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How in the world can someone "prefer their current provider" without something to compare against? I think in any kind of survey like this, I would like to see

How in the world can someone "prefer their current provider" without something to compare against? I think in any kind of survey like this, I would like to see the actual questions that were asked.

at_a_remove 6y ago
I can imagine that some people would not prefer their current provider if their current provider is, say, Charter. I suspect people might willingly leap into a dark pit filled with who knows what over continuing with Charter.
- excalibur 6y ago
  Or Comcast.
- shakezula 6y ago
  Comcast was my only provider for 3 years. There were times I almost considered just canceling the contract and tethering on my phone because of how bad Comcast was.
  - olyjohn 6y ago
    I've been on Starlink for a few months. It's honestly been a pain in my ass, and nowhere near as reliable as Comcast. But I am being patient and waiting, because right now it's worth it to me just to tell Comcast to fuck right off. Starlink has been improving though quite a lot just since I got it... so I'll keep giving it time.
    - DangitBobby 6y ago
      I thought starlink was for people living in rural areas with no real broadband alternatives.
      - cozzyd 6y ago
        Yeah, any place with comcast broadband is almost certainly a poor fit for Starlink due to the limited total bandwidth over a geographic region.
        DangitBobby 6y ago
        My parents' only option for broadband right now is mobile hotspots. Unless you count traditional satellite internet, which I do not.
      - kixiQu 6y ago
        So that tells you how someone feels about Comcast's "real broadband alternative"
  - spullara 6y ago
    I must be on some special list at Comcast. Every time I have had to deal with them lately for changing service or helping debug an outage their online chat has been extremely competent and solved the problem. Which is a big change from years ago.
dec0dedab0de 6y ago
How in the world can someone "prefer their current provider" without something to compare against? Maybe they've had bad experiences dealing with other municipal services from their city. Or maybe they just think the act of switching will be a pain in the butt. I can imagine many of the answers boil down to "yes, give me anything but X" or "it's good enough please don't break it"
nightski 6y ago
Not every city in America is terrible. I live in a city of ~250k, we have multiple competing cable companies here and we get very reliable, fast, gig internet for a good price. In my childhood hometown they have muni internet. It started out great as it was cutting edge. They have barely upgraded in over a decade. It's crap and the cable company in town has largely won. I also don't want the government tracking my internet history in any fashion. Too many government services could tie into knowledge about you and I want the government to have only the minimum information necessary to provide those services.
- dv_dt 6y ago
  That an ISP is municipal is hardly any sort of deciding factor on if government tracking has been welcomed into a given data service or not. Large private telecoms imho are both much more likely to be targeted and to cooperate.
- streblo 6y ago
  > Not every city in America is terrible. Fine, but MANY are. In the past 5 years I've lived in two of America's biggest cities and only had one ISP to choose from. > I also don't want the government tracking my internet history in any fashion. Too many government services could tie into knowledge about you and I want the government to have only the minimum information necessary to provide those services. As if the government can't/doesn't already subpoena your ISP for this information.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- vangelis 6y ago
  > I also don't want the government tracking my internet history in any fashion. The government already can compel your ISP to hand over that data.
  - geodel 6y ago
    So you are saying we better willingly give data, since govt can anyway get it if they want?
cozzyd 6y ago
I already have cheapish high-quality internet (Webpass). An alternative would be unlikely to improve my bandwidth (I only have gigabit ethernet on all my devices anyway..) or latency (1-2 ms to work). Maybe it would be cheaper...
- spullara 6y ago
  If I was offered Chattanooga's municipal internet access, I would take it. But it really matters what the offering might be. They have had up to 10G symmetrical speeds since 2015! https://muninetworks.org/tags-135 https://muninetworks.org/tags-135
pessimizer 6y ago
It's the same way polls can find so many people who love their current health insurance company. "Would you like things to continue the way they are, or would you like to venture into the unknown with this service that is crucial to your current lifestyle?"
megaframe 6y ago
I don't think it's that they "prefer their current provider" it's that they prefer not to think about it or go through the hassle of changing. Like if someone got an oil change and it works for them every time and you sent them a flyer telling them there's a better place with better oil that's slightly cheaper. The product they buy serves their need and they don't want the work of having to try a new place out. I'm not really surprised by this. In my old building, out of 6 units I was the only to get fiber and after a few years someone new moved in they were up to two people. I know for a fact 2 other units were work from home business sales folk who did regular video calls (even before covid) and they continued with comcast despite slower up/down at a higher price. In my new building again the same thing. This time 10 units, only myself and one other with fiber despite the same issues. Even with multiple household having a very compelling reason to switch (work from home and home schooling). I asked an older neighbor in my old building why they hadn't switched and their response was that comcast was good enough for them, I explained it was also cheaper, they said they'd "look into it" and 3 years later still on comcast.

How in the world can someone "prefer their current provider" without something to compare against? I think in any kind of survey like this, I would like to see the actual questions that were asked.

at_a_remove 6y ago

I can imagine that some people would not prefer their current provider if their current provider is, say, Charter. I suspect people might willingly leap into a dark pit filled with who knows what over continuing with Charter.

excalibur 6y ago
Or Comcast.
shakezula 6y ago
Comcast was my only provider for 3 years. There were times I almost considered just canceling the contract and tethering on my phone because of how bad Comcast was.
- olyjohn 6y ago
  I've been on Starlink for a few months. It's honestly been a pain in my ass, and nowhere near as reliable as Comcast. But I am being patient and waiting, because right now it's worth it to me just to tell Comcast to fuck right off. Starlink has been improving though quite a lot just since I got it... so I'll keep giving it time.
  - DangitBobby 6y ago
    I thought starlink was for people living in rural areas with no real broadband alternatives.
    - cozzyd 6y ago
      Yeah, any place with comcast broadband is almost certainly a poor fit for Starlink due to the limited total bandwidth over a geographic region.
      - DangitBobby 6y ago
        My parents' only option for broadband right now is mobile hotspots. Unless you count traditional satellite internet, which I do not.
    - kixiQu 6y ago
      So that tells you how someone feels about Comcast's "real broadband alternative"
- spullara 6y ago
  I must be on some special list at Comcast. Every time I have had to deal with them lately for changing service or helping debug an outage their online chat has been extremely competent and solved the problem. Which is a big change from years ago.

dec0dedab0de 6y ago

How in the world can someone "prefer their current provider" without something to compare against? Maybe they've had bad experiences dealing with other municipal services from their city. Or maybe they just think the act of switching will be a pain in the butt. I can imagine many of the answers boil down to "yes, give me anything but X" or "it's good enough please don't break it"

nightski 6y ago

Not every city in America is terrible. I live in a city of ~250k, we have multiple competing cable companies here and we get very reliable, fast, gig internet for a good price. In my childhood hometown they have muni internet. It started out great as it was cutting edge. They have barely upgraded in over a decade. It's crap and the cable company in town has largely won. I also don't want the government tracking my internet history in any fashion. Too many government services could tie into knowledge about you and I want the government to have only the minimum information necessary to provide those services.

dv_dt 6y ago
That an ISP is municipal is hardly any sort of deciding factor on if government tracking has been welcomed into a given data service or not. Large private telecoms imho are both much more likely to be targeted and to cooperate.
streblo 6y ago
> Not every city in America is terrible. Fine, but MANY are. In the past 5 years I've lived in two of America's biggest cities and only had one ISP to choose from. > I also don't want the government tracking my internet history in any fashion. Too many government services could tie into knowledge about you and I want the government to have only the minimum information necessary to provide those services. As if the government can't/doesn't already subpoena your ISP for this information.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
vangelis 6y ago
> I also don't want the government tracking my internet history in any fashion. The government already can compel your ISP to hand over that data.
- geodel 6y ago
  So you are saying we better willingly give data, since govt can anyway get it if they want?

cozzyd 6y ago

I already have cheapish high-quality internet (Webpass). An alternative would be unlikely to improve my bandwidth (I only have gigabit ethernet on all my devices anyway..) or latency (1-2 ms to work). Maybe it would be cheaper...

spullara 6y ago
If I was offered Chattanooga's municipal internet access, I would take it. But it really matters what the offering might be. They have had up to 10G symmetrical speeds since 2015! https://muninetworks.org/tags-135 https://muninetworks.org/tags-135

pessimizer 6y ago

It's the same way polls can find so many people who love their current health insurance company. "Would you like things to continue the way they are, or would you like to venture into the unknown with this service that is crucial to your current lifestyle?"

megaframe 6y ago

I don't think it's that they "prefer their current provider" it's that they prefer not to think about it or go through the hassle of changing. Like if someone got an oil change and it works for them every time and you sent them a flyer telling them there's a better place with better oil that's slightly cheaper. The product they buy serves their need and they don't want the work of having to try a new place out. I'm not really surprised by this. In my old building, out of 6 units I was the only to get fiber and after a few years someone new moved in they were up to two people. I know for a fact 2 other units were work from home business sales folk who did regular video calls (even before covid) and they continued with comcast despite slower up/down at a higher price. In my new building again the same thing. This time 10 units, only myself and one other with fiber despite the same issues. Even with multiple household having a very compelling reason to switch (work from home and home schooling). I asked an older neighbor in my old building why they hadn't switched and their response was that comcast was good enough for them, I explained it was also cheaper, they said they'd "look into it" and 3 years later still on comcast.