Home Internet users happy with their service providers

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April 7, 2000
Web posted at: 9:36 a.m. EDT (1336 GMT)

by Linda Rosencrance

(IDG) -- Home Internet users are generally happy with their current service and two-thirds of them would rather pay more than switch providers, according to Washington-based Strategis Group, which surveyed 500 Internet users who spent an average of seven hours per week online.

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Strategis Group spokesman Neil Rochlani said 75% of the users surveyed gave their Internet service providers a ranking of 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best). Rochlani said about 44% of those surveyed were using America Online Inc.'s (AOL) Internet service. Currently, about 47 million households in the U.S. are online, and Strategis predicts that number will swell to 58.5 million by the end of the year, Rochlani said.

According to the survey, entitled "Internet User Trends," 64% of home users said they would pay an average of $8.41 more a month before switching their service providers. Just six months ago, Rochlani said, users were only willing to pay an average of $6.76 more for Internet service. However, he said, the Strategis Group found that 36% of users would switch service providers if there was any increase in the cost of their service. At the end of 1999, users were paying an average of $18.96 per month for their Internet service, up from $17.94 in mid-1999.

Strategis found that women were more likely than men to accept price increases and that younger users were more tolerant of price changes than older users.

Rochlani said users from lower income households were 2.5 times more likely than users with high incomes to use a free Internet service provider. In addition, younger Internet users are more apt to use free service providers than older users are.

Rochlani said 33% to 40% of 500 non-Internet users surveyed by Strategis plan to go online within the next six months. He said approximately 12% of them said they were planning to use a free service. The other 88% said they were willing to spend an average of $18.50 per month for their Internet service and 44% of those respondents were planning to use AOL as their service provider.

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