The FCC has released, “Broadband Satisfaction: What consumers report about their a broadband Internet provider,” a working paper that lays out the results of an April 2010 survey that aimed “to understand people’s attitudes about their home broadband service.” Survey participants were asked to rate specific aspects and their overall satisfaction with their Internet service, including reliability, speed, cost, customer service, and how clear they found pricing information and billing.
“A majority of broadband users are very satisfied with various dimensions of their service, but nearly one quarter express dissatisfaction with the price they pay,” according to the FCC working paper.
Fifty-one percent of survey respondents said they were “very satisfied” with their overall service while 42% said they were “somewhat satisfied.” Regarding reliability, 59% said they were “very satisfied” while 33% said they were “somewhat satisfied.” As to speed, 50% said they were “very satisfied” and 41% said they were “somewhat satisfied.”
Regarding the cost of their service, 30% said they were “very satisfied.” Forty-four percent said they were “somewhat satisfied.” Twenty-three percent of broadband users said they were dissatisfied with the monthly cost of their service. Fifteen percent said they were “not too satisfied” and 8% said they were “not at all satisfied.”
Forty-nine percent of respondents said they were “very satisfied” when it came to customer service. Thirty-three percent said they were “somewhat satisfied.”
Seventy-eight percent of Internet users responded that information on their bills about how to contact their provider about a billing question or service was “very clear.” Thirteen percent found it to be “somewhat clear.” Sixty-six percent found their bill “very clear” regarding the amount of their monthly service charge. Twenty-one percent found this “somewhat clear.”
Only 25% of respondents said information on their bills regarding the speed of their connection was “very clear.” Nineteen percent said this was “somewhat clear.” Similarly, 31% of Internet users said information about restrictions on their service was “very clear.” Thirteen percent this was “somewhat clear.” An even lower percentage, 17%, found that their bills were “very clear” when it came to whether or not they would be charged a termination fee if they switched service providers. Ten percent found this “somewhat clear.”
