The Public Loves Fiber

The latest Customer Satisfaction Index is out from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which measures the public satisfaction of a wide range of US industries and institutions. The survey this year continued to show that the public has a poor opinion of internet service providers (ISP). As a group, ISPs had an average ACSI annual rating of 68. The only industry with a lower rating is gas stations at 65. Subscription TV had an average rating of 69, and the US Post Office had a rating of 70. But there is some interesting good news for some ISPs. Companies serving customers with fiber rated higher with the public than other ISPs, including cable companies using coaxial networks. Consider the following table that shows the 2023 ranking for fiber and non-fiber ISPs. For companies that offer both fiber and another technology, customers served by fiber liked an ISP more than non-fiber customers. Fiber technical performance should be consistent regardless of the ISP, so the difference in rankings between fiber providers has to be related to customer service and the other non-technical aspects of being an ISP.