Consumer reports published a study last week buttressing the positon of its lobbying arm, Consumers Union, that the Federal Communications Commission should not remove internet-service providers from the Title II common-carrier bucket the agency put them in under Democrat Tom Wheeler.
Consumers Union didn’t have much nice to say about ISPs. “If the FCC repeals these rules, it would be giving a green light to an internet service provider to play favorites with its preferred websites, while saddling other sites with slower speeds and higher hurdles to reach consumers,” Jonathan Schwantes, CU senior policy counsel, said in announcing the survey’s publication.
In the survey but not in the story based on the survey — which, to be fair, was focused on net neutrality — was another finding: Asked, “when thinking about the overall quality of service you receive, how would you rate your satisfaction with your internet service provider?” a vast minority of respondents were in any way dissatisfied with their internet access service.
Combining “somewhat satisfieds” (34%) with “very satisfieds” (29%), and “completely satisifieds,” that makes 78% of respondents satisfied with their ISP. Only 20% showed any disaffection — 11% said they were “somewhat dissatisfied,” 5% “very dissatisfied” and 4% “completely dissatisfied.”
The telephone survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults was conducted July 20-23.
