[INFOGRAPHIC] Feeling Bogged Down? Nationwide Survey Finds a Surge in Home Connected Device Use but a Lag in Broadband Upgrades

Despite buying more Internet-connected devices and using more broadband services, 61% of consumers have neglected to upgrade their broadband connection in the past two years to handle all this new usage at home, according to a recent Verizon and Harris Interactive survey*                                 

• 42% of adults get upset at their home broadband connection when everyone connects simultaneously
• 29% of adults have messed up in an online game due to a slow connection
• 35% say that their family is spending more time online (e.g., watching more movies online and running more connected devices at home) 

Seeing how consumers’ increased use of multiple Internet-connected devices at home takes a toll on broadband performance, the survey helps to better identify the gap between purchasing and maximizing the use of more connected devices at home and broadband service upgrades. 

This most recent Verizon Innovation Index survey found that at least 30 percent of U.S. adults polled have done the following:

• Increased the number of connected devices they own (38%)
• Increased the amount of time they spend online at home (35%)
• Increased the amount of movies they watch online at home (30%)

However, the same poll found that while consumers were increasing their devices and usage, only 20% thought their use was outgrowing the speed of the current connection and only 24% felt the need to upgrade.  Yet, they are experiencing the problems of a household whose devices and usage are outpacing the bandwidth.  In direct relation to the increase in connected device ownership and home broadband use, consumers polled reported the following speed and performance issues:

• Streaming video continuously buffers or pauses (63%)
• File downloads or uploads take too long to complete (47%)
• Downloads, streaming or browsing becomes noticeably slower when multiple devices are connected to home broadband network (42%)

In addition, consumers are clearly getting frustrated even if they don’t always understand why or that they can do something about it.  When we asked them about different frustrations, here’s what they told us:

• Frustration with streaming video that continuously buffers (e.g., temporarily stops playing) or pauses (63%)
• Giving up on a file downloads or uploads that are taking too long (45%)
• Messing up in an online game due to lag/slow connections (29%)

So what’s a consumer to do who feels the need for more speed?

We suggest upgrading their home Internet service the same way people update their software on their smart phone or buy the latest video gaming console.  If consumers want the very best home broadband experience, they should take advantage of service upgrades.

Our FiOS Quantum service, for example, is a simple and powerful way to optimize speed and performance at a very low cost.

Of course, it’s easy enough to lay out why an upgrade is needed, but it’s also important to make that upgrade as easy as possible.  Starting this week, all existing FiOS Internet customers can upgrade to our FiOS Quantum 50/25 mbps speed tier for just $10 more a month and keep the speed for as long as they wish.  That’s $10 a month for better streaming video on TVs, better multiplayer gaming, multiple tablets, faster downloads and, overall, a broadband connection worthy of your connected home.

Just last week, the Federal Communications Commission report on its latest broadband performance tests showed Verizon FiOS Quantum speeds performed with high reliability and consistency.  In fact, the FCC reported that every FiOS Internet speed tier delivered more than 100 percent of its advertised, sustained download performance during peak Internet usage periods, differentiating it from most cable company competitors. 

We’ll be putting out more data on this topic in the weeks ahead that further illustrates the device between device and broadband upgrades as well as how consumers are getting (pun intended) up to speed.

*Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Verizon from February 1-5, 2013 among 2,176 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.