Blandin Broadband Leadership Webinar

1. Understanding Broadband -
Data Gathering
DOUG DAWSON, PRESIDENT, CCG CONSULTING
BLANDIN WEBINAR – APRIL 9, 2020

2. Reaching Out to the Public
 Surveys
 Canvasses
 Pledge Drives
 Questionnaires
 Interviews
 Speed Tests
 Analyzing Customer Bills
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3. Comparing Survey Methodologies
 Face-to-Face. Most reliable but most expensive
(unless using volunteers). Respondents tend to
tell the truth face-to-face.
 Mail Survey. No control over who responds.
Tends to be biased.
 Telephone. Almost as good as face-to-face. Fast
method. Must include cellular numbers.
 Web Survey. Least costly and fastest method.
Provides fast, but unscientific responses.
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4. Statistically Valid Surveys
 What does statistically valid mean?
 Must be administered randomly
 Questions must not be biased
 Can be done by telephone or face-to-face.
 If administered by telephone, must include cellphone
numbers.
 Getting a statistical precision of 95% +- 5% usually
requires 350 – 380 completed surveys.
 Can be used to predict customer penetration rate.
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5. Issues Getting Telephone Numbers
 The key is including cellular numbers.
 List of numbers can be purchased for metro areas –
not so much for smaller cities and rural areas.
 Counties and cities sometimes have gathered good
lists of numbers.
 City attorneys must be convinced that using the
numbers doesn’t violate privacy – governments are
allowed to survey their constituents.
 Without a good list of phone numbers, telephone
surveys are not possible.
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6. Business Surveys
 We’ve found that business surveys on broadband
don’t produce reliable results:
 The survey must be given to the broadband ‘decision
maker’. That can be somebody other than the owner
or a group of employees.
 Businesses don’t make snap decisions on changing
broadband providers – so they can’t answer questions
asking if they would change to a new ISP. Changing
providers is a major decision for most businesses.
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7. Canvass
 Mail and web surveys are examples of a canvass.
 These are used to measure sentiment rather than
to understand numerical based questions.
 Not statistically valid because respondents ‘self-
select’.
 Canvasses become useful by getting as many
responses as possible.
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8. Pledge Drives
 A pledge drive is a canvass that tries to
connect to everybody.
 Asks if residents or businesses are willing to
buy from a new broadband provider.
 The more information included in the
questions (such as broadband speeds and
prices), the more reliable the results.
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9. Questionnaires
 This is a survey that goes into depth on a few question.
 For example, you might want to ask a business two in-
depth questions:
 What problems is your broadband causing you today?
 What would you be able to do better if you had faster
broadband?
 In a questionnaire you ask respondents to tell their
stories – give them plenty of space to write.
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10. Interviews
 Interviews go into depth with a handful of
residents and/or businesses.
 An interview starts with a list of basic questions,
but then pursues interesting responses.
 Interviews almost always uncover things about
existing ISPs that are not captured using other
methods.
 A focus groups is an interview with more than one
respondent.
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11. Speed Tests
 This is an attempt to find the real broadband
speeds in a community instead of the ones
that the ISPs say they are selling.
 Speed tests are often done as a way to
challenge lousy FCC broadband mapping
data.
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12. Problems with Speed Tests
 Customer speeds often vary by time of day.
 If speed test is not taken where broadband
enters the home, it includes problems with
inside wiring or WiFi.
 Incumbents will claim that speed test results
are invalid for these reasons.
 Be aware of ‘blast’ technology.
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13. Mapping Speed Tests
 Speed test results are most effective if mapped.
 Makes it important to solicit speed tests from the places that need
broadband the most.
 Important to include homes in the mapping who say they can’t get
broadband.
 One challenge is to match speed test results to valid GIS / 911
addresses.
 Big concern is to mask data so as to not violate customer privacy.
 Mapping best done when mapping by speed bands – not by
customer. Colors to show areas where speeds are under 10/1
Mbps, 25/3 Mbps, 100/10 Mbps.
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14. Analyzing Customer Bills
 ISPs often bill differently in real life than what they advertise.
 We often see significant rate different between communities.
 Discount differ widely. Trend is to phase out discounts.
 There is a lot of use today of ‘hidden fees’.
 The only way to understand prices in a given market is to look at
bills.
 A big issue is keeping customer data confidential.
 The goal is to see if prices are consistent in a community –
somethings they are and sometimes they are all over the board.
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15. Contact Doug Dawson
Doug Dawson
President, CCG Consulting
blackbean2@ccgcomm.com
(202) 255-7689
www.ccgcomm.com
Blog: https://potsandpansbyccg.com/
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