Roughly a third of broadband households in the UK and United States are considering switching provider in the near term, with quality of experience outweighing price as the key driver, according to new research commissioned by Airties and conducted by Qualtrics.
The study of 2,130 Wi-Fi-connected households found 37% of UK respondents and 28% in the United States are mulling a change of ISP. Among those “very dissatisfied” with their current service, intent to churn jumps to 92% in the UK and 82% in the United States. By contrast, consumers with better connectivity are 3-4x less likely to leave.
Recent switchers did not necessarily save money: 74% of UK and 69% of US respondents who changed ISP in the last 12 months now pay the same or more than before. Across both markets, slow browsing, video freezing and device disconnects ranked as the most frustrating issues. In the UK, 49% of switchers cited quality/customer support as their primary reason for leaving (price/contract: 35%); in the US it was 47% (price/contract: 38%).
Metin Taşkın, CEO and founder of Airties, said the results underline a “multi-billion-dollar” churn problem for operators: “Any incremental improvement in churn can unlock growth and massively improve the bottom line.”
The findings were released ahead of Network X (14–16 Oct, Paris), where Airties will exhibit (stand C18).
