In Show 58, we discussed how to change your Broadband Provider, and asked our listeners to complete a short Broadband Survey
On this page, you’ll find the results so far…
Listen to FrequencyCast Show 58 – Choosing a Broadband Provider
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Who provides your Broadband?
From what our listeners tell us, BT is the most common broadband provider, with Virgin’s cable broadband service second. Oddly, 1% of respondents don’t have broadband, which makes listening to us, and completing this survey, tricky!
For more on the UK broadband providers, and how to select one that’s right for you, see our Broadband Providers page
| BT Total Broadband | 37.93% |
| TalkTalk | 5.75% |
| Sky Broadband | 3.45% |
| PlusNet | 9.20% |
| o2 Broadband | 9.20% |
| AOL | 1.15% |
| Orange Broadband | 3.45% |
| Virgin Media | 10.34% |
| Don’t have broadband | 1.15% |
| Other | 17.24% |
Other providers included: Be Unlimited, ADSL23 and Zen Internet
How happy are you with your speed?
Speed is a big issue for most online users. Rather unexpectedly, 83% of respondent were generally happy with the speed of their connection. Based on feedback from listeners, and what’s reported in the media, we were expecting the number of unhappy surfers to be higher. Here are the results.
| Happy with my speed | 41.38% |
| OK, but could be faster | 41.38% |
| Much slower than expected speed | 5.75% |
| Far too slow | 3.45% |
How happy are you with the service?
Satisfied with your provider? It sees that most of you are happy, or at least not unhappy. Perhaps our listeners are savvy enough to vote with their feet and move to a new provider should they not be happy. Anyway, it’s good to see that so many of you are happy with your provider. Here’s the results:
| Very happy | 40.23% |
| Fairly happy | 21.84% |
| It’s ok | 26.44% |
| Not happy | 10.34% |
What’s the most important factor for you?
It looks like price is key. Issues such as connection speed and customer satisfaction are far less important. If price is key, we would assume you’re all with Plusnet, who at the time of writing, offer much lower prices than the two most popular services, BT and Virgin.
| Price | 28.74% |
| Speed | 17.24% |
| Customer Service | 12.64% |
| Router / Hardware | 10.34% |
| Extra services | 5.75% |
| Other | 25.29% |
Other reasons included:
- Reliability
- Company reputation
- Mac compatible
- Uncapped and traffic shaping limits acceptable
- Difficulty of changing
no other choice at my exchange - Losing email address if change isp
What do you do with your Broadband?
No real surprises here – you all use the net for surfing and email. A decent percentage also seem to be using streaming video services such as the iPlayer, and not that many of you are online gamers. Some interesting numbers:
| Surfing | 95.40% |
| Email / Chat | 95.40% |
| TV / Movies | 57.47% |
| Internet radio | 56.32% |
| Work | 37.93% |
| Online gaming | 12.64% |
| Telephone / Skype | 40.23% |
| Other | 16.09% |
Other uses included: Youtube, Family History, ‘Adult’, Broadcasting and Google Maps
Not taken part? Give us your feedback now: Broadband Survey (Just 5 questions)
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More information:
- Broadband Providers – As discussed in Show 58
- Broadband Basics – Our page of advice on Broadband Internet
- Broadband Help – Covered in Show 41