Why Customers Leave Their Internet Provider: Price, Not Outages, Tops the List

Why Customers Leave Their Internet Provider: Price, Not Outages, Tops the List

Outages came up in one in five posts, but price led the reasons people gave for switching internet providers, according to a CompareInternet analysis of 1,020 home internet posts, drawn from 4,418 Reddit posts reviewed.

A new analysis from CompareInternet examined a year of home internet discussions across five provider communities on Reddit: AT&T, Spectrum, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Xfinity. Among posts that explained a switch, 43% cited price or a price increase, followed by moving at 26% and outages or unreliable service at 15%. 

Key Findings

• Price Beats Outages as the Reason Customers Say They Switch Internet Providers. About 1 in 10 posts explained why customers were switching. Among those, 43% cited price, compared with 26% citing a move and 15% citing outages or unreliable service.
• Moving Outranks Outages as a Reason Customers Say They Switch Internet Providers. Moving appeared in 26% of posts explaining a switch, compared with 15% citing outages or unreliable service. Customers described coverage gaps at their new address and problems transferring service or keeping a discount.
• Threatening to Cancel Helped Some Customers Get a Lower Internet Bill. One customer reported that a cancellation request brought a $90 monthly plan down to $40, with a speed upgrade included. The posts do not establish how often negotiations succeed.
• Nearly Half of Internet Billing Complaints Involved Charges Customers Said They Didn’t Owe. In 47% of billing-problem posts, customers disputed charges they had already paid or were being asked to pay.
• Internet Problems Spilled Over Into Customers’ Finances and Workdays. Across all posts, 21% described consequences beyond the original service or billing problem, including financial loss in 7% and missed work or difficulty working from home in 4%.
• Price Stood Out in Cable Discussions, Speed in Fixed Wireless Posts. Price appeared in about 32% of cable posts, 21% of fiber posts, and 7% of fixed wireless posts. Speed appeared in about 37% of fixed wireless posts, 25% of cable posts, and 16% of fiber posts.
• Lower Bills Gave Customers a Reason to Praise Their Internet Provider. Nearly a quarter of positive posts discussed price, often describing a negotiated discount or savings after switching.

Price Came Up More Often Than Outages in Switching Explanations

Price was the most common reason customers gave for switching internet providers, cited in 43% of posts that explained a switch.

Price came up most often in Xfinity posts, at 30%, followed by Spectrum at 23%, Verizon at 15%, AT&T at 14%, and T-Mobile at 9%. These shares measure discussion of price, not providers’ actual prices or overall customer satisfaction.

Outages appeared in 21% of all posts and were among the most common topics, but customers cited price more often as a reason for switching.

Moving Could Mean Starting Over with a New Provider

Moving was the second most common reason for switching, appearing in just over a quarter of posts that gave one.

Some customers switched because their provider did not serve their new address. Others took the opportunity to shop around or reported problems transferring service, keeping their discount, or returning equipment.

Can a Phone Call Lower the Bill? Some Customers Said Yes

One customer said a loyalty call cut their monthly internet charge from $75 to $30 for two years. Another reported that threatening to cancel brought a $90 plan down to $40, with a speed upgrade included.

Not every attempt worked. Other customers said calls, chats, or store visits failed to secure a lower rate. 

Customers Reported Charges After Canceling Service or Returning Equipment

Billing problems came up in 12% of posts, with customers reporting duplicate bills, unexpected fees, equipment charges, and continued billing after cancellation. In 47% of those posts, customers said they had paid or were being asked to pay charges they did not owe.

Internet Problems Cost Some Customers Money and Work Time

About 1 in 5 posts (21%) described consequences beyond the original service or billing problem.

Financial loss appeared in 7% of all posts, followed by disrupted gaming or streaming at 5%. Missed work or difficulty working from home appeared in 4%, time spent dealing with support in 3%, and disrupted household routines in 1%.

Cable Posts Focused More on Price, Fixed Wireless Posts on Speed

Price appeared in nearly a third of cable posts. In fixed wireless discussions, speed was the most common of the three topics compared.

Cable posts had the highest share of price and outage discussions. Fixed wireless posts had the highest share of speed mentions and the lowest share of price mentions. Fiber fell between the two on outages and price, and had the lowest share of speed discussions.

Gaming and streaming disruptions were most common in fixed wireless posts (8%, compared with 5% for cable and 4% for fiber). Customers often shared latency readings, which measure the delay that can make online games lag, and asked how to improve their connections.

A Better Deal Also Gave Customers Something to Praise

Positive posts accounted for 5% of the sample. Nearly a quarter of them discussed price, often describing a negotiated discount or savings after switching.

“Customers should compare the full monthly cost, including equipment charges and other recurring fees,” said Caroline Lefelhoc, Content Editor at CompareInternet.com. “For providers, these discussions offer a chance to understand customers’ concerns and address them before they decide to leave.”

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 and randomly selected 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.

We coded each post with AI assistance against a fixed codebook for its topics, tone, connection type, any consequences the customer described, and whether and why they were switching providers. Connection type (cable, fiber, or fixed wireless) was recorded only when the post made it clear. A post could fall into more than one category, so percentages do not add up to 100%. Switching-reason percentages are based on the 109 posts that gave a reason.

The findings reflect self-selected Reddit discussions rather than a representative survey of internet customers or a measure of provider reliability. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.