|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Consumers' use of Internet, Q10, August 2002 | |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
24
October 2002 
ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Summary findings, conclusions and recommendations Main findings Chapter 3 UK Internet penetration at home Chapter 4 Connection methods, ISPs, and packages used Chapter 5 Interest in upgrading to broadband and billing preferences Chapter 6 General household use of the Internet Chapter 7 Satisfaction with Internet service Chapter 8 Internet use outside of the home Annex 1 Details of changes to quarterly survey sample Annex 2 Details of changes to question on Internet packages Annex 3 August 2002 residential questionnaire Introduction 1.1 This report provides an overview of the key findings of consumer behaviour in the Internet market, taken from the tenth wave of Oftels quarterly residential consumer survey, conducted in August 2002. Results from previous waves are used for comparison purposes where appropriate and referred to throughout this report. 1.2 The report provides trend information and examines differences between consumers with different social characteristics. The sample and methodology were changed last quarter. It is important to understand these changes and the effect this has on the results. Please see annex 1 for further details. 1.3 The survey was conducted for Oftel by Recom (Research into Communications) amongst 2312 UK adults (see note one below) during August 2002, of whom 42% claimed to be connected to the Internet at home. The report has been prepared by Oftel (see note two below), based on the results provided by Recom. 1.4 This report covers:
Internet penetration
1.5 A copy of the questions is attached in annex 3. Topics to be researched each quarter are requested by Oftel project teams and results feed into current investigations and reviews in individual market areas. Notes: 1. This survey was conducted amongst a representative sample of UK adults, reflecting the UK profile of sex, age, social grade, region and employment status. Data has also been weighted to ensure the sample is representative of the UK adult population. All data shown is weighted data. Unweighted base sizes are shown on charts and tables to show the number of people who were asked the question. Because the survey was conducted amongst a sample of adults, rather than the whole population, the data may be subject to a small margin of error. The error margin for this total sample of 2312 consumers is about 1-2%, but is higher amongst smaller subgroups. Results referred to as 'significantly' different, have been tested at the 95% level of confidence and hence are outside of the error margins and therefore can be considered real changes. 2. The report should not be seen as recommended best buys and should not therefore be relied upon when making purchase decisions. Oftel has conducted its own checks on the data in this report and whilst we consider it to be correct, Oftel accepts no liability in respect of any of the results provided to it by Recom or any decisions taken by any person in reliance on the report.
Summary findings Headline figures
Following slowed growth Internet penetration remains unchanged and there is little change in this market overall 2.1 Internet access remains unchanged this quarter at 42% penetration. In the same period last year Internet penetration temporarily stabilised which may indicate a seasonal pattern. PC penetration also remains stable at 53% and the gap between ownership and Internet access remains broadly similar. 2.2 Types of Internet package used remains broadly similar to last quarter currently around 3 in 5 (62%) homes with Internet use an unmetered package, 32% use a pay as you go package (calls only) and 7% pay a subscription as well as all call costs. The questions to establish the type of package used have been refined full details can be found in the annex 2. Satisfaction with aspects of Internet service remains stable 2.3 9 out of 10 households (91%) are satisfied with their overall Internet service broadly unchanged over the last year. Satisfaction levels remain slightly behind those for the fixed (96%) and mobile markets (94%). 2.4 86% are satisfied with the quality of service and reliability of their home Internet service, and access speeds remain less satisfactory at 71%. A third of PSTN/IDSN home Internet users are interested in upgrading to broadband 2.5 A third (32%) of homes currently using PSTN or ISDN lines to access the Internet at home are interested in upgrading to DSL or cable modem. Interest increases with usage around twice as many heavier users are interested (54%) as light users (24%). Those currently using an unmetered product were also more likely to be interested in upgrading (39%) compared to calls only users (24%) and those paying for a subscription and calls (31%). Interest also increased amongst those dissatisfied with their current Internet service. 2.6 Of those interested in upgrading around a fifth (18%) wanted to be billed on their current bill for this service, while the majority either wanted a separate bill, did not mind or did not know. In total 11% of Internet customers currently using PSTN or ISDN to access the Internet at home and interested in upgrading and would choose a supplier offering one bill for the service.
Chapter 3 UK Internet penetration at home 3.1 Following the slowed growth in home Internet penetration over recent quarters it appears to have reached a plateau (42%), at least temporarily. Similarly this was experienced during the same period last year as shown in figure 4a before continuing to increase possibly indicating a seasonal pattern. We will continue to monitor take up of home Internet access. 3.2 Figure 3a shows the relationship between PC ownership and Internet penetration over time. In May 02 the sample was changed to take greater account of deprived areas. As a result Internet penetration appeared to fall as it is slightly less prevalent in areas of high deprivation. However, results from a control survey (indicated in red) carried out on the previous sample for comparison, confirmed that penetration remained stable. Reports from this wave onwards will refer to the trend from the revised sample.
* Note Figures up to March 2000 are based on GB population and are taken from MORIs Technology Tracker. Figures from May 2000 onwards include Northern Ireland and therefore represent the UK adult population. 3.3 PC ownership currently stands at 53% and has remained broadly similar over recent months as shown above. 3.4 Internet penetration and PC ownership follow similar patterns most popular amongst younger to middle age customers, higher income groups and larger households as shown in figure 3b. Internet usage outside the home 3.5 A further 7% of UK adults access the Internet from locations other than home. Combined with those accessing from home this equates to half of all adults using the Internet. There has been little change in this figure since August 2001. Further details on use of alternative access points are discussed in section 7. Internet access in rural and deprived areas 3.6 Consumers living in rural areas in the UK continue to be significantly more likely to have home Internet access (53%) than those living in urban areas (40%). This could be linked to lifestyle, or simply the demographics of consumers living in these areas more likely to be higher social grades and higher income groups who are more likely to have home Internet access. Areas of low deprivation, ie more affluent areas remain significantly more likely than those within areas of high deprivation to have Internet access at home (51% and 25% respectively), as shown in figure 3b. * NB: GB only – deprivation index is based on a composite score of the level of unemployment, overcrowding, non-car ownership and non-home ownership in an area. The index is only available for the UK mainland (ie excluding Northern Ireland) this quarter. 46% of GB adults are classified as living in areas of low deprivation, 47% in areas of medium deprivation and 7% in areas of high deprivation. The urban definitions are as follows: urban (large) cities/large towns, urban (medium) medium towns, urban (small) small satellite or isolated towns, rural accessible rural. These definitions cover over 99% of the UK population. It is estimated that just over 1% of the population are in remote rural areas difficult to access about half of this group (those in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland) are excluded from our sample.
Chapter 4Connection methods, ISPs, and packages usedMethod of connecting to the Internet at home 4.1 Most (96%) consumers with home Internet continue to use the PC or laptop to gain access. Alternative methods range from accessing the Internet via mobile phones (5%) and digital television (5%) to games consoles (2%) and personal organisers (1%). 4.2 1 in 10 consumers with the Internet at home claim to use at least one of these alternative methods, 6% in addition to the PC/laptop and 4% as a sole alternative. Use of any alternatives to the PC has fallen significantly from 16% in May 02. This fall is mainly driven by lower use of digital television and mobile phones to access the Internet. Perhaps consumers are choosing not to use these alternatives due to the less advanced functionality of these compared with PC access. 4.3 Use of ordinary phone line/dial up access has also fallen significantly, currently used by 84% of homes with Internet access compared to 89% in May 02 as shown in figure 4a. There has been a corresponding rise in use of faster access methods such as ADSL and cable modem. Consumers most likely to use non-dial up access are younger to middle aged, ABC1s and high income groups.
4.4 Subscriber figures suggest that approximately 7% of UK homes with Internet currently use ADSL or cable modem. While these figures are slightly lower than those reported in the consumer survey (which are subject to error margins of about +/- 2-3%), they confirm that use of broadband is on the increase, up from 6% in May 02. Type of Internet package used 4.5 Around 6 out of 10 homes (61%) with Internet use either a fully or partially unmetered package. Excluding those currently using a broadband unmetered package (7% according to recent subscriber figures) approximately 54% of homes use a narrowband unmetered package. Due to revised question phrasing to reduce confusion amongst consumers over the definition of Internet packages (revised questions have been running since February 02), we will no longer report partially and fully unmetered use separately from each other from this wave onwards. For more details on this change see annex 2.
* survey sample changed in May 02, these results were largely unaffected. 4.6 A third (32%) of Internet homes use a pay-as-you-go, calls only package and the remaining 7% continue to pay a subscription as well as all calls whilst online. Subscription and calls packages are generally aimed at businesses, hence the low use amongst residential consumers in comparison to other Internet packages. 4.7 Use of the different packages has remained fairly stable over recent months. The main consumers using unmetered packages are ABC1s, younger to middle aged, higher income groups, larger households and heavier Internet users. Internet homes using cable for their fixed line services are significantly more likely to use an unmetered package (70%) than those using BT (59%). ISPs used 4.8 Consumers with home Internet access continue to be making use of a range of ISPs. Freeserve (20%), AOL (19%), BT (18%) and now NTL (17%) are the most popular choices within the residential Internet market. There appears to be a slight shift in subscribers from BT to NTL and we will continue to monitor consumers use of ISPs. Figure 4c shows individual ISPs shares of the UK residential Internet market, this is based on all ISPs used.
Figure 4d:
ISP share of UK residential homes with Internet access (based on all
ISPs consumers use)
( Shares of less than 2%, included in the Other category)
Chapter 5Interest in upgrading to broadband5.1 A third (32%) of consumers currently using PSTN or an ISDN line to access the Internet at home claim to be interested in upgrading to broadband DSL or cable modem access. This equates to approximately 3 million Internet homes currently interested in upgrading. Interest is highest amongst men, younger to middle age groups, higher social grades, higher income groups and those living in more affluent areas. There were no significant regional differences. 5.2 Interest in switching to broadband increases with usage as shown in figure 5a ranging from 24% amongst light users to 54% amongst heavier Internet users. Interest was also higher amongst those using unmetered packages (39%) compared to those paying a subscription and calls (31%) or calls only (24%) however, again this may be related to usage as heavier users tend to be more likely to use unmetered packages. Previous Oftel research found that broadband users had mainly upgraded from narrowband unmetered products.
5.3 Potential interest in upgrading to broadband increases amongst less satisfied groups. Interest amongst dial up or ISDN users who were not satisfied with their overall service was almost double that of satisfied customers (55% and 31% respectively). The same was also true when comparing interest amongst various levels of satisfaction with access speeds ranging from 27% amongst satisfied customers to 47% amongst those not very or not at all satisfied. Satisfaction with Internet speeds declined in February 02 and remains at around 70% more details on satisfaction with Internet service is covered in section 6. Billing preferences for broadband services 5.4 Around 1 in 5 (18%) consumers who were interested in upgrading their PSTN or ISDN line to broadband claimed they would prefer to be billed for this service on their current fixed line phone bill. 2 in 5 consumers (41%) said they would prefer to be billed separately and a further 41% said they did not mind (35%) or did not know (6%). Women, middle-aged customers, DE social grades, lower income groups and larger households were amongst those most likely to want a single bill incorporating both services. 5.5 Of those whose preference was to receive one single bill, 13% claimed that they would choose a supplier who offered this service even if it was slightly more expensive. Half said they would choose a supplier who offered this but not at any additional expense. This equates in total to 11% of all Internet homes currently using PSTN/ISDN and interested in upgrading who would choose a supplier offering a one-bill service (see figure 5b). Around a third (30%) of those who would prefer to be billed on their current bill said this aspect was not sufficiently important as to affect their choice of supplier. 5.6 The main reason customers wanted a separate bill was ease of checking the costs/charges mentioned by 89%. Other reasons mentioned to a lesser extent were to avoid one large bill and spread payments (15%), perceptions of fewer mistakes if billed separately (7%) and ease of querying any mistakes (6%).
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
