Consumer Preferences Tilting Toward Mobile Broadband

The Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA) commissioned an independent market research survey to determine the preferences of consumers and identify the types of activities consumers engage in when they go online. A leading independent polling and market research firm, Civic Science, designed and conducted a comprehensive, statistically-valid survey of at least 10,0000 consumers in the United States in June 2018. The results of the Civic Science Consumer Preference Survey show that:

• Consumers express no clear preference for how they access the Internet. Almost as many consumers prefer to access the Internet through mobile as through cable modems. In fact, more consumers prefer to access the Internet through their mobile devices than do those who prefer the fixed broadband means of fiber and digital subscriber line (DSL) service combined. And furthermore, 1 in 5 U.S. consumers expressly state that they have “no preference” for how they access the Internet. Fully 43% of all respondents report a preference for mobile access or report no preference as compared to 47% expressing a fixed broadband preference, demonstrating clearly that in the public view, there is essential equivalence between mobile and fixed alternatives.
• Consumers are willing to switch to mobile-only Internet access. Millions of consumers across all kinds of demographic groups have already done so – younger consumers, older consumers, white consumers, minority consumers, consumers living in cities and consumers living in rural areas. And contrary to the FCC’s conclusion in January 2016, concerns about affordability are not the main reason consumers are reluctant to switch.
• A clear majority of consumers now use mobile devices for “bandwidth and data-intensive applications” like streaming multimedia content – including watching news and sports, as well as streaming movies and television shows from services like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and so forth.
• Mobile devices now play an important role in completing homework assignments and applying for jobs. Nearly 1 in 2 U.S. households with children have used mobile devices to complete homework assignments in the past year. And 1 in 4 US consumers have used mobile devices to apply for a job in the past year.