FTTH Satisfaction: Only Safe Streets Beats Out Quality Broadband for Choosing Where to Live

High-speed, reliable broadband is an important factor in deciding where to live, according to a new fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) satisfaction survey conducted by research and consulting firm RVA LLC for the Fiber to the Home Council. Ninety-one percent of respondents said quality broadband was “very important” in choosing a community in which to live — second only to “safe streets,” which was cited by 98 percent of respondents.

Other highlights of the RVA/ FTTH Council research:

• North America has experienced record growth in fiber to homes for the last 3 years of which Google, according to analyst reports, makes up a relatively small piece.
• During 2004-2013, large telcos (Verizon, AT&T, CenturyLink and Frontier) accounted for about 83 percent of the FTTH build, while other providers added just 17 percent of the annual additions.
• But in the last three years, the large telcos only accounted for about 52% of the build while the “other 1000” FTTH providers added 48 percent in aggregate. And Google’s only one of those.
• In addition, Internet users with FTTH connections are clearly more satisfied than those who don’t have them, according to FTTH Council’s report. More than 7 in 10 survey respondents with gigabit FTTH connectivity (73%) and 57% of those with standard FTTH connections said they were ¨very satisfied¨ with reliability (service up-time). That compares to 37 percent of those with cable Internet and 38 percent with telco DSL connections.
• Similarly, 7 in 10 of those with gigabit FTTH and 51% of standard FTTH were ¨very satisfied¨ with the download and upload speeds. That compares to 38 percent of those with cable and 30 percent of those with DSL connections when it comes to download speed, and 32 percent and 29 percent, respectively, regarding upload speed.