The word on the underground broadband grape vine is that the eagerly awaited o2 Broadband could be launched within a matter of days. We’ve noticed that there are the first signs of an online media campaign with paid search listings appearing in the Google search results offering customers the chance to pre-sign up – this in itself suggests that the launch of o2 Broadband is imminent. According to our sources, the delay in launching their own broadband product following o2’s acquisition of broadband provider BeThere broadband early in 2006 has been caused by several factors.

Firstly, o2 were keen not to go down the same route as rivals Orange whose own broadband product has been poorly received and plagued by problems with customer service. This is especially of concern to o2 given Be Broadband’s excellent reputation for customer service and it’s growing popularity through viral methods. Be Broadband offers customers up to 24 meg speeds and this, coupled with its great customer service and competitive price point, has seen its popularity rocket, particularly now that it is available in far more areas than it has been historically. O2 Broadband are now faced with the tricky decision as to whether to drop the Be Broadband brand or to run with two broadband products simultaneously which are effectively competing with each other! (more…)

With broadband penetration becoming increasingly widespread, broadband providers are focusing more and more on the ’switchers’ rather than brand new customers. A common problem that we hear time and again is that of MAC codes and the issues that they cause in terms of being able to switch broadband provider quickly and efficiently online. We would estimate that broadband suppliers are losing thousands of sales through online switchers not realising that a MAC code is needed or having their MAC code available at the point of purchase. This disrupts the sales cycle and can therefore introduce an opportunity to reconsider which broadband provider a customer chooses. Customers are notoriously fickle with little brand loyalty, meaning the very fact that they have to obtain a MAC code before proceeding can have a negative effect on their perception of the provider that they initially opted for. (more…)