Pipe dreams

Helping your users get the most out of their broadband service

By Jeff Vance, Network World
November 28, 2004 08:26 PM ET

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You've heard the question a million times: I'm ready for broadband, but what should I get? Neighbors, friends and relatives pepper you with questions about price, speed and customer service. They turn to you because you were an early adopter. But that means you haven't thought about the data pipe into your house for some time.

Since you signed up (likely for the first service available in your area), cable's gotten faster, DSL's gotten less expensive, satellite broadband doesn't always require line of sight, and wireless ISPs are popping up to cover the dead zones. Your users are blinded by choices - from basic packages to supersized pipes with static IP addresses - from a wide range of providers.

With broadband options running amok and the landscape in flux, it's time to revisit broadband - if not for yourself, then to help field those never-ending broadband questions.

Before you can give advice, you have to know your users' needs. Are they simply checking e-mail and doing some casual Web browsing, or do they expect to connect their Xbox and trade multimedia files? Is the key consideration price or speed? Are emerging VoIP services enticing, or is e-mail still considered a newfangled contraption?

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"Eighty percent of users are satisfied with basic services," says Mike Wolf, principal analyst with In-Stat/MDR. "They don't seek higher and higher speeds, and they wouldn't necessarily know what to do if they had them."

Because basic services can mean anything from e-mail to interactive gaming, it's important to know your users. To help, give them a short quiz.

Broadband personality quiz:

1. What is most important to you in an Internet service?
a. Low price.
b. High speed.
c. Premium content.
d. Being able to get service at all.

2. When I’m online, I’m usually ____.
a. Only e-mailing.
b. Instant messaging, watching videos and playing interactive games.
c. Selling stuff on eBay.
d. Waiting for a page to load.

3. I spend _____ hours online every day.
a. Less than one.
b. If I’m awake I’m online.
c. Six to eight, or an average workday.
d. Not that many because my service is so slow.

4. When it comes to combining communications service (phone, Internet, TV), you are _____.
a. Skeptical, I don’t want to give all of my business to one company.
b. All for it; it makes life easier.
c. It doesn’t matter because my employer picks up the tab.
d. Still waiting for services to arrive, so I can bundle them.

5. Choose one thing you used to do offline that you do online today.
a. I can’t really think of anything other than e-mail.
b. Listening to music, playing games, placing phone calls — there’s too much to list.
c. My job.
d. Not as much as I’d like because I’m stuck with dial-up.

6. If new services such as video mail and interactive gaming don’t work well over your current service, you will ______.
a. Not know the difference because I doubt I’ll need this stuff.
b. Switch Internet providers without
hesitation.
c. Complain but probably stick with what I have.
d. When I get something to switch to, I’ll take it.