Broadband Customers Motivated by Price, Not Speed

Broadband customers are bargain hunters, according to a new study by Morgan Stanley.

The investment firm’s entertainment group polled 2,500 US based subscribers about their internet and cable plans and found that price, not speed, is the motivating factor behind most users’ decisions to switch services. Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed said that a lower costing alternative would prompt them to make a shift as opposed to 15 percent who said they would seek out faster options, seven percent who cited better reliability for their home networks and 3 percent who cited better customer service. Thirteen percent of respondents said nothing would induce them to quit their current service. In terms of pricing, cable was the more expensive option — customers reported paying an average of $53 for cable compared with $42 a month for DSL.