Consumer Cellular has claimed the top spot in Market Force Information's 2026 Wireless Benchmark Study for a third consecutive report, with the value carrier ahead of the national networks on overall brand performance and on the firm's Customer Loyalty Index. Cricket joined Consumer Cellular at the front of the field.
The study drew on 1,647 U.S. consumers and represents the third wave of the programme, following data collected in 2023 and 2025. It tracks provider experience metrics alongside brand image, churn behaviour, device satisfaction and demographic trends.
Brand scores and loyalty rankings
Consumer Cellular recorded a brand performance score of 72.3%, more than double AT&T's 34.2%. The loyalty results followed a similar pattern: AT&T scored 3.90 and Verizon 3.96 on the Customer Loyalty Index, both below the 25th-percentile mark of 4.08. That placed the two largest incumbents at the bottom of the ranking.
Sherri Weed, COO of Market Force Information, described a structural disconnect between market dominance and customer satisfaction. She said carriers with the largest subscriber bases were not delivering the experiences that create loyalty, adding that the pattern represented a business risk rather than only a customer-experience problem.
Price remains the main switching driver
The survey also illustrated sharply different retail positions. Verizon subscribers reported an average monthly bill of $160.04, while TracFone customers paid $25.00. National networks price on network ownership and subscriber scale, according to the study, while value brands compete almost entirely on headline monthly price.
Almost one in five customers, or 19%, were actively weighing a move to another provider. Cost of service was the top stated reason for a third year running, cited by 12% of respondents, followed by promotional deal-seeking at 10.3%. Data speed and call clarity rounded out the top four at 8.5% and 7% respectively, a result the study said suggested engineering quality still shifts decisions as coverage differences narrow.
Among former T-Mobile customers, 76.6% cited monthly service cost as their reason for leaving. The study characterised this as a price-led churn pattern and said the pressure showed up in bills rather than an immediate rush for the exits. It added that most switching recirculates among the big three, while long tenure keeps accounts in place well after satisfaction begins to slide.
Service issues ease as hardware ranking shifts
Service problems eased across the industry, falling from 30% of customers in 2023 to 22% in the latest wave. Roughly one-fifth of the base still encountered an issue, the study said, leaving that residue with support teams and field engineering rather than the tariff sheet.
Hardware rankings also moved. Samsung finished ahead of iPhone on the Brand Competitiveness Ranking for the first time in the study's history.
Taken together, the results frame a market in which subscriber scale and customer loyalty do not necessarily move together. The study reports pressure on bills rather than an immediate surge in switching, while linking the gap to pricing, service experience and customer behaviour.