Consumers are expressing increasing dissatisfaction with conventional DSL internet access speeds. The 2012 U.S. Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Study conducted by J.D. Power and Associates shows that Internet users are now demanding higher speeds to support more intensive online activities. Researchers at J.D. Power reported that respondents cited issues with reliability and insufficient speed more frequently than expected.
The study was designed to quantify the level of user satisfaction with high-speed Internet access based on a number of parameters including system performance and dependability, cost, billing procedures, special offers and customer service and repairs. J.D. Power finds that Internet users are increasingly seeking faster cable and fiber-optic Internet service providers largely because users are adding additional devices to their home system. These increase the demand on bandwidth speed.
J.D. Power predicts that the widespread adoption of additional web-connected devices such as tablet computers, as well as the increased demand for streaming video, will incite new expectations for higher speed and greater reliability. Powers found that DSL is no longer fulfilling the consumer’s preferences in these parameters and reported that fully 21 percent of DSL users indicated that their network speed was below expectations.
Rated on a 1,000 point scale, consumer satisfaction with the speed and dependability of their DSL access came in at 650. Customers with cable-modem internet access scored their service at 672 while those with fiber optic connections gave theirs a rating of 725. Statistics gathered by J.D. Powers show that service outages have affected DSL users an average of 2.5 times over the most recent three-month period. Cable-modem customers experienced 2.0 outages and fiber optic customers 1.4.
The Power research noted a five percent reduction in DSL’s 30 percent market share last year. In that same time period, however, cable has increased to 61 percent and fiber-optic has achieved 14 percent market penetration, an increase of five percent. Of the customers who replaced their existing Internet service provider during the preceding year, 40 percent had been DSL subscribers. Over 90 percent of those former DSL users opted to subscribe to cable or fiber-optic service.
By region, the ISP preferred by East coast customers is AT&T. Southerners named Bright House as the best in their region, while WOW!
J.D. Power based the survey on responses from more that 20,000 Internet users across the nation who were asked to rate their cable, satellite or telephone-based ISP.
