Consumer Cellular has taken the top position in Market Force Information's 2026 Wireless Benchmark Study for the third consecutive report, with Cricket also placed at the front of the field. The study ranks the value carrier ahead of the national networks on overall brand performance and on Market Force's Customer Loyalty Index.
The research is based on fieldwork with 1,647 US consumers and represents the third wave of the programme, following data collected in 2023 and 2025. It examines provider experience metrics alongside brand image, churn behaviour, device satisfaction and demographic trends.
Price gap mirrors different retail models
Average monthly bills in the study vary sharply. Verizon subscribers reported an average of $160.04, while TracFone customers reported $25.00. The figures point to two distinct retail positions: national networks price on network ownership and subscriber scale, while value brands compete almost entirely on headline monthly price.
Brand performance scores follow a similar split. Consumer Cellular recorded 72.3 percent, more than double AT&T's 34.2 percent. On loyalty, AT&T scored 3.90 and Verizon 3.96 on the Customer Loyalty Index, both below the 25th-percentile mark of 4.08. The two largest incumbents therefore sit at the bottom of the ranking on that measure.
Switching intent remains price-led
Almost one in five respondents, or 19 percent, said they were actively considering a move to another provider. Cost of service was the most cited reason for a third year running, named by 12 percent, while 10.3 percent pointed to promotional deal-seeking.
Network performance has not disappeared from the decision. Data speed and call clarity completed the top four reasons at 8.5 percent and 7 percent respectively. The results suggest that engineering quality can still influence choices as differences in coverage narrow.
Among former T-Mobile customers, 76.6 percent cited monthly service cost as their reason for leaving. That is a price-led churn pattern. In the survey, that pressure appears as concern over bills rather than an immediate rush for the exits: most switching recirculates among the big three, and long tenure keeps accounts in place well after satisfaction begins to slide.
Service issues ease, hardware ranking shifts
Sherri Weed, COO at Market Force Information, described a structural disconnect between market dominance and customer satisfaction. She said the carriers with the largest subscriber bases were not delivering experiences that create loyalty, calling that not only a customer-experience problem but a business risk that the data makes clear over time.
Service problems have eased across the industry, falling from 30 percent of customers in 2023 to 22 percent in the latest wave. About a fifth of the base still encounters an issue, leaving support teams and field engineering to handle the remaining problems rather than the tariff sheet.
Hardware rankings also moved. Samsung finished ahead of iPhone on the study's Brand Competitiveness Ranking for the first time in its history.