Price, Outages, or Equipment? What Customers Raise Most With Each Internet Provider

Price, Outages, or Equipment? What Customers Raise Most With Each Internet Provider

Customers of each major internet provider tend to raise a different main concern, according to a CompareInternet analysis of 1,020 home internet posts, drawn from 4,418 Reddit posts reviewed.

The analysis covered a year of home internet discussions across five provider communities: AT&T, Spectrum, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Xfinity. Each provider was represented by an equal number of posts, so the results can be compared side by side. Cable customers at Xfinity and Spectrum talked most about the bill. Fixed wireless customers at T-Mobile talked most about their equipment, while Verizon 5G Home customers raised outages more often.

Key Findings

• Nearly Half of Xfinity Customer Posts Were About Money. Nearly one in two Xfinity posts (45%) mentioned price or billing, compared with about one in ten T-Mobile posts (11%).
• Expiring Promotions Came Up Most in Xfinity and Spectrum Posts. About one in 14 Xfinity posts (7%) and one in 20 Spectrum posts (5%) described a promotional rate ending, compared with fewer than one in 100 posts for each of the other three providers.
• Spectrum Was the Provider Customers Most Often Said They Left. Among posts naming both their old and new provider, nearly two in five switches (39%) started at Spectrum. Verizon (30%) and T-Mobile (26%) were the most common destinations.
• For T-Mobile Home Internet Customers, the Router Was the Problem, Not the Network. Nearly one in two T-Mobile posts (48%) discussed the gateway, router, or Wi-Fi, while only one in ten (10%) mentioned an outage.
• Verizon 5G Home Posts Mentioned Outages 2.5 Times as Often as T-Mobile’s. Outages came up in one in four Verizon 5G Home posts (25%), compared with one in ten T-Mobile Home Internet posts (10%).
• Xfinity Customers Mentioned Customer Service Four Times as Often as T-Mobile’s. Customer service came up in nearly one in three Xfinity posts (30%), compared with fewer than one in ten T-Mobile posts (7%).
• About One in Five AT&T, Spectrum, and Verizon Posts Were Mainly About Outages. Outages were the main subject of about one in five posts in each community (18% to 21%), compared with fewer than one in ten T-Mobile posts (6%).
• Fiber Changed the Complaints Rather Than Ending Them. Installation came up in more than one in four AT&T Fiber posts (27%), while customer service came up in about one in four Verizon Fios posts (24%).
• Complaints Rarely Turned Into Goodbyes. Fewer than one in five posts for each provider (14% to 19%) mentioned switching or leaving, and the differences between providers were not statistically significant.

Nearly Half of Xfinity Customer Posts Were About Money

Money came up more often in the Xfinity community than in any other provider community studied, with Spectrum second.

Price was the main topic of nearly one in four Xfinity posts, about twice the share for Spectrum and more than twice the share for any other provider. Billing problems, such as unexpected charges, duplicate bills, or fees for returned equipment, appeared in one in five Xfinity posts, compared with 13% or less for the other providers.

Expiring Promotions Came Up Most in Xfinity and Spectrum Posts

Most price posts were not about billing mistakes. Many came from customers whose promotional rate had ended or was about to end.

Share of each provider’s posts.

Xfinity customers also described price increases without a stated reason, or asked how to get the price advertised to new customers. Including expiring promotions, about one in seven Xfinity posts (15%) raised one of these concerns.

Xfinity Customers Mentioned Customer Service Four Times as Often as T-Mobile’s

Customer service came up in nearly one in three Xfinity posts, and the same share described contacting support. Both were the highest of the five providers. A common complaint involved automated assistants that customers said would not connect them to a person.

A negative post does not mean the service itself is worse. Customers who post in a provider’s community are often there because something went wrong, and each community has its own culture.

Spectrum Was the Provider Customers Most Often Said They Left

Some posts named both the provider a customer was leaving and the one they were moving to.

The most common moves were Spectrum to Verizon and Xfinity to T-Mobile. Among customers leaving Spectrum or Xfinity who named their new provider, more than half moved to T-Mobile or Verizon. Others moved to local fiber providers such as Google Fiber or Fidium.

Where customers post can shape this picture. A customer who just switched to Verizon may post in Verizon’s community rather than the one they left. These figures describe the switches customers talked about, not providers’ overall gains or losses.

For T-Mobile Home Internet Customers, the Router Was the Problem, Not the Network

T-Mobile customers paid less attention to the bill and more to their setup.

Share of each provider’s posts.

Nearly one in two T-Mobile posts discussed the gateway, router, mesh extenders, or Wi-Fi coverage, while only one in ten mentioned an outage. Speed came up in more than one in three T-Mobile posts, often with signal readings attached. T-Mobile also had the highest share of positive posts, at 12%.

The T-Mobile community is dedicated to home internet and draws many customers who enjoy adjusting their setup, which plays a part in these numbers.

Verizon 5G Home Posts Mentioned Outages 2.5 Times as Often as T-Mobile’s

Comparing fixed wireless customers at the two providers directly showed a clear gap.

Share of each provider’s fixed wireless posts.

Outages came up in one in four Verizon 5G Home posts, compared with one in ten T-Mobile Home Internet posts, and customer service came up about three times as often. T-Mobile customers posted more about equipment and speed. AT&T Internet Air had too few posts to include in this comparison.

About One in Five AT&T, Spectrum, and Verizon Posts Were Mainly About Outages

Outage mentions among AT&T, Spectrum, Verizon, and Xfinity were close, and the differences between them fell within the margin of error. T-Mobile posts mentioned outages less than half as often.

Spectrum posts most often described a service problem affecting work, at 9%, followed by Xfinity at 5%. Spectrum customers were also the most likely to mention a technician visit, at 11%, followed by Xfinity at 7%.

Fiber Changed the Complaints Rather Than Ending Them

AT&T and Verizon were the only providers with enough fiber posts to compare directly.

Share of each provider’s fiber posts.

The two fiber communities were equally negative overall, but for different reasons. AT&T Fiber customers posted most about installation, including lines left unburied, delayed appointments, and questions about where the fiber jack should go. Verizon Fios customers posted more about customer service.

Complaints Rarely Turned Into Goodbyes

Even in negative posts, most customers were not announcing that they were leaving. Between 14% and 19% of posts for each provider mentioned considering a switch, shopping around, or having already switched or canceled. The differences between providers were not statistically significant.

Expert Commentary

“Each provider’s customers bring a different problem to the conversation, such as the bill, the connection, or the equipment,” said Caroline Lefelhoc, Content Editor at CompareInternet.com. “When comparing providers, it helps to look past the advertised price and ask what customers n run into most often after signing up.”

Methodology

CompareInternet analyzed public posts from five provider subreddits (r/ATT, r/Spectrum, r/tmobileisp, r/verizon, and r/Comcast_Xfinity) published between October 19, 2025, and October 18, 2026. Researchers reviewed 4,418 posts to identify 1,020 about U.S. residential home internet service, with an equal number of posts from each provider and each month of the year. Posts about mobile service, TV, business accounts, or unrelated topics were not eligible, and most of the posts reviewed fell into these categories. This was an analysis of public posts, not a survey.

Each post was coded with AI assistance against a fixed codebook for its topics, main topic, tone, connection type, any consequences the customer described, any steps taken, and any switch between providers. Expiring promotions and price increase concerns were identified by reviewing every price, billing, and cancellation post in the sample. Connection type was recorded only when the post made it clear, and comparisons within a connection type were made only when a provider had at least 50 posts of that type. Switching destinations are based on the 54 posts that named both the old and new provider.

A post could fall into more than one category, so percentages do not add up to 100%. Differences between providers were tested for statistical significance, and providers are not ranked where differences fell within the margin of error.

The findings reflect self-selected Reddit discussions, rather than a representative survey of internet customers or a measure of provider reliability.