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JD Power's Latest ISP Ratings
Verizon, WOW, Bright House Networks And Earthlink take top spots
by Karl Bode Wednesday 28-Oct-2009 tags: competition · business · stats · consumers
J.D. Power and Associates has released their 2009 Internet Service Provider Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, which ranks ISPs on five factors: performance and reliability; cost of service; customer service; billing; and offerings and promotions. According to the results (broken down by geographical area here), Verizon took the top spot in the east, Wide Open West took the top spot in the North Central region, Earthlink took the top spot in the west, and Bright House Networks took the top spot in the south. Some key findings from the latest survey, which polled 23,997 users:

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• Overall satisfaction with broadband service is 639 on a 1,000-point scale, an increase of 22 index points compared with 2008.

• Customer satisfaction with connection performance and reliability averaged 687 points in 2009 -- a 43-point increase from 644 in 2008.

• Customer loyalty (users who have no plan to switch because of service quality) has increased by two percentage points from 2008, to 32 percent in 2009.

• 66 percent of customers state they "definitely will" or "probably will" recommend their provider to others in 2009-an increase of four percentage points, compared with 2008.

• Average hold times have decreased by nearly 30 seconds in 2009, compared with 2008.

You can of course compare J.P. Power's findings with our own user review database.

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Jafo232
You Can't Spell Democrat Without Rat.
Premium
join:2002-10-17
Boonville, NY

OOL

I see Cablevision did well.. I agree with that. I miss them so much. It is the ONLY thing I miss about downstate..
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fifty nine

join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
kudos:1

Re: OOL

I agree.

Cable can work very well. When you do it right.

OOL is doing it well. Smaller nodes and high speed tiers make them a winner.

JRW2
R.I.P. Mom, Brian, Ziggy, Max and Zen.
Premium
join:2004-12-20
La La Land
kudos:4
Reviews:
·Optimum Online

Re: OOL

said by fifty nine:

OOL is doing it well. Smaller nodes and high speed tiers make them a winner.
Not in my area, I am gearing up for the YEARLY slowdown in speeds that has happened on my node for the last three years now. Too many calls to support where they agree that SOMETHING is wrong has yielded NOTHING.

From November until mid-march. speeds drop to HALF advertised, and stay there, day in and day out....
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RIAA/MPAA... Bite me!!!!
In constant search for intelligent life on Earth!

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

1 edit

West region interesting

TWC showed low across nearly all categories.
In 2008 and early 2009, I had many issues, but went from '6Mbps/512kbps' standard to essentially uncapped/1Mbps, being able to hit +30Mbps/1Mbps on the 'standard' package, which cost $100/month for TV/phone/Internet.
It has become much more reliable here in Santa Clarita, however, looking at the RR / SoCal, I see wildly varying data rates.
When I checked the speed test rates for zip '913??' I actually posted higher than FiOS in the San Fernando Valley... only because nobody is running higher than 25/25.
--
Canada = Hollywood North

Jafo232
You Can't Spell Democrat Without Rat.
Premium
join:2002-10-17
Boonville, NY

Re: West region interesting

TWC (RR) is what I am stuck with now, and it sucks hard.. I cannot believe I have to pay for this, but it is that or get a job offline.. :P
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Custom PHP/Perl Development. Vbulletin And Wordpress Mods Too!
iansltx

join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2
PowerBoost FTW...at least in your case. Unfortunate that download rates like that don't stick.

tjbmmb

join:2009-04-13
Fort Wayne, IN

WoW

WoW took the top spot in the North Central Divison? Have they ever used WoW. When I moved 3 years ago I switch from wow to comcast. What a differnce. In 3 years I have yet to have a problem.

Z80
1 point 77
Premium
join:2009-08-31
Amerika

I'm confused (nothing new)

Karl Bode See Profile's item states that for customer loyalty, 32% have no plan to switch, yet 66% would recommend their service to others.

This seems counterintuitive. 32% having no plans to switch means to me that 68% have a plan to switch or would consider switching yet 2:1 they would recommend their service.

What am I missing here?

battleop

join:2005-09-28
00000

Re: I'm confused (nothing new)

You are mixing up the stats on two different questions.

Z80
1 point 77
Premium
join:2009-08-31
Amerika

Re: I'm confused (nothing new)

My point is, if only 32% have no plans to switch why on any question would 68% say they would recommend the service? This would mean that quite a few people who are planning to switch or would consider switching would still recommend their service.

John McClane
yippee ki yay
Premium
join:2005-03-19

Re: I'm confused (nothing new)

i know a lot of people who have no plan to switch but would never recommend the service

Z80
1 point 77
Premium
join:2009-08-31
Amerika

1 edit

Re: I'm confused (nothing new)

Just seems that people who want to switch or consider switching have a reason why and as a result wouldn't recommend their service.

John McClane
yippee ki yay
Premium
join:2005-03-19

Re: I'm confused (nothing new)

imagine if you lived somewhere with only 128kbps dsl or dialup. i'd be happy with the dsl but i would never recommend it to someone
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3

1 edit
Not all stats go hand in hand.. if someone isn't going to switch, it doesn't mean they'd recommend it. Also, if someone were wanting to switch, it also doesn't mean they won't recommend it.

If I couldn't get business class cable and had to go to DSL, I'd be switching to DSL where I could get static IP addressing.. however, I'd still recommend the cable service.

Not everyone is cut and dry.. some people are able to think with out anger and don't run hot and cold. I may not like a service and realize it's not for me, but yet I can still see the value in that same service for someone else's needs.

In other words.. not everyone in the world is "angry" and don't feel that if the service didn't meet their needs that they'd be vindictive, bitter, and angry about it and tell others to stay away. While many people are like that, not everyone is and that will be reflective when you take these polls.

When interpreting polls, those who read them tend to apply their own logic while not remaining objective which is often the case.

Z80
1 point 77
Premium
join:2009-08-31
Amerika

Re: I'm confused (nothing new)

But I wouldn't have expected such a disparity 1:2 vs 2:1.

Van
Premium
join:2009-07-08
New Orleans, LA
I would say I am in that exact situation.

hambone42
Peace, through superior firepower
Premium
join:2002-02-02
Manassas, VA
said by John McClane:

i know a lot of people who have no plan to switch but would never recommend the service
Seconded. Nothing to switch to (yet), but I'm sure not gonna recommend my current provider.
--
Sarcasm is the Body's Natural Defense Against Stupidity

Sabre
Di relung hatiku bernyanyi bidadari

join:2005-05-17
There are probably many people quite willing to switch for "good deal" purposes, rather than quality of service.

FIOS just became available in my area. Right now I have Comcast and have been very happy with it. Would I recommend it? Absolutely, service has been great at least for me. Would I consider switching to FIOS? Yes, I would, but right now I have no plans to, because the only reason I'd switch would be on price, and FIOS is no cheaper in my area than my current Comcast deal.
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JoeIac
Premium
join:2009-03-02
MA
Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
I'd bet its due to $$$
For people who are in an area with comcast and fios, or similar, they're in a position where if you switch every 2 years, or every year, or whenever, you get their discounts, and their 12 month bundles, but if you stick with comcast or fios after a while then they start to raise the prices on you.

So I would recommend fios to everyone, but if comcast said they'd give me service for 1/2 of what I'm paying verizon, I'd probably give in and switch. Despite the fact that fios is a superior product from my point of view, and its what I'd recommend.
viper3431

join:2003-04-21
STL, MO
Reviews:
·Charter
It is quite possible that someone would recommend the service to friends, but that doesn't mean that aren't contemplating a switch. I for one would recommend Charter to my friends in my area, but may switch at the end of my promo due to a drastic increase in price. The numbers make sense but you can't necessarily relate the two figures.

ThrowDemsOut
If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Mullica Hill, NJ
kudos:4
said by Z80:

Karl Bode See Profile's item states that for customer loyalty, 32% have no plan to switch, yet 66% would recommend their service to others.

This seems counterintuitive. 32% having no plans to switch means to me that 68% have a plan to switch or would consider switching yet 2:1 they would recommend their service.

What am I missing here?
These are survey questions. Don't look for or expect logic. People answer these mostly based on emotion. That is why surveys are valuable marketing tools, but not really good for measuring things like service quality.
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not quite right
I'm not cool enough to be a Mac person

join:2001-06-23
Puyallup, WA
kudos:1

Really Earthlink ...

I stopped reading right there .....

Vathral
Premium
join:2002-08-26

Re: Really Earthlink ...

said by not quite right:

I stopped reading right there .....
Not everyone have problems with them. I'm going to miss them if they go under, got VOIP and Cable (10/512k) for $60 a month. Rarely used support but they handled some VOIP problems earlier this year quite well.

Noah Vail
Son made my Avatar
Premium
join:2004-12-10
Lorton, VA
kudos:1
Reviews:
·Bright House
·Sprint Mobile Br..

Brighthouse first in South

Nice to see Brighthouse included in Broadband Comparison Ratings.
They've often been omitted in the past.

My experience with them is that they are as good as JD Power says they are.

NV
--
In my perfect religion, a giant hole appears and sucks up all the lousy people.
I call it the Crapture.
ajax25

join:2003-12-10
Colonia, NJ

good to see...

comcrap bringing up the rear, right where they belong.
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3

Re: good to see...

said by ajax25:

comcrap bringing up the rear, right where they belong.
Yup!

..and your post, if you don't mind me saying, is a classic example as to why a polls don't ALWAYS tell the real tale.

I notice you're in NJ.. you hear lots about that area as being bad - in fact, a lot of areas on the east coast seem to be bad. However, here in MN, the service is actually pretty rock solid and you hear very few complaints about on going problems.. you usually get those fires that have to be put out which is a normal part of running a network. As a former tech, modem calls were the rare call for me.

But, as for the poll... Comcast is a nation wide company like most of them.. when someone out hear reads about a bad poll they may say "why's that?? the service is fine".. people in NJ are saying "Right on.. they suck"... both statements are true..

Does the poll measure the company? maybe... possibly.. okay... but, does it give the consumer across their reading base accurate depictions? ... not really. Example... Verizon in the east may be good.. but Verizon in CA sucks rocks.

ajax25 anon

@pacbell.net

Re: good to see...

except that comcrap was bringing up the rear across all
parts of the country....
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3

Re: good to see...

.. you aren't getting it... ComCAST (cute bitchy names are, well, immature.. but thanks) The survey didn't specifically state where the participants were polled.

Polls, as Penn & Teller say, are BullShit. You give me a question, give me a desired result, and I can EASILY get you the numbers you want. Even with out trying, I can go out and take the survey and the results will generally be different each time taken.. now with that said, Comcast is a large provider and is bound to have lower numbers on that fact alone.

Each provider polled are not equal. (This is generally true in any survey taken) ... You have people taking polls that are not always answering with out bias towards the question asked.

You could have got a customer that may be generally pleased with a provider of any sort and just had a recent missed appointment.. no matter how happy that person is with their line up, speeds, price, etc.. they're likely due to human emotion, will rank their provider low for one incident on unrelated items.

I'm not going to say that comcast doesn't deserve lower marks, becuase in some areas they simply do. However, what I WON'T defend are people that buy into polls as something "scientific".. they're just not. The poll itself may be "scientifically designed" however the people taking them are pretty much flawed.

I'm not going to sit here and go into the science behind polling and the people taking them - but it's pretty well known, to those people that are intelligent enough to look past personal emotion, that polls are often and usually skewed on many levels.
majortom1029

join:2006-10-19
Lindenhurst, NY
kudos:1

confused.

How did cablevision do worse then verizon? Cablevision has two not filled dots and so does verizon . Shouldnt they be tied?

Agent Smith

join:2008-07-07
New York
Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS

2 edits

Re: confused.

Different category's - Im glad verizon won the award .

Verizon is better at speeds and reliability thats a 99% fact

OOL is good at pricing but does not have good speeds

the POLLS are based by percentage not 1 by 1.

Heh i see cablevison has the devils score.

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IowaMan
Premium
join:2008-08-21
Grinnell, IA
Reviews:
·Iowa Telecom
·Mediacom

Where is Mediacom?

Where does Mediacom rank? since it's not on the list.
I've had no problem with them ( primarily due to the site) but, when I have had to call them they have usually picked up in 3 minutes or less. plus, since they have a large percentage of the Iowa and other areas I would think they would be mentioned.

heat84
Bit Torrent Apologist

join:2004-03-11
Fort Lauderdale, FL

How is AT&T ahead of Comcast?

How is AT&T ahead of Comcast? I did a survey over the phone a couple weeks ago. Is this what it was for? All the questions were about Comcast though.
--
Bit Torrent is my DVR.
k2nnj

join:2004-05-06
Caldwell, NJ
Reviews:
·Comcast

Re: How is AT&T ahead of Comcast?

If comcast would get their billing accurate, I would be a happier customer.

Their programming and internet is good. I get consistently high d/l and u/l speeds. I am scared of the pricing after my promotion is up in 24mos.

I don't believe for a second Verizon won anything. They are a joke.

cableties
Premium
join:2005-01-27
Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS

JD Powers is biased...

I kept their $5. Twice. But not filling out their survey on my car, only to find 4 more pages unrelated to the car.

My time is worth more than $5.

Also, JD Powers will turn this data around to the listed vendors and sell them the right to advertise that they were ranked by... JD Powers.

We all know Verizon SUCKS at billing. However do folks look at JD Powers and make their decisions based on that instead of research?

(Where is my coffeeeee!!!)
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Splat

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