Internet users love fiber service—too bad you probably can’t get it

May 18, 2023

Jon Brodkin - Jun 6, 2023 6:55 pm UTC

Fiber-to-the-home Internet service is the clear favorite of US broadband users, but unfortunately most people in the US have no access to the technology, the American Customer Satisfaction Index said today.

"Across the entire customer experience, fiber service shows a strong advantage—from data transfer speed and service reliability to touchpoints like call centers and websites," Forrest Morgeson, ACSI director of research emeritus and a marketing professor at Michigan State University, said in a press release announcing the ACSI's latest research. "That said, with well over half of US households lacking access to fiber internet, availability remains a sticking point. As such, non-fiber ISP services remain an attractive option for many customers and should not be overlooked by providers."

One reason that customers like fiber is that it offers higher upload speeds than cable and other technologies. But cable companies dominate the US broadband market. According to data from Leichtman Research Group, the top US cable companies had 76.2 million broadband subscribers by the end of Q1 2023. The top wireline phone companies had 30.8 million Internet subscribers including both fiber and slower DSL.

In terms of availability, the Federal Communications Commission broadband map indicates that about 38 percent of US residents can get fiber. The percentage drops to 29 percent when including only fiber services that offer gigabit download speeds and at least 100Mbps upload speeds. The FCC map identifies 114 million locations where fixed broadband could be installed, including both residences and businesses.

The ACSI measures customer satisfaction across many industries using a 100-point scale. The new ACSI Telecommunications Study 2022-2023 is based on interviews with 22,061 customers chosen at random between April 2022 and March 2023, the group said. The study also examines video streaming and traditional subscription TV services offered by cable companies.

All fiber ISPs combined had an average customer satisfaction score of 75, while non-fiber ISPs (including wireless home Internet services) had an average score of 66. Fiber also beat non-fiber in customers' evaluation of specific performance categories, including video-streaming quality, Internet service quality, data transfer speed, outages, and peak hour performance.

"AT&T Fiber tops fiber ISPs—and the entire industry—with a score of 80," the ACSI said. "CenturyLink Fiber is next at 78, followed by Google Fiber (76)." CenturyLink is also known as Lumen after a recent name change.

An "all others" group within the fiber category that consists of smaller fiber ISPs scored 75 on the 100-point scale. Verizon FiOS also got a 75. Meanwhile, "Frontier Fiber and [Comcast] Xfinity Fiber round out the fiber ISPs at 74 and 73, respectively," the ACSI said. Comcast provides fiber-to-the-home in some areas for much higher prices than its more widely available cable service.