Majority (52%) of Online Canadians Not Fully Satisfied with their Internet Experience

Toronto, ON - A new Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Rogers High Speed Internet has revealed that a majority (52%) of Canadians are not fully satisfied with their internet experience. In fact, when asked of their level of satisfaction, less than half (48%) indicated that they were `very satisfied' with their internet experience, while a majority is only `somewhat' (48%), `not very' (3%) or `not at all' (1%) satisfied with what they're getting out of the internet.

The data also reveal that Canadians might expect a lot form the internet in general, considering more people are doing more things online than they were a year ago, and yet many are still interested in more services. Below is a chart of the proportion of Canadians who were doing the following popular activities a year ago, and the proportion that are doing the same activities presently. In almost all cases, the proportion of online Canadians participating in these activities has increased.

The largest increases in internet uses among online Canadians are in the areas of shopping (8-point increase), uploading/managing/sharing photos (8-point increase), streaming videos and shows (7-point increase) and paying bills (6-point increase).

The average online Canadian spends approximately 17 hours a week on the internet. But the data also reveal that those who are `very satisfied' with their internet experience are spending, on average, 18 hours a week, while those who are only `somewhat satisfied' are spending 15 hours a week online.

• Also of interest is that younger adults (19 hours a week), aged 18 to 34, are only spending a few hours more than Canadians aged 35 and older (16 hours a week).
• Men (18 hours) are spending about two hours more time on the internet each week than are women (16 hours)

There appear to be many different types of barriers for some in taking full advantage of the internet. Sixteen percent (16%) say they don't know enough about what the internet has to offer, while a similar proportion (14%) says they simply don't have the time to use the internet for the things they want to do online. Other barriers include a slow internet connection (13%), or an old computer (8%). However, three in ten (30%) say they don't need more from the internet, and one in ten (7%) say that they experience no barriers to accessing what they want from the world-wide web.

One quarter (25%) of online Canadians say they're taking full advantage of the internet, but only 38% of those who say they're `very satisfied' with their internet experience say that they're taking full advantage of the internet. This proportion drops to 15% among those who are `somewhat satisfied' with their experience, meaning that there is a link between one's level of satisfaction and their perception of whether or not they're taking advantage of the internet's full array of tools.

Since the internet is an ever-changing entity, Canadians seem to be interested in drawing more and more from its vast potential. Thinking about what online activities they might be interested in, topping the list is watching live TV on the computer (50%), engaging in video phone calls on the computer (49%), making and sharing videos with friends and family (46%), downloading and reading books online (39%), and engaging in high quality videoconferencing by webcam (34%). Other things in which online Canadians are interested include video classifieds (27%) and video blogging (11%).

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Rogers from April 3 to April 7, 2008. This online survey of 1,030 adult Canadians was conducted via the Ipsos I-Say Online Panel, Ipsos Reid's national 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 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Sean Simpson
Research Manager
Ipsos Reid
Public Affairs
(416) 572-4474
[email protected]

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