Study: All Major ISPs Have Declined in Customer Satisfaction

Verizon FiOS has been rated the highest in customer satisfaction in a new study, though that may not be much to write home about. According to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index survey (pdf), Verizon FiOS was the top rated ISP with a score of 70 out of 100. But that score was a one point decline from one year earlier, and the industry average of 64 was not only a decline from last year, it's lower than most of the other industries the group tracks.

According to the ACSI, high prices and poor customer service continues to plague an US broadband industry with some very obvious competitive shortcomings.

"According to users, most aspects of ISPs are getting worse," the ACSI said. "Courtesy and helpfulness of staff has waned to 76 and in-store service is slower (74). Bills are more difficult to understand (-3 percent to 71), and customers aren’t happy with the variety of plans available (-3 percent to 64)."

Not a single ISP tracked by the firm saw an improvement in customer satisfaction scores . The worst of the worst according to the ACSI is Mediacom, which saw a 9% plummet year over year to a score of 53, which is lower than most airlines, banks, and even the IRS according to the report.

Charter Spectrum and Suddenlink also saw 8% declines in satisfaction year over year, and despite repeated claims that customer service is now its top priority, Comcast saw zero improvement in broadband satisfaction and a slight decline in pay TV satisfaction.

As noted, much of this dissatisfaction stems from a lack of competition, which is actually getting worse in many parts of the country. As telcos like Windstream, Verizon, CenturyLink and Frontier simply refuse to upgrade huge swaths of their aging DSL lines, cable is securing a bigger monopoly than ever before over broadband -- especially at faster speeds.

For example, a recent FCC study highlighted how competition is already pretty tepid at the FCC's standard definition of 25 Mbps, and virtually nonexistent as you get to faster 100 Mbps tiers. That lack of competition reduces incentive to compete on price and customer service, and instead incentivizes carriers to push their luck on price hikes and things like arbitrary and unnecessary usage caps.

And with ISPs effectively in charge of government regulators right now (as the assault on net neutrality, privacy, media ownership limits, and other FCC policy makes abundantly clear), it's a problem that's going to be sticking around for the foreseeable future.