In the fall of 2013, the City of Iowa City Telecommunications Commission conducted a survey of over six hundred Iowa City area residential broadband consumers, looking at factors affecting consumer satisfaction, consumer knowledge of their broadband service, patterns of broadband use, and broadband network performance. The survey results will be used by the Commission in developing a public education program to help consumers better understand their broadband service and options.

Click here to read the survey overview and results. Links to the supporting documents can be found below.

The survey showed that consumers’ knowledge about their broadband service, in regards to both the level of service they purchased and the level of service they actually received, was less than might be expected. Remarkably, age, educational attainment, and household income did not correlate with the level of service to which consumers subscribe, the Internet applications they use, or their level of understanding about broadband service. Surprisingly, nearly a third of respondents reported they use an Internet connection to work from home either ‘primarily’ or ‘part-time’.”

Other findings include:

1. Over a third of respondents did not know the advertised top speed of their service level. Nearly half did not know the speed of their service tier for their computer to send information to other computers. Over two thirds did not know whether they were subject to surcharges if their use exceed a certain limit.

2. Overall, respondents selected service tiers with download speeds, or the speed of a service, similar to the national average of fifteen point six megabits per second (Mbps), or the amount of data that can be sent per second, despite having access to service levels with speeds higher than the national average. Over half of respondents subscribe to a service tier between eight Mbps and twenty Mbps. A little over a quarter have less than eight Mbps. Only three percent receive forty Mbps or more.

3. Nine percent of respondents reported being “very satisfied” with their service. Seven percent were “satisfied,” nineteen percent “somewhat satisfied,” twenty-two percent “somewhat dissatisfied,” fifteen percent “dissatisfied,” and eighteen percent “very dissatisfied”. Overall, fifty-five percent fell into the “dissatisfied” group and forty-five percent were in the “satisfied” group.

4. Cost of broadband service was most frequently cited as the aspect of service with which respondents were dissatisfied. Seventy-nine percent of respondents believe the cost of broadband service is too high for the level of service provided.

5. Streaming video is at least a weekly event for sixty-four percent of households. Steaming video usage has grown significantly in the past three years and usage will continue to grow. Over two thirds of respondents wish to use more Internet applications than they do currently. Overall demand for bandwidth will continue to grow.

6. Over two thirds of households have four or more devices connected to the Internet.



For more information, contact Mike Brau, City Cable TV Office, at 319-356-5017 or mike-brau@iowa-city.org.