While the service provider industry is rife with almost daily announcements on gigabit service rollouts, a large chunk of consumers are tuned out when it comes to understanding, letting alone wanting, the faster speeds.
According to a survey by Pivot Group and Telecompetitor, 87 percent of its 800 respondents across the nation had never heard of “gigabit” before the survey. And on that note, it’s not surprising that almost half didn’t know a gigabit was faster than a megabit. (Good thing the survey didn’t get into that whole bits vs. bytes issue.)
The survey results, which were compiled in September across urban, suburban, rural, age group and gender categories, also found that 70 percent of the respondents thought $70 per month for a 1-Gig service was too costly. (In Austin, a hotbed of gigabit activity, Grande Communications charges $64.99 a month while AT&T’s GigaPower Premier plan cost $70 a month, but subscribers have agree to take part in AT&T’s Internet Preference program.)
The survey also found that 64 percent of the respondents would rather pay slightly less per month for their current data speed instead of paying slightly more for a faster connection.
Lastly, the survey said “an overwhelming majority of consumers would select Gigabit service from a competing incumbent service provider over a municipal or electric utility.”
So in summary, while we’re in the trenches writing and reading about gigabit deployments—even Ethernet-based business service press releases include the use of “gigabit” in the headlines despite the fact that they’ve been around for years—the average Joe not only doesn’t want them, but is indifferent to what they are.
It wasn’t that long ago that cable operator execs also said the consumers didn’t want the faster speeds and weren’t willing to pay for them, but now we’re applauding when the NCTA drops DOCSIS 3.1 in favor of “Gigasphere” as the consumer-facing brand name.
With AT&T, Grande Communications, Google Fiber, GCI, Suddenlink Communications, TDS Telecom, CenturyLink, Bright House Networks, Midcontinent Communications, Atlantic Broadband, Comporium, and Cox Communications, among others, having, or planning to have, 1-Gigabit services available in parts of their respective service areas, it’s not a passing fad like 3D.
More streaming, more file sharing up and down, more pictures, more bandwidth consumption, more of everything. So maybe the bulk of consumers don’t know that they will someday need or want gigabit speeds, but when they do the service providers will have the networks in place, including meaningful rollouts of 3.1 in 2016.
900 miles of fiber on the wall…
And today’s gigabit news nugget is that TDS Telecom has buried 900 miles of new fiber ever since the company launched its first 1-Gig service in Hollis, N.H. in May. TDS plans on dropping another 900 miles of fiber into the ground next year. All told, TDS’ gigabit service is available in 19 communities across parts of New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Georgia and Tennessee.
