Last year, Cablevison was ranked the No. 1 Internet service provider in the nation by a PC World survey. This year the Bethpage-based company dropped to 2nd place.
Can you guess which ISP placed 1st?
Verizon’s FiOS fiber optic service knocked Cablevision out of the winners circle, but according to the survey results, it was pretty close.
For connection type, overall satisfaction, connection reliability, download speed, upload speed, customer service and technical support both FiOS and Cablevision received “above average” ratings.
But FiOS maintained “above average” ratings for its E-mail service, spam blocking and antivirus and security systems while Cablevision received “average” ratings in those categories.
Isn’t it good to know that on Long Island we get to choose between the top two ISPs in the nation.
From the PC World story:
- Cablevision, Cox Communications, and Verizon (fiber) are respondents’ favorite home ISPs. (We did not receive sufficient responses about business and mobile ISPs to draw statistically significant ratings for individual carriers.)
- Verizon’s FiOS fiber-optics-based service is the overall home favorite, earning above-average rankings in all nine of our major categories, which include upload and download speed, reliability, tech support, and customer service, among others.
- Cablevision, last year’s winner, finished in a tie for second place with Cox Communications, with six above-average scores. Both cable Internet service providers earned above-average marks in speed, reliability, customer satisfaction, and other areas.
- As for the low end, readers are most dissatisfied with Charter Communications, giving it below-average scores in seven of nine categories. AOL is second-worst, with six rankings in the cellar.
- Cable and DSL remain the overwhelming favorites for Internet access, accounting for 84 percent of surveyed readers’ connections; cable is slightly more popular in homes, while DSL has the edge at work. Dial-up use continues to slide among our readers, with only 8 percent of respondents saying that they use dial-up at home.
- Fiber, satellite, power-line, and wireless services are still marginal players, used by a combined 7 percent of respondents. But that’s a notable increase from last year, when only 1 percent of surveyed readers reported using these technologies.
- About two-thirds of respondents get two or more services, such as phone, Internet access, and TV, from their home ISP–roughly the same proportion that reported purchasing a service bundle last year. Half of these customers pay between $90 and $150 for their bundle.
You never mentioned in a follow-up post how YOUR Fios experience has been. You hit any snags, or has it been smooth sailing all the way? Inquiring minds want to know.
What choice???? You still can’t get FIOS in 80% or more of Long Island and we all know why!!!