Smaller ISPs are struggling to keep up with their larger
broadband rivals in the market because of unrealistic expectations
among customers.
Customer broadband comparison site
www.ISPreview.co.uk says
ISPs are struggling as a result of
super-cheap broadband packages from some of the country's
largest providers.
The problem stems from consumer expectations, says ISPreview,
which have grown in the face of increasingly cheap packages from
the major players, such as Tiscali and TalkTalk.
This, when coupled with aggressive advertising, essentially
resets the customers' definition of value to levels that can be
almost unattainable for smaller rivals, says the comparison
site.
"We tell the truth to our customers. Every package has usage
limits. The simple truth is that a pipe (34mb or 622mb) can only
handle so much," says David Mitchell, commercial manager for ISP
Quik Internet.
"So, when an ISP offers unlimited usage but without quality
promises, you know what you are getting. You are getting a mass of
users, many wanting many gigabytes of usage, at fast speed - simply
physically impossible to deliver," he says.
Although providers often attach Fair Usage Policies (FUP) to
their broadband products, which are designed to outline service
restrictions, these policies are frequently far too vague, usually
leaving consumers none the wiser about their package's limitations,
said ISPreview.
"Consumer perception is a real issue in the connectivity market
and heavyweight marketing by the larger players that is focused on
speed and price is often criticised as misleading," said Darren
Farnden, marketing manager at provider
Entanet.
"If you suggest to consumers that they can have 8Mbps broadband
at little or even no cost (in the case of bundled voice and data
packages) then that is what they will expect," said Farnden.
Simon Davies, a director at ISP
IDNet, said, "Once end-users have
experienced poor performance and inadequate support from abroad
they then come to realise the value of the service level that we
provide."
Zen Internet's managing director
Richard Tang, said, "The increasing dominance of larger providers
will ultimately drive small and medium-sized ISPs out of business,
unless they can differentiate themselves sufficiently by doing
something that the large providers cannot do. Zen's differentiator
is quality."