The Most Hated US Internet Provider Is…

Americans hate Comcast. The Internet and cable giant routinely shows up or tops the list of America’s worst companies. So this should come as no surprise: Comcast is America’s most-hated Internet provider.

The dubious distinction is based on the number of consumer complaints related to Internet availability, billing and speed that were submitted to the Federal Communications Commission from Jan. 1 to Nov. 9. According to data compiled by Ars Technica, the FCC received more Internet complaints about Comcast than it did for top rivals Verizon, AT&T and Time Warner Cable combined.

At first glance, it seems to make sense that Comcast, the nation’s largest Internet and cable provider, has the highest number of angry customers. But Comcast’s three smaller competitors combined have roughly 15 million more customers than the telecommunications giant, so Comcast also led the way in terms of complaints per customer.

The FCC received 11,812 complaints about Comcast in the first 10 months of 2015 (through Nov. 9) compared with the combined total of 6,742 for the other three telecom companies.

That’s right. Comcast had nearly double the number of angry consumers as the combined total of Verizon (1,588), AT&T (3,896) and TWC (1,240).

Yikes. That’s a lot of unhappy Comcast customers. Says Ars Technica:

Comcast gets complaints about many things, but frustration with its 300GB-per-month data cap and its overage charges appear to drive much of the most recent outrage. (AT&T also imposes data caps ranging from 150GB to 1TB a month, but the 150GB cap on entry-level DSL is reportedly the only one that’s enforced. Verizon and TWC don’t limit data usage as strictly as Comcast.)

Comcast issued this statement to Ars Technica regarding consumers’ data cap complaints:

“We are conducting data trials in select markets around the country, covering a small percentage of our customers. We designed the various plans we are trialing with a minimum 300GB/month data plan because more than 90 percent of our customers use less data than that and are not affected. The trials are providing us with invaluable consumer feedback. For example, we surveyed our heavy data users and 80 percent thought our data trials were fairer than our past approach, which was a 250GB/month static cap. It’s important to note that 10 percent of our customers are consuming nearly 50 percent of all the data on our network. As a result, these trials are based on the principle that those who use more, pay more and those who use less, pay less.”

Comcast also received dismal ratings in the newly released American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Check out “Comcast Renames Customer ‘A**hole’ on Billing Statement.”

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