The grudge factor

There is an expiration date on broadband, and every swallow of sour milk customers consume will make them more likely to gag the next time they reach for the carton.

Typically I kick off this column with a nugget uttered by someone else — a statement I can hang an argument on, use to try and incite industry discourse or refute entirely. I have decided to deviate from that approach this week and instead use this space to propose an open question to all providers of broadband services. I don't yet have a sound bite to offer on this subject because I haven't heard any answers that are compelling enough. If you give me some I might use them here to argue, incite or refute.

This question is directed to all service providers, regardless of the technologies you use, the regions in which you operate, the markets you target or the prices you charge: What are you going to do when customers' negative experiences cause them give up on broadband entirely?

To answer this question wholly and honestly you're going to have to let down your marketing defenses temporarily. So before you give answers that cite statistics about how broadband demand will go through the roof no matter what, allow me to further qualify the question: What would you do if demand dissipated entirely because negative experiences led everyone to give up on broadband services?

I submit that this is an entirely possible scenario, even if only a temporary one. Remember, I'm not commenting here on technology development cycles or service adoption trends or any other factors that impact service acceptance. I freely admit that I'm approaching this issue — the issue of customer satisfaction and patience — with tunnel vision to try to make a single point: There is an expiration date on broadband, and every swallow of sour milk customers consume will make them more likely to gag the next time they reach for the carton.

An answer some service providers might offer is that once you go broadband, you never go back. One interesting comparison I recently heard is that people don't get sick of the power company. I would be careful with that one if I were you.

I think most consumers — especially the small business and residential sets — are still far more protective of their wallets than they are concerned about their comfort levels when it comes to non-essential services, and at this point, it's safe to say that broadband services are still considered less essential than electrical power. If a customer is paying for DSL — and loves it — but the DSL provider suddenly goes bankrupt and service goes dark, there's no guarantee that the next provider to come knocking will be looked upon as a knight in broadband armor. People are cynical, and they have good memories.

Another response might be that customers don't care about technology — a common refrain. I'll give you that one, even though I don't agree with it. But this isn't about technology, it's about experiences — and if customers don't care about technology, they're even less likely to believe that a different one is going to work any better than the last one that failed them.

Remember what I said at the beginning about the service providers to whom this question is posed: It's all of you. I'm not picking on DSL in particular, just as I'm not attacking the broadband fixed wireless providers that have recently started to falter economically and are in some danger of alienating their customer bases. I'm not picking on providers of cable modems or gigabit Ethernet.

It's not specific to any of you because it's applicable to all of you: All service providers face the possibility that customers could get so soured on early broadband attempts and failure — on technologies that didn't live up to their performance potential or good services that suddenly were taken away — that they will give up entirely before it ever has a chance to fully develop.

I think it could happen. Let me know what you think.

Contact Jason Meyers at jmeyers@intertec.com