Dial-Up Accelerators Make Big Impact on Time Subscribers Spend Online Cox ranks highest in satisfying high-speed Internet customers, while SBC Yahoo! ranks highest among dial-up Internet providers, according to the newly released J.D. Power and Associates 2005 Internet Service Provider Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM.
Now in its eighth year, the study measures customer satisfaction with Internet service providers based on seven factors. They are: performance and reliability; cost of service; image; customer service/technical support; billing; e-mail services; and offerings and promotions.
Cox records the most improvement in the study, increasing 20 index points from 2004. Cox receives the highest ratings in the high-speed segment in performance and reliability and customer service. Following Cox in the rankings are Verizon, BellSouth and Bright House, respectively.
SBC Yahoo! receives particularly strong ratings from its dial-up customers in offerings and promotions and cost of service. SBC Yahoo! is followed in the rankings by AT&T Worldnet and EarthLink, respectively.
The study finds that dial-up accelerators are having a big impact on the number of hours dial-up users spend online. Overall Internet usage among dial-up customers has increased from 15.6 personal hours per week in 2004 to 17.8 in 2005. Among those using dial-up accelerators, Internet usage averages 19.9 hours-10 percent higher than broadband users, who average 18.1 hours per week. Customers using dial-up accelerators also report spending less on Internet service than the dial-up average-$19.35 per month compared to $20.04 for all dial-up users. Reflecting increasingly competitive pricing, high-speed users report spending less on average in 2005-$43.83 per month in 2005, down from $44.12 in 2004.
"Speed is the name of the game in the Internet world, and customers who use accelerators are more likely to switch to broadband products like DSL and cable modem down the road," said Steve Kirkeby, senior director of telecommunications research at J.D. Power and Associates. "With nearly one-third of dial-up users saying they intend to switch to a high-speed connection in the next six months, dial-up accelerator users are more likely to switch to their current providers' high-speed product, retaining them as customers for the long term."
Although DSL subscribers are significantly more satisfied than cable modem users for a second consecutive year, cable modem providers are increasing market share at a faster pace than DSL. In 2005, cable modems account for 28 percent of Internet subscriptions-up from 24 percent in 2004. Sixteen percent of Internet service subscriptions are for DSL service-up just 1 percent from 2004. However, among the 32 percent of dial-up subscribers who say they will definitely or probably switch to high-speed in the next six months, 47 percent intend to go to DSL. Only 30 percent intend to switch to cable modem.
High-speed subscribers are more price sensitive than dial-up in deciding when and where to switch, whereas connection speed is much more important for dial-up than high-speed subscribers. The effects of discounted packaging of services are also evident, with this issue having factored into the decision of 62 percent of subscribers who switched to high-speed versus 39 percent to dial-up.
"Price competition among high-speed providers is increasingly prevalent," said Kirkeby. "Although service interruption is considered by more than one-half of high-speed service subscribers as important, price is the No.1 reason to switch. Long term, however, product performance will be the main reason they stay."
The 2005 ISP Residential Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 6,313 residential customers of Internet service providers nationwide.
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Friday, September 30
Dial-Up Accelerators Make Big Impact on Time Subscribers Spend Online
by
Mike
on Fri 30 Sep 2005 02:39 PM PDT
Thursday, September 29
FCC Mandate Forces 'Backdoors' in Broadband ISPs and VoIP
by
Mike
on Thu 29 Sep 2005 07:33 AM PDT
FCC Mandate Forces 'Backdoors' in Broadband ISPs and VoIP The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a "First Report and Order" confirming its expansion of the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) to the Internet. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is planning to challenge the rule in court.
Broadband Use Grows in the U.S.
by
Mike
on Thu 29 Sep 2005 07:30 AM PDT
Study: Broadband Use Grows in the U.S.
More than 60 percent of Americans who use the Internet at home now do so with a high-speed connection, a new study finds. That's a jump from 51 percent a year ago. Nielsen/NetRatings says 86 million Internet users surfed the Web on home broadband connections in August.
Broadband use has grown steadily in the United States as prices fall and more video and other bandwidth-intent materials are available online.
Telecoms Spend Big To Try To Sway Rules
by
Mike
on Thu 29 Sep 2005 07:29 AM PDT
Telecoms Spend Big To Try To Sway Rules
Telecom companies spent at least $78 million over the past two years to try to influence state officials who were considering new rules of competition, according to a report by the Center for Public Integrity, a non-partisan watchdog group. The report, to be released Thursday, singles out SBC, Verizon and AT&T as the top spenders among the big telecoms. SBC and Verizon have been pushing to wrest free of state regulations, hopeful of using those victories to influence legislation at the federal level. Congress is preparing to rewrite the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996, which established new rules of competition for phone and cable companies. AT&T had a key role in drafting the 1996 rules. But now AT&T is being acquired by SBC. (Verizon is buying MCI.) With AT&T out of the picture, John Dunbar, the report's author, worries that the Bells, strengthened by their political donations, could unfairly influence the revision of the telecom act. That could lead to rules that don't offer adequate protection for consumers, he says. "In the past, we could take comfort in knowing that (AT&T and the Bells) were beating each other bloody," Dunbar says. "That goes away." Dunbar says the actual amount the telecoms spent on lobbying could be much higher than the report could pinpoint. That's because rules for disclosure of lobbying activity vary sharply from state to state, he says. Texas, for example, requires carriers to report only a range of lobbying expenditures. SBC, based in Texas, reported spending $14 million to $26 million in the state. The upshot: The sum the telecoms spent to lobby in the states could "easily be double" what the report found, Dunbar says. According to the report, SBC spent at least $16.3 million to lobby state governments in 2003 and 2004. Verizon spent $11.2 million. And from 1999 through 2004, SBC and Verizon spent $10.1 million and $5.3 million on campaign donations, respectively. Tuesday, September 27
ISPs called on to bar 'nasties'
by
Mike
on Tue 27 Sep 2005 07:43 AM PDT
ISPs called on to bar 'nasties' Internet service providers could lift their game when it comes to clamping down on malicious code such as worms, viruses and of course spam, according to McAfee chief security officer Ted Barlow. While most offer third-party spam filtering, the time is fast approaching when anyone who uses an ISP could demand and expect "security in the clouds", Barlow said. Because ISPs and carriers currently share information about their networks and might see questionable activity two to three days before bad traffic - in the form of viruses or malicious code - becomes a problem for users, they could have a perfect early warning system. "ISPs need to deliver connectivity and would help in the overall fight. Instead of value-adding their product, they might show better performance down the road," Barlow said. "Why not stop something before it spreads to all machines as it moves through their (ISP) backbone?" he asked. If the problem could be stopped at the source or key points it would be a much better job. "I think the best place to tackle the problem is with service providers; companies and individuals expect them to provide clean pipes without viruses, and I think consumers should also fairly soon be able to expect security in the clouds - of course people should put defences in place as baseline security, but they should also expect extra protection from service providers." A spokesperson from Telstra said customers are provided with security platforms included in various Internet connection packages; however, it is a matter for customers whether or not they choose to install or use provided security. "We warn customers on the dangers of the Internet and that is why we make security products available," the spokesperson said. |
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