Latest news with #CarlLepper
CNET
5 days ago
- Business
- CNET
Beyond the Hype: J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Survey Confirms 5G Internet Might Be Here to Stay
Since its widespread launch in 2019, 5G home internet has become a staple in many urban homes and a viable solution for rural connectivity. While I generally tout a 'fiber-first' mindset when recommending cost-efficient, reliable high-speed internet options, 5G has often surpassed my expectations, and consumers seem to think so, too. J.D. Power data from 2024 and 2025 suggests that customers prefer fixed wireless internet, specifically 5G or 4G LTE, over both fiber and cable internet. The report finds that even while adoption has grown to nearly 12 million subscribers, a 47% increase since last year, customer satisfaction has remained stable in the past two years. J.D. Power Technology, Media & Telecom Intelligence Report June 2025 That's a significant achievement, even if subscribers are still in the 'honeymoon phase,' as Carl Lepper, senior director of the technology, media and telecommunications intelligence practice at J.D. Power, writes in the report. 'I think there's a bit of a halo effect,' Lepper told me. 'I do think there are a lot of people who were early adopters who loved it because it gave them an option they didn't have, and it gave them a price point they didn't have before.' That echoes the thoughts of a former CNET colleague, Rick Broida, who tested T-Mobile's 5G home internet service in 2021 and concluded, 'Imperfection is a lot more tolerable when you're paying less than half what you were before.' Locating local internet providers As more consumers sign up for 5G internet, the fact that the 5G home internet services continue to receive high marks is impressive. The American Customer Satisfaction Index also affirms customer satisfaction with 5G, with scores for non-fiber providers trending upwards. In contrast, fiber scores remained stagnant, and for the first time, T-Mobile 5G Home Internet tied with AT&T Fiber for first place overall. As an industry, broadband receives pretty low customer satisfaction scores overall, and it's not hard to see why. Everything from navigating confusing marketing lingo, dealing with sales-forward customer service and paying expensive monthly bills makes for a frustrating internet user experience. Plus, if you have an unreliable internet connection, it may not seem like you're getting the most out of your money. A recent CNET survey found that 63% of US adults are paying, on average, $195 more for their internet service than last year. J.D. Power Technology, Media & Telecom Intelligence Report April 2024 As an internet solution for rural communities without the luxury of fiber internet or the infrastructure of cable networks, 5G is an increasingly appealing alternative, especially over DSL, slower fixed wireless internet and satellite internet. Recent FCC data shows that the nation's biggest 5G provider, T-Mobile, covers 64% of households nationwide, and a significant portion of its coverage is rural. 'Is it a better product than fiber? Absolutely not,' Lepper said. 'No one would say it is, but it's hitting all the other buttons just right.' 5G may not always be consistent, but it's getting better J.D. Power uses several metrics to gauge customer satisfaction with broadband, the most notable being the level of trust an internet user has with an ISP. Fixed wireless internet is generally more unreliable than fiber internet since it's more susceptible to congestion and requires proximity to a tower and good weather conditions. However, it has substantially improved over the years. Former CNET writer Eli Blumenthal switched from Spectrum to Verizon 5G and hands-on tested T-Mobile 5G and AT&T Internet Air. While Blumenthal didn't get consistent gigabit speeds with any provider, each connection handled the stress of heavy bandwidth tasks from multiple users just fine. In that vein, I'll note that CNET router expert and broadband writer Joe Supan spent a week testing AT&T Internet Air in his apartment in Seattle and found the speeds sorely lagging -- they barely passed 10Mbps down. Still, while Supan's experience emphasizes the potential inconsistencies of 5G internet, AT&T Internet Air is a preferred alternative to AT&T's legacy DSL network and is much easier to install in rural communities than fiber. Additionally, while fiber providers often emphasize lightning-fast speeds, that speed only gets you so far. Depending on your internet usage and the number of devices in your home, you probably don't need more than 100 or 300Mbps of download speed. Equipment upgrades from T-Mobile 5G Home Internet have allowed the provider to boost speed maximums to 415Mbps down. That's quite an improvement from when T-Mobile 5G Home Internet first debuted in 2021. Broida was one of the earliest adopters of the service, and he saw max speeds of 132Mbps down and a low speed of 6.8Mbps, but those average speeds were still more than fine to get through the work day. In fact, you probably won't be able to tell the difference between 300Mbps of download speed and 1,000Mbps of download speed. What you can pick up on, however, is latency, lag and congestion. The true measure of a good internet connection is it's overall reliability, and if this latest batch of high customer approval ratings for the service suggests anything, it's that 5G has some staying power. What's next for 5G? The promise and convenience of 5G lie in the fact that mobile network operators can use the same technology powering our phones to get us online at home. But that technology has some limitations, like the amount of licensed spectrum, for example. 'There is a finite amount of spectrum,' Alex Roytblat, vice president of worldwide regulatory affairs at the Wi-Fi Alliance, told me in a previous interview. 'It's like real estate.' Major 5G internet providers Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile 5G Home Internet use a mixture of frequency bands, such as millimeter-wave, low-band and midband 5G spectrums, to optimize customer experience. 'The higher in frequency you go, the more challenging it becomes to propagate the signal,' Roytblat said. 'The attenuation of the signal becomes greater as the frequency increases.' Concerns of spectral efficiency, or the limits to what information we can transmit in a communication channel, are also at play in the effectiveness of 5G. In fact, due to 'network capacity,' T-Mobile 5G Home Internet has a waitlist of around 1 million people. After covering the broadband industry for nearly two decades, Lepper is optimistic about how 5G technology will evolve in the hands of today's major mobile network operators. 'I'm always amazed how much control the industry has over the new technology, and what's next is already ready to go,' Lepper said. 'I think 5G has been extremely well-marketed.' Telecoms like Huawei and Bell Canada have successfully tested new technology to improve spectral efficiency. In February, Verizon 5G achieved record-breaking upload speeds of 480Mbps, mainly due to the newly opened 6-GHz band. 'The MNOs [mobile network operators] of the world have such a strong network that is impressive now,' said Lepper. 'When it taps out, will they have the next thing ready to go? Absolutely.'
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is cell service getting worse? One study shows that it is
(WJET/WFXP) — Cell service may be getting worse across the country according to a new J.D. Power study. The study showed a dramatic increase in reported wireless network problems between the first and the second half of 2024. For the first half of 2024, problems nationally were reported at 9 problems per use, and in the second half, that jumped to 11 problems per use. That represents a 22% increase less than one year, but several factors in the coming months and years will determine if this trend will continue upwards. These trends also come at a time when more than 1/3 of Gen X and Gen Y use their phone more than 8 hours every two days. Much of these 8 hours are spent streaming, gaming, or browsing, increasing the demand and stress on carriers 'Streaming has become ubiquitous and is straining networks,' said Carl Lepper, senior director of technology, media and telecom at J.D. Power. 'Network quality is a critical factor in the customer journey, specifically the second highest reason why they choose to leave their carrier and join another, behind price. As we have been experiencing this generational trend of increased usage, especially for streaming, gaming, and browsing, networks need to prioritize network quality.'. The study showcased the top-performing carriers across six regions: Mid-Atlantic, North Central, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and West. Verizon Wireless leads two regions and is tied in another, having the least amount of problems in the Mid-Atlantic and the West regions. Verizon and AT&T are both tied for the least amount of problems in the Southwest region. UScellular ranks the highest in the North Central region and T-Mobile ranks the highest in the Southeast Region. But are these problems a sign of more trouble to come, or is there steps in place to avoid more problems in the future? Laurent Therivel, the president and CEO of UScellular says in his 2025 predictions that as Americans continue to use more and more data, more investment and more frequency spectrusts are needed to help maintain the U.S.'s competitiveness on a global scale. In 2023 alone, Americans used a total of 100 Trillion MB, that's 100,000,000 Terabytes. That staggering figure is double what was used in 2021, and 33 times bigger than what was used in 2013. However, many industry experts believe that recent innovations can help bring high-speed wireless to more areas. These innovations help lower the complexity and scalability that can come with a large-scale deployment of wireless service in an area that can help meet the ever-growing needs of the customers. As we continue to grow and expand accessibility and availability of 5G coverage across the nation, another concern lingers in less than a decade, 6G service. The next generation of service is expected to be introduced by 2030, and even as soon as 2028. That's according to John Paleski, President of Subcarrier Communications, who continues citing concerns of the next generation and what will need to be done to support, physically, these new units. These upgrades to previous towers, and the construction of new ones, will not be a cheap endeavor for carriers and tower owners. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
