What is the best internet provider in Sedona?

According to CNET experts, T-Mobile Home Internet is the best internet provider in Sedona. The service comes with decent speeds and affordable pricing that’s locked in for as long as you stay a customer. Cable internet service from Optimum is our choice for the best cheap internet in the city, but be prepared for prices to increase by $15 a month in the second year. Starlink offers some of the fastest speeds in the area, but you’ll need to pay for some expensive equipment when you sign up for the service.

Best internet in Sedona, Arizona

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

Other available internet providers in Sedona

• CenturyLink: CenturyLink only offers DSL plans in Sedona, which is significantly slower than cable or fiber. I checked five different Sedona addresses and found five different speeds offered at each one, ranging from 3 to 60Mbps, for $55 a month. If you can get one of the faster speeds at your address, it’s worth considering if you can’t get Optimum, T-Mobile or Verizon. Equipment adds another $17 monthly, but all plans get unlimited data. 
• CIS Broadband: CIS is a local fixed wireless provider in Sedona, and it’s only worth considering if your only other options are satellite or DSL. Plans start at $50 monthly for 8/2Mbps speeds and go up to 25/6Mbps for $90. 
• Satellite internet: HughesNet and Viasat are available everywhere in Sedona, but you’re better off with almost every other option. (CIS may be the only exception.) They come with slow speeds, expensive prices and low data caps that make things like streaming TV impractical. If you are considering satellite, Starlink is your best bet — you have to buy the equipment for $349 upfront, but HughesNet and Viasat charge $15 a month for equipment. 
• Verizon 5G Home Internet: If it were more widely available, Verizon 5G Home Internet would likely be one of our top picks. If you’re part of the 8% of Sedona residents that can get it, Verizon offers speeds up to 1,000Mbps for only $70 a month. Bundling with an eligible Verizon Wireless plan can also get you some significant savings.

Cheap internet options in Sedona

Sedona residents don’t have a ton of options when it comes to cheap internet. Optimum offers the cheapest starting price at just $40 a month, but that increases to $55 after just one year. T-Mobile and Verizon are your best bets for cheap internet in the long term, and you can get meaningful discounts if you bundle with one of their eligible cellphone plans.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

How to find internet deals and promotions in Sedona

The best internet deals and the top promotions in Sedona depend on what discounts are available during that time period. Most deals are short-lived, but we look frequently for the latest offers. 

Sedona internet providers such as Optimum may offer lower introductory pricing or streaming add-ons for a limited time. Many, however, including Starlink, T-Mobile and Verizon run the same standard pricing year-round. 

For a more extensive list of deals, check out our guide on the best internet deals. 

How fast is Sedona broadband?

There is a major lack of fast internet options in Sedona. According to the FCC, less than 1% of residents have access to 100/20Mbps speeds, which is practically unheard of for a city of its size. For comparison, 99.8% of Flagstaff residents can get those speeds. If you’re looking for high-speed internet in Sedona, Verizon is the only provider in Sedona that offers gig speeds, and it’s only available to around 1 in 4 residents.

Source: CNET analysis of provider data.

What’s a good internet speed?

Most internet connection plans can now handle basic productivity and communication tasks. If you’re looking for an internet plan that can accommodate videoconferencing, streaming video or gaming, you’ll have a better experience with a more robust connection. Here’s an overview of the recommended minimum download speeds for various applications, according to the FCC. Note that these are only guidelines — and that internet speed, service and performance vary by connection type, provider and address.

For more information, refer to our guide on how much internet speed you really need

• 0 to 5Mbps allows you to tackle the basics — browsing the internet, sending and receiving email, streaming low-quality video.
• 5 to 40Mbps gives you higher-quality video streaming and videoconferencing.
• 40 to 100Mbps should give one person sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the demands of modern telecommuting, video streaming and online gaming. 
• 100 to 500Mbps allows one or two people to engage in high-bandwidth activities like videoconferencing, streaming and online gaming. simultaneously. 
• 500 to 1,000Mbps allows three or more people to engage in high-bandwidth activities like videoconferencing, streaming and online gaming simultaneously.

How CNET chose the best internet providers in Sedona

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: 

1. Does the provider offer access to reasonably fast internet speeds? 
2. Do customers get decent value for what they’re paying? 
3. 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. When it comes to selecting the cheapest internet service, we look for the plans with the lowest monthly fee, though we also factor in things like price increases, equipment fees and contracts. Choosing the fastest internet service is relatively straightforward. We look at advertised upload and download speeds, and also take into account real-world speed data from sources like Ookla (Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.) and FCC reports.

To explore our process in more depth, you can visit our How we test ISPs page.

What’s the final word on internet providers in Sedona?

Living in Sedona has a lot of perks, but the internet isn’t one of them. Our top pick, T-Mobile Home Internet, is typically the third or fourth best option when we look at internet providers in a city. In Sedona, T-Mobile is the best provider, offering fast speeds and fair prices. Optimum’s cable internet service has a lower starting price, but prices increase by $15 a month after the first year. Starlink is a decent backup option that offers faster speeds than Optimum, but you’ll have to buy the equipment for $349 upfront.

Internet providers in Sedona FAQs