PCMag's annual reader survey of US and Canadian ISPs is out, and for once the broadband market has enough entrants to make the results interesting.
Readers across the US and Canada ranked their internet providers for 2026, with PCMag noting that satellite and fixed wireless services have grown enough to meaningfully expand consumer choice. That's not marketing language — for most of the past two decades, broadband "choice" in most US markets meant picking between the cable company and DSL, if you were lucky. Satellite and fixed wireless have moved from niche products into something closer to real alternatives for a meaningful slice of the population.
That shift changes what a reader survey actually measures. When an incumbent holds a regional monopoly, low satisfaction scores carry no weight — there's nowhere else to go. Add genuine alternatives and suddenly aggregate sentiment becomes competitive pressure.
Reader surveys self-select toward the most and least satisfied, so treat absolute scores with appropriate skepticism. The more interesting question is whether the new entrants are pulling ahead or falling back as the novelty wears off.