National subscriber gains, losses, and market share provide an important view of the broadband market but they don't always tell you where competitive pressure is building. Looking at broadband activity market by market reveals a more nuanced picture of where customers are switching and of which providers are gaining momentum.
Mobilewalla's latest Telco Intelligence Report, The Great Broadband Reshuffle, shows why that distinction matters. Looking at switching activity across U.S. DMAs reveals that some markets are considerably more competitive than others, with the mix of fiber, FWA, and incumbent providers creating very different dynamics from one region to another.
In this article, we'll look at what the data tells us about those differences, why national market share can mask emerging competitive threats and why a more local view of switching activity can help providers make better strategic decisions.
At a national level, the broadband market still looks relatively concentrated. Spectrum and Xfinity together account for more than 42% of observed broadband connections in Mobilewalla’s data sample, reflecting the scale and infrastructure advantages built up by the major cable operators over decades. That can make it easy to assume that competitive change is happening gradually, but the switching data tells a different story.
During the March to May 2026 analysis period, several providers recorded significant net subscriber gains through switching. T-Mobile led with a net acquisition rate of 34%, followed by Metronet at 28%, Brightspeed at 19%, Frontier at 16%, and Verizon Fios at 9%. At the same time, Spectrum, Xfinity, and Cox were all net negative.
But even these national figures don't tell the whole story. The more useful question for a broadband provider is not who is gaining nationally, it is where is that competitive pressure actually happening?
Broadband providers don't compete against national averages. They compete for households in specific markets, where network availability, provider overlap, pricing, promotions, and consumer preferences can vary significantly.
Mobilewalla's analysis covers 210 U.S. DMA markets, allowing switching activity to be examined at a much more local level. That analysis found that the 10 most active switching markets accounted for approximately 38% of all observed switching activity. New York alone represented 6.2% of national switching volume, followed by Los Angeles at 5.2%, Dallas–Fort Worth and Minneapolis–St. Paul at 4.3% each, and Atlanta at 4.1%.
The interesting part isn't simply that these are large metropolitan areas, it's that some markets are showing more competitive activity than their size alone would suggest.
Dallas–Fort Worth and Atlanta, for example, have experienced significant fiber expansion alongside established incumbent networks. Minneapolis–St. Paul has seen rapid entry from fiber providers including Metronet and Brightspeed, while also experiencing strong FWA adoption. Together, those factors have contributed to switching activity that is higher than market size alone would predict.
This is where national reporting can become less useful. A provider may see relatively stable national market share while individual markets are already experiencing meaningful changes in subscriber movement.
The competitive threat also isn't uniform. A fiber provider entering a market where an incumbent has historically faced little direct competition creates a very different situation from one entering a market where several providers are already competing aggressively.
The same applies to FWA. Mobilewalla analysis found that FWA is gaining traction not only in areas where fiber is limited, but also in markets where fiber is already available. T-Mobile and Verizon's FWA services collectively captured nearly 25% of Xfinity's outbound switchers during the analysis period. That means providers can't necessarily assess the threat from a technology category in isolation. They need to understand which providers are competing, where they overlap, and where customers are actually moving.
This is particularly important because market share is inherently backward-looking. A provider can retain a large share of a market while losing customers at an increasing rate. Another provider may still have a relatively small share but be gaining subscribers quickly.
The report illustrates this distinction through its switching analysis. Spectrum and Xfinity remain the two largest providers in the sample, yet both are experiencing net negative switching positions. Meanwhile, smaller fiber providers such as Metronet and Brightspeed are recording some of the strongest net acquisition rates.
That doesn't mean the smaller providers are about to overtake the incumbents. It means their direction of travel is different and that can matter more for strategic planning than today's market share alone.
For operators, the implication is straightforward: national market trends are useful for understanding the broader landscape, but they aren't enough to guide decisions in individual markets.
Providers need to know:
The answers can look very different from one DMA to another. That's why competitive intelligence increasingly needs to operate at the market level rather than relying solely on national averages or quarterly market share reports.
The U.S. broadband market is becoming more competitive, but that change won't happen evenly across the country. Some markets are already experiencing significant subscriber movement. Others may remain relatively stable. And in many cases, the early signs of change may appear in switching behavior before they become visible in reported market share.
Understanding those differences can give providers a clearer view of where competitive pressure is building and where action may be needed next.
For a deeper look at the switching patterns, carrier flows and DMA-level competitive dynamics behind these trends, download Mobilewalla's latest Telco Intelligence Report, The Great Broadband Reshuffle: Competition, Choice, and a Market Coming of Age or connect with us.