世論 What Japan Thinks

japan.internet.com, in conjunction with JR Tokai Express Research, at the start of March performed a study to find out what people thought regarding their Internet Service Provider (ISP). They interviewed by means of an internet-based questionnaire 330 people, 54.2% male, resident in the Kanto area. 26.4% of the respondents were in their twenties, 46.1% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 5.8% in their fifties, and just 1.8% in their sixties.

I find the results here a little difficult to believe, although the respondents all lived in Kanto (Tokyo and surrounding areas), so there would tend to be a distinct bias towards fatter pipes since most, if not all, of the Tokyo exchanges are wired for ADSL, and ADSL prices these days are barely much more than that of a phone line. In addition, perhaps the people who sign up to be survey monitors do tend to have better internet connections than the average person. I am not convinced of the accurancy at all.

Broadband is one of the few things in Japan that is actually cheap – for instance I pay around 2500 yen for up to 10 megabits; we have 100 megabits Fibre To The Home (FTTH) connection to our block of flats, and I share the line with the 32 other homes (although apparently only a handful use it), with the price is slightly subsidised out of the general flat management fees.

With regards to Q2. for me personally my ISP experience has been PRESTEL (1200/75!) -> CompuServe (dialup, first taste of the internet) -> CIX (dialup) -> Demon (dialup) -> GOL (ISDN) -> Jens SpinNet (ADSL) -> Hi-Ho (ADSL) -> Plala (FFTH).

Q1: How do you connect to the internet from your current home? (Sample size=330)

Analogue dialup	2.1%
ISDN	2.7%
ADSL	61.0%
FTTH	18.8%
CATV	9.7%
Don’t use the internet at home	2.1%
Other	3.6%

Presumably the primary connection technique is chosen when more than one way is available.

When they conducted a similar survey but with a different company in October of last year, 93.7% of respondents said they were on broadband; this time it dropped to 90.6%, but the report suggests that this might be due to changing survey companies. Perhaps there is a difference in the sampling method? Note that ISDN does not count as broadband in Japan.

Q2: Counting from when you first started using the internet, your current provider is the how many-th? (Sample size=323)

First provider	36.8%
Second provider	32.2%
Third provider	19.2%
Fourth provider	8.0%
Fifth or more provider	3.7%

Q3: Are you dissatisfied with your current ISP? (Sample size=323)

Yes	15.2%
No	48.6%
Can’t say either way	36.2%

Note that of course people changed provider because they were dissatisfied, but in addition a not insignificant number (although we are not told what this number is!) had change forced upon them due to moving house or changing jobs. My last two changes were due to first getting an offer I couldn’t refuse from work, then moving out of ADSL