The last time you checked your mobile or home internet bill, you reached yours the phone or sitting down with your laptop or desktop computer? According to a new study by JD Power, people prefer to access their accounts through apps rather than websites. And that preference is particularly strong when it comes to telecom companies like mobile phone carriers again home internet providers (increasingly overlapping).
According to the 2026 US Telecom Digital Experience survey, surveyed customers gave app access a satisfaction rating of 681 points for wireless carriers and 689 for Internet service providers (out of 1,000 points). Website access followed those with 38 points and 42 points, respectively. JD Power collected surveys from 12,082 customers of eight Internet providers and 14 wireless carriers.
Biometric login was a big factor in the decision. When you access an account, there is always one or more layers of authentication just to log in. The app usually speeds you through the door using face or finger recognition to log in or upload a passkey.
Built-in services like Apple’s Passwords app can use biometrics to unlock and fill databases on websites, but the experience isn’t as smooth. JD Power noted that maintenance issues and slow responsiveness also hampered the website login experience for both segments.
This helps explain why carriers have invested heavily in developing their applications. For one, T-Mobile’s T-Life app is increasingly the central point of customer interaction. And AT&T this week released a new app — just named AT&T — that’s one service for its mobile and broadband customers.
AT&T’s Jeff Dixon, vice president of Digital Product Management and Development, emphasized the importance of speed in the company’s app development.
“We’re focused on performance to make it faster across the board,” he said, noting a major build-out of back-end services to store and retrieve data.
The JD Power study also found that the gap between satisfaction with phone companies’ apps and websites was wider than in other industries, suggesting that wireless and Internet providers need to strengthen their web experience. There was a 25-point gap between apps and websites for wireless carriers, and an 11-point gap for Internet service providers.
Overall, customer satisfaction was 654 out of 1,000 for wireless carriers and 659 for Internet providers. Scores were based on four factors in order of importance: design, system performance, tools and capabilities, and experience.
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How telecom companies rank in the 2026 US Telecom Digital Experience Study.
Ranked among wireless carriers, Mint Mobile scored the highest (704), followed by Spectrum Mobile (678) and followed by a tie between Metro by T-Mobile and T-Mobile itself (672). It’s worth noting that, of those, Spectrum is the only one not owned by T-Mobile.
Among Internet service providers, T-Mobile ranked highest in the survey with 695 points, followed by AT&T at 675 and Verizon at 669.
