over years of reviewing internet services. We validate that against provider information by spot-checking local addresses for service availability. We also do a close read of providers’ terms and conditions and, when needed, will call ISPs to verify the details.
Our process has some limitations you should know about. Pricing and speed data are variable: Certain addresses may qualify for different tiers of service and monthly costs may vary, even within a city. The best way to identify your particular options is to plug your address into a provider’s website.
Note that the prices, speed and other information listed above and in the provider cards below may differ from what we found in our research. The cards display the full range of a provider’s pricing and speed across the US, according to our database of plan information provided directly by ISPs, while the text is specific to what’s available in Tulsa. The prices referenced within this article’s text come from our research and include applicable discounts for setting up automatic payments each month — a standard industry offering. Other discounts and promotions might also be available for things like committing to a contract or bundling with a cellphone plan.
To learn more about how we review internet providers, visit our full methodology page.
Top internet providers in Tulsa
While AT&T Fiber is the clear top choice in Tulsa, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other decent options available. Some 41% of the city has access to fiber — the gold standard in home internet — and 99.8% can get at least 250 megabits per second download and 25Mbps upload speeds — more than enough for a typical home’s streaming and internet usage. In other words, almost everyone in Tulsa will be able to find an internet plan that meets their needs.
AT&T Fiber
Best overall internet provider in Tulsa
Product details
Price range
$55 – $180 per month
Speed range
300 – 5,000Mbps
Connection
Fiber
Key Info
Unlimited data, no contracts, equipment included
If AT&T Fiber is available at your address, this is an easy choice. It offers symmetrical speeds on all its plans, ideal for households with multiple people gaming online or working from home. AT&T Fiber received the highest US internet provider score in the 2023 American Customer Satisfaction Index survey and J.D. Power named it the best provider in Oklahoma’s region. CNET also named it the best fiber internet provider in our analysis of the best internet providers across the country. It also delivers the fastest speeds in Tulsa, with an average of 249Mbps, according to Ookla speed tests.
However, some addresses in Tulsa will only have access to AT&T’s slower DSL plans. If you put in your address on AT&T’s website and only see plans below 100Mbps, we recommend trying Cox or T-Mobile instead.
Availability: AT&T is available to 69% of Tulsa households, but some only have access to slower DSL plans. AT&T Fiber is widely available in neighborhoods south of downtown, around the University of Tulsa and in White City.
Plans and pricing: There are five AT&T Fiber plans in Tulsa: 300Mbps upload and download speed for $55 per month, 500Mbps for $65, 940Mbps for $80, 2,000Mbps for $110 and 5,000Mbps for $180.
Fees and service details: What you see is what you get. Equipment is included in every plan at no extra cost, and your price won’t increase after the first year. You’ll also get a $100 or $150 reward card when you order online, and you can save an extra $20 each month when you bundle with an eligible AT&T Wireless plan.
Read our AT&T Internet review.
Cox
Best availability among Tulsa internet providers
Product details
Price range
$40 – $100 per month
Speed range
25 – 2,000Mbps
Connection
Mostly cable, some fiber
Key Info
1.25TB monthly data allowance, lots of plan options, unique gaming add-on
Cox has cable and fiber internet plans in Tulsa that offer download speeds up to 1,000Mbps. While download and upload speeds are symmetrical on Cox’s fiber plans, its cable internet has much lower upload speeds, which could be a deal-breaker for households that do a lot of online gaming or videoconferencing. Cox also increases the prices on almost all of its plans and for features like equipment and unlimited data. Your bill could increase by as much as $114 overnight after two years.
All of that adds up to some frustration for Tulsa customers. Cox was among the lower-rated ISPs in Oklahoma’s region in J.D. Power’s survey, and Tulsa’s Reddit community contains frequent complaints about Cox’s performance issues and price increases. (“Anything besides Cox” was one answer to the “best internet provider in Tulsa” question.)
Availability: Cox is available almost everywhere in Tulsa, reaching more than 99% of households, according to FCC mapping data.
Plans and pricing: Cox offers four cable plans in Tulsa: 100Mbps download/5Mbps upload for $50 per month, 250/10Mbps for $50 (increases to $70 after two years), 500/10Mbps for $60 ($90 after two years) and 1,000/35Mbps for $70 ($120 after two years). Its fiber plans are the exact same prices, but upload speeds are equal to download speeds.
Fees and service details: Cox includes its modem/router combo in all plans for the first 24 months; from there, you’ll have to pay $14 monthly or use your own equipment. (Equipment stays free on the 100Mbps plan after 24 months.) All Cox plans in Tulsa come with unlimited data for the first two years. After that, you can live with Cox’s 1.25TB data cap — enough to stream about 14 hours of HD TV each day — or pay $50 a month for unlimited data.
Read our Cox review.
T-Mobile Home Internet
Best alternative to wired home internet in Tulsa
Product details
Price range
$50 per month ($30 for eligible mobile customers)
Speed range
72 – 245Mbps
Connection
Fixed wireless
Key Info
Unlimited data, equipment included, no contracts, no additional fees
T-Mobile is leading the charge for fixed wireless internet in Tulsa. According to the ACSI survey, it is the highest-rated non-fiber internet service provider in the country.
Availability: 80% of Tulsa residents have access to T-Mobile’s home internet service, according to the FCC.
Plans and pricing: There’s only one T-Mobile Home Internet plan: $50 per month, including all equipment costs. You’ll get download speeds between 72Mbps and 245Mbps and upload speeds up to 31Mbps.
Fees and service details: T-Mobile sends you a free self-installation kit when you order service, and there are no contracts, data caps or equipment fees.
Read our T-Mobile Home Internet review.
Overview of Tulsa internet providers
| Provider | Internet technology | Monthly price range | Speed range | Monthly equipment costs | Data cap | Contract | CNET review score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T Fiber | Fiber | $55-$180 | 300-5,000Mbps | None | None | None | 7.4 |
| AT&T Internet | DSL | $55 | 768Kbps-100Mbps | None | 1.5TB (no data cap for 100Mbps plan) | None | 7.4 |
| Cox | Cable | $50-$70 | 100-1,000Mbps | None | 1.25TB | None | 6.2 |
| T-Mobile Home Internet | Fixed wireless | $50 ($30 with eligible mobile plans) | 72-245Mbps | None | None | None | 7.4 |
| Kinetic by Windstream | Fiber | $40-$70 | 500-1,000Mbps | $10 (optional) | None | None | 6.7 |
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Source: CNET analysis of provider data
Other available Tulsa residential internet providers
There’s a big step down from our top picks to most of the providers below, with the exception being Windstream’s Kinetic Fiber service. Consider these as the backup options if you can’t get service from AT&T Fiber, Cox or T-Mobile.
- AtLink: AtLink is a local fixed wireless internet provider, with coverage reaching 12% of Tulsa households. AtLink doesn’t list speeds or prices on its website, so you’ll have to call to find out what plans are available at your address. We would only recommend it as an alternative to satellite internet.
- The Junction Internet: Another local fixed wireless provider, The Junction Internet offers service to 66% of Tulsa households. Its plans start at $50 per month for 10/2Mbps speeds and go up to 50/10Mbps for $125. That’s a lot of money for not a lot of speed, and only worth considering as an alternative to satellite.
- Satellite internet: We only recommend satellite internet if there aren’t any other options at your address. HughesNet and Viasat both offer low speeds, high equipment costs and stringent data caps. Starlink, a newer provider from SpaceX, delivers faster speeds and lower latency, but the equipment alone costs $599.
- US Cellular: US Cellular is available in 76% of Tulsa. Like T-Mobile, it uses cellphone towers to transmit data to your home wirelessly. US Cellular doesn’t list exact speeds on its website, but when we called to ask, a representative told us download speeds go up to 300Mbps in Tulsa, but that 80Mbps is a more realistic expectation. It does come with a low 600GB monthly data cap, but at $50 per month, US Cellular is worth considering as a backup to our top picks.
- Kinetic by Windstream: Windstream offers fiber, DSL and fixed wireless internet in the Tulsa area, but fiber is the only option that’s really worth considering. It offers 500Mbps upload and download speed for $40 per month ($65 in year two) or 1,000Mbps for $70 ($95 in year two) — a value that’s on par with AT&T Fiber. The only thing that keeps it from being one of our top picks is availability. Only 11% of Tulsa residents can get Windstream, and fiber coverage is limited to the Broken Arrow area.
Pricing info on Tulsa home internet service
Starting prices for internet in Tulsa average around $49 monthly. That’s on par with other cities CNET has covered — Charlotte, Chicago, San Diego and St. Louis all have average starting prices around $50 per month.
Cheapest internet plans in Tulsa
| Provider | Starting price | Max download speed | Monthly equipment fee | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windstream Kinetic Fiber | $40 | 500Mbps | 500Mbps | None |
| Cox | $50 | 100Mbps | 5Mbps | None |
| Cox | $50 | 250Mbps | 10Mbps | None |
| T-Mobile Home Internet | $50 ($30 with eligible mobile plans) | 245Mbps | None | None |
| US Cellular | $50 | 300Mbps | None | None |
| AT&T Fiber | $55 | 300Mbps | None | None |
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Source: CNET analysis of provider data
How fast is Tulsa broadband?
Three internet providers in Tulsa offer gig speeds: AT&T Fiber, Cox and Kinetic by Windstream. You can even access AT&T’s ultra-fast 5,000Mbps fiber plans throughout much of the city — enough bandwidth to stream Netflix in 4K on more than 300 TVs at once.
| Provider | Max download speed | Max upload speed | Starting price | Data cap | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T Fiber | 5,000Mbps | 5,000Mbps | $180 | None | None |
| AT&T Fiber | 2,000Mbps | 2,000Mbps | $110 | None | None |
| Cox | 1,000Mbps | 35Mbps | $70 | 1.25TB | None |
| Windstream Kinetic Fiber | 1,000Mbps | 1,000Mbps | $70 | None | None |
| AT&T Fiber | 940Mbps | 880Mbps | $80 | None | None |
Show more (1 item)
Source: CNET analysis of provider data
What’s the final word on internet providers in Tulsa?
There’s a clear winner when it comes to internet service in Tulsa. AT&T Fiber isn’t just the best internet you can get in the city — it’s the best internet provider in the entire country. If you can’t get AT&T Fiber at your address, Cox is a worthy backup option, with fast download speeds and reasonable prices.
How CNET chose the best internet providers in Tulsa
Internet service providers are numerous and regional. Unlike the latest smartphone, laptop, router or kitchen tool, it’s impractical to personally test every internet service provider in a given city. So what’s our approach? For starters, we tap into a proprietary database of pricing, availability and speed information that draws from our own historical ISP data, partner data and mapping information from the Federal Communications Commission at FCC.gov.
This guide leverages an in-house artificial intelligence tool called RAMP, which is trained on our own writing and uses our database to generate content about specific internet service providers that our writers can use in determining and presenting our picks for a given guide. Check CNET’s AI policy for more information about how our teams use (and don’t use) AI tools.
Because our database is not exhaustive, we go to the FCC’s website to check the primary data for ourselves and make sure we’re considering every ISP that provides service in an area. Plans and prices also vary by location, so we input local addresses on provider websites to find the specific options available to residents. We look at sources, including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power, to evaluate how happy customers are with an ISP’s service. ISP plans and prices are subject to frequent changes; all information provided is accurate as of the time of our pre-publication fact-check.
Once we have this localized information, we ask three main questions:
- Does the provider offer access to reasonably fast internet speeds?
- Do customers get decent value for what they’re paying?
- Are customers happy with their service?
While the answer to those questions is often layered and complex, the providers who come closest to “yes” on all three are the ones we recommend. To explore our process in more depth, you can visit our How we test ISPs page.
Internet providers in Tulsa FAQs
Which is the best internet service provider in Tulsa?
Is fiber internet available in Tulsa?
Who is the cheapest internet provider in Tulsa?
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Source: CNET
