Fiber-to-the-Home is steadily winning the hearts and minds of subscribers in the US, according to a new report commissioned by the Fiber-to-the-Home Council in which more than 1,000 FTTH and 600 other broadband subscribers were surveyed.
Fiber-to-the-home services were available to more than 16% of North American homes and were connected to nearly 6 million as of April this year, according to the FTTH Council.
Median FTTH download and upload speeds have increased 219% and 350%, respectively, during the three years the survey has been conducted, reaching 16.6 Mb/s and 4.5 Mb/s. That’s 1.5 times faster than cable modem and 5.7 times faster than DSL on the download end and 3.2 times faster than cable modem and 5.7 times faster than DSL when it comes to uploading, according to the report, which asked participants to measure and report their Internet connectivity speeds via www.speakeasy.net.
Researchers at RVA LLC also found that recognition of FTTH is growing: 41% of subscribers recognized the term compared to the 28% that did so in a similar 2009 survey. Moreover, 71% of FTTH subscribers said they were “very satisfied” with their Internet service compared to 53% for cable modem subscribers and 52% for DSL subscribers. Seventy-three percent of FTTH subscribers were “very satisfied” with their HDTV service compared with 61% for satellite service subscribers and 45% for cable subscribers. Respondents cited Internet speed, video picture clarity and consistency of results as the greatest benefits of FTTH.
