Testing user habits: a third of end users would like faster internet, but only a few check its speed

The study was conducted by the Ipsos agency for HAKOM, on a representative sample of one thousand respondents aged 18 to 65 years.

ZAGREB, 27 January 2023 – An online study on the internet usage habits and experiences in the Republic of Croatia was conducted during November and December 2022 on a representative sample of a thousand subjects aged 18-65 years. This is a regular annual survey carried out for the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM) by the ESA.

The survey found that the most frequently used communication services are mobile voice services (98%), internet access services (82%) and fixed voice services (64%). Most users (78%) use internet access as part of a package of services, and 89% of users think they have all the necessary services in the package. For the most part, 92 percent of users use a home WiFi network to connect to the internet in the household, and 51 percent of users connect via the mobile network. The dominant devices that connect users to the Internet are smartphones (96 %) and laptops (87 %)), while the desktop computer is used for connecting 46 %of respondents.

The price difference between ADSL/VDSL and the optical connector of 5 to 10 percent would encourage about half of current users of copper technology to switch to the optical connector. For most users with a speed below 100 Mbit/s, internet speed is not a usage restriction, in the context that some more demanding services are not used due to low internet speed, 33 percent of users would like to have higher speeds, but are willing to pay only 10 percent more than the current price. Compared to last year's test, there are a slightly higher number of users (25 %) who feel that they do not need higher speeds. Most users stated that they had received information on the maximum, normal and minimum speed of the internet by their operators. Users are not in the habit of regularly checking speed – most do so only when they notice that internet speed has changed.

30 % of users have never checked internet speed with any of the Internet speed measuring tools. Users are mostly not familiar with HAKOM applications, so the survey showed that HAKOMETAR was used for fixed network measurements by 21 % of respondents and HAKOMETAR Plus for mobile measurements by 10 percent. The most common difficulties were interruption of internet access, poor internet speed and problems with the WiFi network, as in previous years, but at the same time a slightly better quality of service was noticed because 6 % fewer users noticed problems with internet interruption and as much less problems with the WiFi network. Most Internet users had experience in contacting the customer service, and 68 % of them contacted multiple times. As a rule, beneficiaries were satisfied, more satisfied with the quality of the response than with the speed of reporting.

In 2022, the most important topics for respondents were internet speed, package price and quality customer service. A quarter of respondents would change the current operator if the price increased by 10%. A third of users have never switched operators in the last three years. Those who changed it usually did so because of the lower price of competition or slower internet with an existing operator. Almost all Internet users take action to maintain online security, most often avoid downloading apps from unknown sources, protect personal data and avoid contacting strangers. Nevertheless, 14 percent pleaded to have had the experience of cyber-attack or cyber-bullying. Such attacks, or violence, are rarely reported (about 18 %).
 
The test results are available at the following link.