Broadband Customers Select Reliability Over Download Speed

Broadband customers have indicated that they would chose reliability over the speed of their broadband connection when selecting a provider, research from BroadbandChoices has found.

In a survey of 2,500 broadband customers, one third said that they consider the reliability of their connection to be more important that the download speeds. Speed is important, of course and 32% of respondents did indicate that this was a deciding factor in the choice of broadband provider.

Perhaps surprisingly, only 6% of those surveyed considered the quality of customer service to be a major differentiator between suppliers.

Complaints about broadband connections have increased by 10% since 2009, however, and it is poor download speed that draws the most dissatisfaction from customers. 77% of people questioned mentioned their disappointment with download speeds.

When asked if they felt their broadband provider had lived up to its claims, a disappointing 39% said no. Whilst this is an improvement on last year’s results (47% said they were disappointed with their broadband provider in 2009) it still indicates that despite progress being made, there is still much to be done when it comes to improving customers’ experience of their broadband service.

Once a customer has signed up to a broadband service, it is then download speed that attracts the most ire, as Michael Phillips, product director at BroadbandChoices, comments:

“The main reason for dissatisfaction amongst broadband customers is still overwhelmingly due to broadband speeds not living up to the hype, demonstrating that there continues to be a huge disparity between speeds advertised and the speeds delivered. These results are even more troubling given Ofcom’s – and the ISPs – supposed attempts to make this more transparent to consumers. Dissatisfaction with connection speed has actually risen since last year’s survey.”

The survey questioned consumers about their experiences with fixed broadband services and did not touch on matters related to the quality of mobile broadband.