Zeugma Publishes Broadband Survey

Zeugma published the results of an IDC survey of U.S. 787 consumers that was conducted in August 2008. The survey produced the following conclusions:

On Premium Bandwidth Services:

• 94 percent of respondents saw value in broadband services that dynamically allocate premium bandwidth for certain types of traffic, such as video, VOIP, gaming, and telecommuter VPNs.
• 54 percent would actively seek to change service providers if another offered this service; 26 percent would be willing to pay additional fees for premium bandwidth services.

On Bandwidth Capping and Metering

• 81 percent do not like the idea of establishing a bandwidth cap and charging for use above the cap.
• 51 percent would try to change service providers if their provider imposed bandwidth caps. Interestingly, light and moderate users are even more opposed to capping and metering than are heavy users.
• 83 percent either do not know what a gigabyte is or have no idea how many they use.
• Only 5 percent said unequivocally that “those who use more should pay more

There is a growing gap between the broadband providers and their customers. The Telcos and the cable companies look at the issue from their perspective and are trying to limit traffic growth by punishing power users. This is bad business and policy. Why alienate your best customers?

There is a hidden agenda here. While these caps will not affect many data users, they significantly limit the amount of TV content that can be delivered over the top. The Telcos and cable companies want people to use their own TV services rather than viewing over the top content. This will become a major issue when it becomes apparent to people who want to watch Netflix or CinemaNow content regularly on their TV.