Fast Net News, DSL Prime, DOCSIS Report

Verizon and British Telecom predicted fiber would drive down their opex costs 70-90%. They have been disappointed so far, needing more truck rolls than predicted.  The surprising finding in The Fiber-to-the-Home Council /  survey of 1200 homes is that 30% of FTTH customers were less than very satisfied with uptime. The other results showed preferences for fiber, no surprise given that Verizon's overall customer satisfaction is extremely high. Their data is in italics.

• 67% of FTTH users were very satisfied with their broadband speed compared to 58% of cable modem users and 46% of DSL users. Which suggest carriers should crank up the speed on fiber to the 30 and 100 meg it is designed for.
  
• 70% of FTTH users were very satisfied with their Internet service uptime compared to 64% of cable modem users and 55% of DSL users. The difference between cable and DSL is a strong U.S. phenomenon that became even wider as the cablecos mostly raised their low end offering to 10 meg down.
  
• 74% of FTTH users were very satisfied with the quality of HD picture they receive compared to 51% of satellite TV users and 50% of cable TV users. This is an important strategic advantage. Satellite and cable are compressing heavily in order to squeeze in more HD channels (over 100.) FiOS has plenty of bandwidth, so doesn't need to do same.
  
• Median tested download speed from FTTH users was 10.4 mbps.
  
• Median tested upload speed from FTTH users was 2.4 mbps. Fiber is designed for much higher speeds, and customers want that.
  
• 49 percent of FTTH users said their service would be the “last thing” they would give up if economic conditions forced them to reduce their household expenditures. That's significant market power for the duopoly, part of the reason U.S. prices are going up.