OPINION:
Chances are you’re reading this on your phone, tablet or computer right now, connected to the internet. Maybe you’re checking the news over morning coffee, killing time between meetings, taking a mental break from a busy day or scrolling before bed.
You probably didn’t think twice about whether your connection would work. You just expected it to.
That’s exactly the point.
Americans use the internet more than ever before. It’s how we work, learn, shop, see doctors, stay connected and manage our lives. The average household now uses more than 600 gigabytes of data per month, up from just 50 gigabytes a decade ago. We’re streaming, videoconferencing, gaming and running smart homes that would have seemed like science fiction just a few years ago.
Given the explosion in usage and the massive infrastructure required to support it, you would rationally expect internet bills to have exploded too.
Except, they haven’t.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the typical family pays about $75 per month for internet service. That’s roughly 1% of the average family’s income, or half the 2% benchmark the Federal Communications Commission has set for affordability. Prices have remained largely stable, with changes over time well below the rate of inflation, even as our dependence on connectivity has skyrocketed.
In fact, as prices for other commodities have increased dramatically for most Americans, it’s a rare example of getting significantly more for essentially the same price.
Think about how your home internet connection has changed over the past decade. You used to be tethered to an Ethernet cable. Now, everything in your home runs seamlessly over Wi-Fi. A decade ago, streaming a single high-definition movie or downloading a file might have maxed out your bandwidth. Today, one person can be on a Zoom call for work, another can stream a 4K movie, kids can game online, and smart home devices can run constantly — all at once, with no buffering.
The price per megabit of speed has dropped 98% since 2000. Americans are paying the same for exponentially more value.
When demand surges and infrastructure costs mount, prices typically rise; it’s basic economics. So why hasn’t that happened here? Competition, mostly. Sustained infrastructure investment that doesn’t make headlines but makes a real difference in people’s lives.
When you have cable, fiber, fixed wireless, satellite and now mobile providers all vying for customers, nobody can get too comfortable. According to the FCC, 96% of Americans now have multiple high-speed internet options. That’s up from less than 20% a decade ago. That competitive pressure keeps providers honest on price while pushing them to improve service, resulting in big wins for customers.
Cable’s recent entry into mobile service illustrates this dynamic perfectly. By increasingly offering bundled internet and mobile plans and using our networks and Wi-Fi to offload 90% of mobile traffic to provide consumers with lower rates, cable companies are now the fourth-largest mobile provider in America, with more than 20 million subscribers.
In 2025 alone, these competitive offerings saved consumers $5 billion, leading to a 4% drop in mobile phone plan prices. Some families are cutting their annual mobile costs by $1,000. That’s real money for a mortgage payment, a family vacation, child care, and months of gas and groceries.
That said, we know that keeping prices stable is only part of the challenge. Nearly all major providers now offer low-cost plans — most around $15 to $30 per month for fast, reliable internet service — specifically designed for lower-income families.
These programs have connected more than 14 million Americans over the past decade, and internet adoption among households earning less than $25,000 annually has increased from 66% to 79% in just five years.
Beyond price, the industry has put millions of dollars behind programs to drive internet adoption, increasing digital skills and driving economic mobility.
I’m sharing this not because everything is perfect (we know it’s not) but because at a time when Americans rely on internet connectivity more than ever before, it’s worth recognizing what’s working. Despite exponential increases in usage, dramatic expansions in capability and the infrastructure investments required to support it all, internet bills have remained stable.
That’s the result of competition that creates an environment where providers must continuously deliver more value to keep your business.
When consumers depend on something this much, the last thing they need is runaway costs. So far, the sector has delivered — and that’s a success story worth protecting.
• Cory Gardner is president and CEO of NCTA.
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