scte long read
Ultimately, Ofcom issued firm guidance in December 2023, stating that “broadband firms must now tell consumers about the network that underpins their broadband service and must only use terms that are clear and unambiguous.” But the damage was already done. At the same time, Ofcom conducted research revealing that “more than a quarter (27%) of broadband customers lacked confidence in understanding the language and terminology used by providers. Furthermore, only 46% of customers who reported being on full-fibre broadband were living in areas where it is actually available.” It would be funny if it weren’t so awful. In a new, fast-moving industry, often described as the ‘wild west’ in its early days, full of complicated technology and bewildering terminology, it is hardly surprising that customer service had a steep hill to climb, making it all the more amazing that companies are in 2024 competing with each other in some cases purely on customer service alone. Differentiation How are companies getting around the indisputable fact that water is water, gas is gas and broadband is broadband? Customer service is surely the only differentiator; Octopus energy is spending a fortune on an ongoing and irritating ad campaign that focuses only on the service, not the product, illustrating the only differentiator in the energy business, after an expensive and fraught couple of years since the invasion of Ukraine affected supply. In fact, they say a key part of their
detect anomalies, potential failures and performance bottlenecks before they affect the end-users. What hasn’t helped however, is the confusion experienced by consumers. For a number of years they have been sold superfast fibre broadband believing their home would be connected by fibre optic cable. Most people are unaware that the broadband supplied to their homes is via twisted pair copper telephone cable, installed maybe half a century or more earlier, resulting in slower speeds. High profile marketing campaigns by the ISPs in the UK have arguably taken advantage of the knowledge gap, installed fibre only to the cabinet, allowing the customer to believe they had fibre optic right to their front door. Your writer has experienced this first hand. CityFibre felt so strongly about this confusion they pursued a judicial review of the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA’s) November 2017 decision over the use of the word ‘fibre’ in broadband advertisements. The review was then dismissed by the High Court, who felt that the ASA was right in its assessment that “the term fibre was not a priority identified by consumers when choosing a service, was rarely noticed in ads and, where it was, was seen as a buzzword for faster broadband.” One angry blogger wrote at the time, “But that is because the ASA allowed it to turn into something meaningless. ASA are hardly likely to want to admit they made a mistake 12 years ago.” Such confusion was effectively legislated, giving ISPs free reign to continue misleading the public for another 6 years.
irritation. Not so easy to initiate with your broadband provider, but encouraging feedback from customers, even when there are no issues, can help ISPs understand user satisfaction levels and areas for improvement and avoid those negative remarks on Trustpilot and X. Uninformed and angry ISPs play a critical role in the digital ecosystem, ensuring that data flows seamlessly across vast networks. This involves sophisticated infrastructure, continuous monitoring and rapid response to any potential issues. Such infrastructure is vast and intricate, crossing international borders, encompassing undersea cables, satellite links and data centres. As sophisticated readers of Broadband Journal, you will know all too well the levels to which ISPs are investing in building and maintaining this infrastructure, ensuring it can handle increasing data loads and provide high-speed access to all users. Routine maintenance, upgrades and troubleshooting are intrinsic to daily operations to prevent disruptions. All of the above are largely unappreciated by end-users however, whose grasp of technology is generally fairly basic, yet the expectation of instant and consistent connectivity is extremely high. ISPs employ increasingly advanced monitoring systems to track the health of their networks in real-time. Data science is now a multimillion-dollar industry that the entire sector relies on heavily to understand consumer behaviour. These systems can
SEPTEMBER 2024 Volume 46 No.3
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