Internet Customer Satisfaction Survey 2026: Fiber, 5G Isps Still On The Rise

(MENAFN- EIN Presswire) EINPresswire/ -- CableTV has published its Internet Customer Satisfaction Survey 2026, reporting how surveyed U.S. internet customers rate major and regional internet service providers across multiple experience and value measures. The report, published December 16, 2025, is based on interviews with more than 8,000 internet customers across the United States and presents findings in the following categories:

1. Overall satisfaction
2. Customer support
3. Pricing perceptions
4. Customer loyalty
5. User experience

1. Overall Satisfaction:

The 2026 findings place Starlink at the top of overall satisfaction among surveyed providers, with 89% of respondents indicating they were“completely or very satisfied,” according to the report's results table. Google Fiber and Ziply Fiber followed at 87%, with Lumos at 85% and T-Mobile at 78%, rounding out the report's top five for this measure. CableTV also reported that Lumos and Ziply Fiber were new regional entrants to the top five in 2026 and linked those changes to industry consolidation described in the report narrative.
CableTV's report frames home internet as a household essential and positions the survey as a consumer experience benchmark amid ongoing attention to pricing and inflation concerns. Within the report's“Home internet trends for 2026” section, CableTV describes a market in transition shaped by fiber network investment, competition from fixed wireless, and evolving consumer expectations around pricing terms and service responsiveness.
The report also provides a snapshot of connectivity types among respondents. CableTV reported cable internet as the most common connection type among surveyed participants at 40%, followed by fiber at 27% and 5G home internet at 21%. DSL accounted for 10% and satellite internet for 2% in the survey sample, according to a chart included in the report's trends section.
Against that backdrop, the report highlights year-over-year changes within the respondent pool, including an increase in fiber adoption and a sharp rise in 5G home internet representation. CableTV reported that the share of respondents with fiber internet increased 12% year over year, and that respondents with 5G home internet increased from 7% to 21%. The report also notes a decline in the number of respondents reporting cable internet, describing a 24% drop from 2024 to 2025 in that measure within CableTV's tracking.

2. Customer Service:

In the customer service category, CableTV reported Lumos leading on customer support satisfaction at 85%, followed by Ziply Fiber at 83%, Starlink at 80%, Google Fiber at 78%, and T-Mobile at 76%. The report argues that provider scale does not necessarily predict satisfaction with support interactions and notes that several of the top-scoring providers have regional footprints.
Beyond overall support satisfaction, the report includes additional interaction measures. CableTV reported Google Fiber leading“How easy was it to work with your ISP?” at 88%, with Starlink at 86%, Lumos at 85%, and Ziply Fiber at 84%. The report also presented“Thinking about your recent interactions with your ISP, how effectively did they meet your needs?” with Starlink at 91%, Lumos at 85%, and Google Fiber at 84% at the top of that table.

3. Pricing and Value Perceptions:

On pricing and value perceptions, CableTV's“Best bang for your buck” section reports Google Fiber leading“Given your ISP's internet service quality, how would you rate its price?” at 80%, followed by T-Mobile at 78%, Ziply Fiber at 73%, Lumos at 72%, and Starlink at 71%. The report states that, for another year, roughly three-quarters of surveyed ISPs fell under a 70% approval threshold on this specific measure, reflecting broad price sensitivity among respondents.
The report also includes a comparative price measure,“Given competitors' prices, how would you rate the price that you pay for your ISP's internet services?” In that table, CableTV reported T-Mobile at 79%, Lumos at 74%, and Google Fiber at 73% as the top three. The report further provides a multi-year comparison table labeled“Are ISP prices staying competitive with their competitors?” showing provider-specific positive ratings for 2024, 2025, and 2026 across selected national ISPs, including AT&T, Cox, Optimum, Spectrum, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Xfinity.

4. Customer Loyalty

For customer loyalty, CableTV reported Starlink leading“How likely are you to continue subscribing to your ISP for internet services?” at 91%, with Lumos at 88%, Google Fiber and Ziply Fiber at 85%, and T-Mobile at 81%. CableTV's narrative notes that T-Mobile was the only national ISP above the 80% mark among the top five listed in that category, while several other top entries were described as regional fiber providers.
The report's user experience measures include reliability and speed. In“Are you satisfied with your ISP's reliability?” CableTV reported Starlink at 87%, followed by Ziply Fiber at 83%, Google Fiber at 81%, Lumos at 79%, and Xfinity at 78% in the top five. The report notes that Xfinity held the fifth-place position in this category for another year and compares it with Spectrum and Cox in the same reliability table.
In the speed satisfaction table, CableTV reported Starlink at 89% at the top of the listed results shown in the report section, followed by Ziply Fiber at 86%, Lumos at 85%, Google Fiber at 84%, and Metronet at 81%. The report's narrative notes that fiber providers continued to place strongly in this category while Starlink also maintained a first-place finish in the speeds measure as presented.

5. User Experience:

Additional user experience components covered in the report include installation and setup satisfaction and modem or equipment satisfaction. In the installation and setup table, CableTV reported Ziply Fiber at 86% and Google Fiber and Xfinity at 82% among the top entries shown. In the modem and equipment table, CableTV reported Starlink at 88% and Google Fiber at 81% at the top of the listed results displayed in the report section.
The CableTV report also includes a section on ISP cell phone bundles, reflecting the growth of bundled mobile offerings and the performance of mobile virtual network operator plans offered by certain providers. In the table labeled“What is your overall satisfaction with your ISP cell phone bundle?” CableTV reported Spectrum at 88%, AT&T at 87%, Cox at 86%, and additional listed providers with scores down to Optimum at 63% in the excerpted results shown. In“How satisfied are you with the cost of your cell phone bundle?” CableTV reported Spectrum at 88%, Breezeline and Cox at 83%, and additional providers as listed in the report.
CableTV also publishes a companion“Customer Satisfaction Award winners” overview summarizing select winners across categories. In that winners overview, CableTV lists Starlink as the 2026 home internet Customer Satisfaction Award winner for Highest Overall Satisfaction, Most Reliable, Highest Customer Loyalty, and Best Internet Speeds, while listing Google Fiber as Best Bang for Your Buck and Best Customer Experience for home internet. The same overview lists Spectrum Mobile as the winner for Best Mobile Service from an ISP.
CableTV's published methodology statement for the 2026 Internet Customer Satisfaction Survey says the company surveyed more than 8,000 people across the U.S., that the sample reflected broader U.S. demographics, and that the results were analyzed using prevailing industry standards by CableTV data experts. The methodology statement also directs media inquiries to....
In a broader description of its Customer Satisfaction Awards approach, CableTV states that it has surveyed TV and home internet customers since 2017 and runs four annual surveys covering cable and satellite TV, live TV streaming, on-demand streaming, and home internet. CableTV's“How We Rank” page also describes respondent selection and filtering to reflect current U.S. demographics and states that services must meet a minimum respondent threshold to be featured in its Customer Satisfaction Awards.
CableTV positions the survey as one input into its broader editorial coverage of home entertainment connectivity, including internet service that supports streaming and TV viewing experiences. The company's published brand materials state that CableTV helps people make better TV and internet decisions, supported by ongoing editorial reviews and service comparisons.

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