Canadians Assess their Internet Service Providers

The Internet has transformed the way Canadians connect, interact and consume, becoming increasingly integrated into our daily lives. Ipsos regularly canvasses the nation to uncover the `who, what and why' of Internet and technology usage and attitudes among Canadians.

Our latest peek inside the Ipsos Canadian Inter@ctive Trends Report includes our annual review of online Canadians' use of and satisfaction with their Internet service provider -- both home and mobile.

This year, the Canadian marketplace in terms of the share captured by various home ISP providers is quite stable. Further, customers' satisfaction with those providers has plateaued or stabilized this year. While still lower than satisfaction levels in 2009 and earlier, satisfaction has stopped declining and indications are that a small rebound is on the horizon. This might be an indication that consumers have reached a new equilibrium in terms of their expectations and/or that certain providers are doing a better job in meeting consumers' needs.

The number of online Canadians planning on upgrading their modem speed in the next 12 months has dropped significantly. This is likely an indicator that demand for higher-speed Internet access has been partially satisfied in Canada and a significant portion of power users have already upgraded.

Over the last year or so, there has been a clear upward trend in adoption of mobile devices with Internet access like smartphones and tablets. And as a result, the number of online Canadians accessing the Internet via a mobile device is up significantly, with a sizeable jump seen in the last year alone (up 10 percentage points to 47% since Issue 3 2011).

Despite this jump in mobile Internet use, market share among the various providers has not shifted in the past year. Given fairly lukewarm satisfaction ratings from customers, mobile customers may be willing to move if a provider can up the ante and a shake-up in the market may be imminent.

The above is based on the findings of an Ipsos syndicated study, The Ipsos Canadian Inter@ctive Trends Report, fielded June 19-25, 2012 and released in 2012 - Issue 3. This online survey of 838 Canadian adults was conducted via the Ipsos Online Panel. The results are based on a sample where quota sampling and weighting are employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data. Quota samples with weighting from the Ipsos online panel provide results that are intended to approximate a probability sample. An unweighted probability sample of this size, with a 100% response rate, would have an estimated margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The Ipsos Canadian Inter@ctive Trends Report has been tracking online behaviour and identifying trends since 1995, and is the longest running and most comprehensive, authoritative study of the Internet in Canada. Click here to learn more about the report, or to subscribe.