Survey: Users Reject Bandwidth Caps

Written by Ryan Lawler

Tuesday, September 30. 2008 at 12:30 PM EDT 3 comments

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Broadband users are overwhelmingly against the idea of bandwidth caps, but might be interested in paying for guaranteed quality of service (QOS) for some applications, according to a new survey.

The survey, which was conducted by research firm IDC on behalf of Zeugma Systems Inc. , found that 81 percent of broadband users were against the idea of bandwidth caps, and more than 50 percent said they would attempt to change service providers if bandwidth caps were initiated by their ISP.

That may be due in part to customer education about caps and usage. After all, 83 percent of respondents said they do not know what a gigabyte is or how many they use in a given month. And the survey found that light and moderate broadband users were often more opposed to caps than heavy users.

Zeugma vice president of marketing Kevin Walsh says that ISPs are looking for alternative revenue streams, as subscribers increasingly move away from fixed-line services. With one fifth of customers no longer signing up for traditional phone service, Walsh says there's a "sense of desperation at wireline telcos." 

While some see bandwidth caps as inevitable, ISPs are also considering tiered pricing that would make heavy broadband users pay more for their service. But this probably won't sit well with consumers, either. According to the IDC survey, only 5 percent of respondent said that "those who use more should pay more."

Another option is the introduction of new services, such as guaranteed QOS for applications that are sensitive to network conditions, that could create new revenue streams.

"It's ok to prioritize traffic such as voice over IP," Walsh says, "as long as you're not interfering with other services."

According to survey data, subscribers are much more accepting of these types of services, which would allocate "premium bandwidth" for certain types of traffic, such as voice over IP (VOIP), gaming, and telecommuting.

Ninety-four percent of respondents thought premium bandwidth services were valuable. Fifty-four percent said they would possibly switch service providers if another ISP offered the service, and 26 percent said they would pay more or the service from their own ISP.