Fibre Internet customers more satisfied, says market study

The proportion of Canadians connected to the Internet by fibre is rising and these people are more satisfied with their Internet service than others, according to market research data released Thursday. J.D. Power and Associates said in press release that its most recent study of Internet service satisfaction in the country showed 18 per cent of Canadians reporting a fibre-optic connection, up from 15 per cent a year earlier. Internet customers on fibre reported a satisfaction level of 698 out of 1,000, J.D. Power said. Those getting Internet through cable had a satisfaction score of 689 and those on DSL were at 670. “Today’s consumers require Internet connectivity as part of their lifestyle and we continue to see greater convergence of everything digital,” Adrian Chung, account director at J.D. Power, said in the release. “Behaviours have changed the demand for Internet service with the use of on-demand streaming services, controlling household devices such thermostats remotely, or connecting smart appliances.” J.D. Power said fibre customers were less likely to report outages, connection errors and slow service than those on cable or DSL. Chung said in an email that customers with fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and fibre-to-the-node connections were counted as having fibre-optic service. The market research company released customer-satisfaction reports for both Internet and television service on Thursday. It said the overall satisfaction score among Internet customers was 679, up from 672 a year before. Satisfaction with TV service improved to 692 from 685, J.D. Power said. The research company said 27 per cent of both Internet and TV-service customers expected to change providers over the next year, with price being the primary reason. It said the average price of Internet service was $55 a month and $73 for TV. A report released last week by the CRTC showed prices paid by Canadians for a variety of telecom services were high by international standards. J.D. Power said Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron was ranked the top TV-service provider and ISP for customer satisfaction in Eastern Canada for a third straight year. Shaw Communications Inc. and Cogeco Cable Inc. were second and third, respectively, for TV. Cogeco and Eastlink, in that order, rounded out the top three providers of Internet in the East, according to J.D. Power. In Western Canada, Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. was the top-ranked Internet- and TV-service provider, also for a third-straight year. Telus Corp. and Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. were second and third, respectively, in both categories. J.D. Power said these results are based on surveys with more than 3,400 TV customers in the West and 6,100 TV customers in the East, and more than 3,700 Internet customers in the West and 5,900 in the East. It said interviews were conducted in November and April. No margin of error was provided. — With reporting by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca and editing by Shruti Shekar at sshekar@thewirereport.ca

Fibre Internet customers more satisfied, says market study

Broadcast | June 24, 2015

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Fibre Internet customers more satisfied, says market study

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