Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Starlink vs. Fiber: Satellite Internet Emerges as Rural Favorite

According to a survey by Recon Analytics, Starlink customers are more satisfied with internet services than fiber network users. The founder of Recon Analytics, Roger Entner, says that their organization has been tracking Starlink for 2 years and now it has over 1.4 million subscribers in the USA. SpaceX's internet service, Starlink, has started making an impact now, with many users highly recommending its services.

Users of Starlink have given +42 points to the complete Starlink experience, the highest score among many big wireless services like cable, 5G and DSL. It also has highest scores in video streaming (+44) and maintaining Wifi connection (+37). The survey also found out that 85% of Starlink users live in rural areas in the USA and now the residents of these places are enjoying satellite internet service. Only 15% of Starlink users are from urban or suburban areas.

Most of the Starlink users are from areas where there were limited broadband services or no access to internet services at all. 11% of the Starlink users said that they have never subscribed to any internet service before, while some users said that they only used broadband services through small ISPs. This shows that most users didn't have any alternate option before subscribing to Starlink.

Even though Starlink received a lot of positive feedback, its users weren't happy with its customer service and billing support. Starlink received -1 score on its Billing Support, -3 on Technical Support and -17 in In-Store Experience. Users said that they don't get why Starlink has to be sold at big box retailers while its hardware is available at Target, Walmart and Best Buy. Cable, DSL and Fiber also had poor In-Store Experience scores.

On the other hand, Fiber Network users rate its services positively, but they are not quite satisfied with it. High-speed fiber has a high cost which can go from $60 to $100 per month. Most users said that they think Fiber is a better option than Starlink but if we talk about its cost, this option doesn't seem too alluring.

Internet Connection Issues by Service Type When comparing different internet services, Starlink users report the following issues: 30% experienced a connection outage, 24% noted slower speeds, 20% had to reset their Wi-Fi router, and 19% faced device disconnections. In contrast, Major Fiber users experienced higher rates of slower speeds (31%) and router resets (27%), with 24% facing connection outages and 25% dealing with disconnections. Large FWA users reported similar issues to Major Fiber, with 27% encountering slower speeds and router resets, and 25% facing disconnections. Major Cable users had the highest percentage of connection outages (39%) and slower speeds (34%), while Major DSL users faced significant challenges with connection outages (33%) and slower speeds (32%). Customer Satisfaction Ratings by Service Type In terms of customer satisfaction, Starlink excels with the highest scores across various categories: +42 for the overall experience, +30 for easy installation, +44 for streaming video, +37 for Wi-Fi connection, and +23 for gaming. Major Fiber trails behind with +18 for the complete experience and streaming video, and +12 for gaming. Large FWA shows strong performance with +40 for the overall experience and +52 for easy installation, but slightly lower scores for streaming video (+39) and gaming (+29). Major Cable has negative scores in several categories, including -2 for the overall experience and -7 for gaming. Major DSL shows negative performance, particularly in gaming (-20) and overall experience (-10). Service Support Ratings Regarding support, Starlink's ratings show areas for improvement, with -1 for billing support, -3 for technical support, and a significant -17 for in-store experience. Major Fiber has slightly better ratings with +1 for billing support and -3 for technical support, but struggles with a -8 rating for in-store experience. Large FWA stands out positively with +24 for billing support, +22 for technical support, and +29 for in-store experience. Major Cable and Major DSL have notably low ratings, particularly for in-store experiences, with Major Cable scoring -13 for billing support and -14 for technical support, while Major DSL fares worse with -15 for billing support and -20 for technical support.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

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