Consumer Cellular has taken the top spot in Market Force Information’s wireless brand ranking for a third consecutive report. The 2026 Wireless Benchmark Study places the value carrier ahead of the national networks on overall brand performance and on the firm’s Customer Loyalty Index, with Cricket also joining it at the front of the field.
The findings come from fieldwork covering 1,647 US consumers. Market Force described the survey as 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.
Consumer Cellular’s brand performance score was 72.3%, more than double AT&T’s 34.2%. Loyalty readings followed a similar pattern. AT&T recorded a Customer Loyalty Index score of 3.90 and Verizon 3.96, both below the 25th-percentile mark of 4.08, leaving the two largest incumbents at the bottom of the field.
Pricing patterns in the study underline the different retail positions. Verizon subscribers reported an average monthly bill of $160.04, while TracFone customers paid $25.00. The gap highlights two distinct approaches: national networks price on network ownership and subscriber scale, while value brands compete almost entirely on headline monthly price.
Switching intentions remain a live issue. Almost one in five customers, 19%, said they were actively weighing a move to another provider. Cost of service held the top stated spot for a third year running, cited by 12% of respondents, with promotional deal-seeking named by 10.3%.
Network performance has not dropped out of the picture. Data speed and call clarity rounded out the top four reasons at 8.5% and 7% respectively. That suggests engineering quality still shifts decisions as coverage differences narrow.
The behaviour of customers who have already left is more blunt. Among former T-Mobile customers, 76.6% cited monthly service cost as their reason for leaving. The findings point to a price-led churn pattern, with pressure on 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 starts to slide.
Sherri Weed, COO at Market Force Information, said the data showed “a structural disconnect between market dominance and customer satisfaction.” She added that carriers with the largest subscriber bases were not delivering the experiences that create loyalty, calling it not just a customer-experience problem but a business risk.
Service problems have eased across the industry, falling from 30% of customers in 2023 to 22% in the latest wave. Roughly a fifth of the base still runs into an issue, and that residue lands on support teams and field engineering rather than on 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.