If you’ve ever run an ISP, you know the moment it happens.
A new competitor rolls into town, and suddenly your phone lines light up. Customers start asking questions. Your team feels the shift. And before you know it, panic sets in.
It’s natural to feel protective of the customer base you’ve spent years building. But the real danger isn’t always the competitor. Sometimes it’s the way fear pushes teams to overreact.
After talking with operators from all over the country, and reliving more than a few of my own experiences, here’s what actually matters when competition shows up, and what you can do before it becomes a crisis.
Most providers only worry about competitors once they’ve already landed. But surviving that moment begins much earlier.
You’d be shocked how many customers say, “I never knew you served my neighborhood,” even when there’s a tower a mile from their home.
This is preventable.
If your presence isn’t clear, a “new” provider can look like the only provider, even when that isn’t true.
People need to understand why your service matters to them.
Not buzzwords. Not complicated charts.
What speeds do you offer?
Where do you offer them?
What makes your experience better than the alternative?
If customers have to guess, they’ll move.
Being the sole provider can make a team complacent. No community engagement, no local sponsorships, no updates to the website, no clear brand presence.
Then the “shiny new ISP” shows up wearing matching polos and handing out flyers, and suddenly they look like the polished option.
That shift doesn’t happen overnight. It happens slowly, in the years when you think competition will never reach you.
You don’t need to rush to price-cuts or panic marketing. You do need to be methodical.
Some competitors are serious threats. Others burn out quickly.
So put on your detective hat:
You can’t make smart decisions without understanding the actual overlap between you and them.
Silence is dangerous.
Customers will fill in the gaps on their own, and what they imagine is usually worse than reality.
Simple, proactive communication goes a long way:
If you’re the voice that shows up first and communicates clearly, that’s already a differentiator.
At some point, a major provider is going to knock on doors offering something like $30/month with a gift card and two-year contract. When your entry plan is $79.95, that feels like a punch to the gut.
Price-matching across the board is a trap. It’s a race downward you will not win.
Instead, think creatively:
One operator I spoke with hired local high school students to knock doors, not to sell, but to thank existing customers and share referral opportunities. It worked. They beat a national provider not by chasing price, but by building presence.
If you lose a customer, understanding why is invaluable.
Did they leave because of speed?
Because of price?
Because of reliability?
Or because they simply didn’t know you offered service on their street?
Some customers won’t call support. They’ll just churn. If you aren’t tracking exit reasons, you’re missing some of your most important operational signals.
And when someone leaves due to a service problem, pay attention. If two households off the same access point churn for reliability issues, that’s not a coincidence. That’s a fix waiting to happen. Repair the issue, then reach out, even if they’re no longer customers. It shows integrity, and it often sparks a win-back.
In theory, yes. In practice, it rarely works that cleanly.
If competition is pushing you out of one small area, odds are it will affect your neighboring markets, too. Providers aren’t closing down single ZIP codes, they’re shutting down entirely. This year alone, we’ve seen more operators close their doors than the past five years combined.
If you’re considering pulling out of an area, treat it as a sign to review your entire footprint and strategy, not just one pocket of customers.
Short answer: no.
Giving your frontline staff some flexibility for customer retention makes sense.
But blanket price-matching rules? You’re training your customers to ask for discounts forever.
Offer grace where it’s earned. Not where it’s demanded.
Sometimes you end up with neighboring operators who coordinate, share insights, even refer customers when a tower can’t reach a particular home.
That’s not quite an “alliance,” but it is mutual respect.
And in a small community, that matters.
This one always sparks debate.
Wholesale can be a revenue opportunity, especially if you have unused capacity.
But it comes with real risks:
Some operators swear by it. Others won’t touch it.
Your choice depends on your network, your business model, and your appetite for managing someone else’s traffic.
This happens more than anyone likes to admit.
If they were truly great, of course the competitor wanted them.
What matters is how you respond:
And don’t forget, your former rep knows exactly which of your customers feel the most vulnerable. Get to those customers first.
You can’t stop someone from leaving.
You can keep your business from collapsing because of it.
Competition will always show up. The market shifts. Funding changes. Technologies leap forward.
But the ISPs that survive aren’t the ones who react the fastest—they’re the ones who stay grounded in who they serve, communicate clearly, and keep their teams focused on long-term stability, not short-term panic.
When you know your value, your footprint, and your community, competition becomes something you can navigate, not something that defines you.
And remember, every connection you build supports someone’s job, someone’s education, someone’s healthcare, someone’s future.
That part never changes.
Catch my full conversation on the Bandwidth podcast. Available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and the Bandwidth YouTube Channel.