New Delhi: Every two out of three Indians with a fixed line broadband connection struggle with either connectivity issues or lower speeds than paid for, a new survey showed Monday.
Fifty-six percent of those surveyed said they experience three or more disruptions in their connection each month, said the survey conducted by Noida-based LocalCircles, an online platform that seeks citizen feedback on policy and governance issues.
Asked about the top issue experienced with a fixed line connection, 33 per cent respondents said they faced “frequent disruptions” while another 33 per cent said the connection speed “received is much lower than what we are paying for”.
“LocalCircles has been witnessing an increase in posts and comments from citizens complaining that their broadband, fibre and DSL [Digital Subscriber Line, an internet connection provided via telephone line] providers are not providing the value as per the internet service opted by them. Many say that their connection fluctuates or is slow, intermittent most of the time and despite complaining to the service provider after rounds of cumbersome process to connect with the customer care representative, their issues do not get resolved,” said a LocalCirlces statement accompanying the survey findings.
The survey received over 33,000 responses from an estimated 319 districts across the country. The respondents were 64 per cent male and 36 per cent female. Forty-eight per cent respondents were from tier-1 districts, 30 per cent from tier-2, and 22 per cent from tier-3, -4 and rural districts.
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Finding details
In response to the survey question on frequency of issues with their fixed line broadband connection, 19 per cent said “3-5 times”, 21 per cent said “5-10 times” while 16 per cent said “more than 10 times” in a month. Only 25 per cent said they face an internet problem “once or twice” a month.
However, 19 per cent faced no such issues with their connection.
Asked how long it took the internet service provider to solve a problem after a complaint was made, 53 per cent said it takes more than 24 hours — 38 per cent said “within 24 hours”, 30 per cent said “1-3 days”, 5 per cent said “4-7 days” while 11 per cent said over 7 days. Additionally, 7 per cent of those surveyed said their issue was “never resolved”.
Only 8 per cent hadn’t had a complaint in the past one year.
The survey also found that 74 per cent respondents are willing to shift to a new fixed line internet provider for a better quality connection, service or price.
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