Last month saw the release of Ofcom's latest report into the UK's broadband services, with emphasis on provider performance on download speeds. It will have come as no surprise to most people that clear water is opening up between those providers using the newer cable and fibre-optic networks compared to those using the national ADSL network.
The two headline-grabbing points in the report are that the newer networks are not only offering greater maximum download and upload speeds but that they are also delivering a far greater percentage of those maximums in actual, average speeds.
This will have come as no surprise to those providers still using the ADSL network, however, it is by no means a sign that they should simply throw in the towel. Of course, providers using the ADSL network will find it difficult to compete on these features alone, but even a cursory read through the numerous blogs and forums will tell you that what often drives consumers to switch their broadband provider is 'service.'
'Service' is a broad term but complaints seem to fall into 2 distinct categories: firstly, the quality of the broadband service paid for by the customer; secondly, the quality of customer service delivered by the company's representatives.
The first may seem the most difficult to address because the issues of latency, poor quality and dependency on distance from the nearest exchange are features inherent in a network that was not designed for broadband. However, up-front education is key to retaining customers for a longer and more profitable relationship.
Consumers aren't stupid and whilst in a competitive market it is easy to downplay potential issues, a lack of information up-front often leads to dissatisfaction later. Furthermore, despite easy access to lots of information on broadband packages and performance levels, customers are still approaching ADSL providers.
Why? The biggest reasons are either Price (the ADSL providers tend to offer lower cost landline deals with entry-level broadband services) or Availability (the newer networks don't have anything like UK wide coverage). Both of those are strong purchase drivers and can overcome comparative performance issues with the newer networks, but only if they are dealt with up-front. Bottom line is often that consumers who can't access the newer networks will probably face the same network issues regardless of the supplier, which leads us to the second point, that of customer service.
Poor customer service has long been perceived as a bane of telecommunications companies but actually offers the best way for smaller companies to compete with the big boys. Off-shored customer service centres, unresponsive complaints departments and incomprehensible procedures are all relatively straight-forward to tackle yet the potential gains could be huge for the provider who gets it right - particularly in an industry where 'word of mouth' via the internet is rampant.
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