You know you’ve reached a tipping point when even the cable
company starts looking past set top boxes.
For the first time, cable
giant Comcast reported it had more high speed Internet customers than cable TV
subscribers, according to an Engadget report. The same article noted that
Comcast launched its “Stream” online video service just in time to capitalize
on the trend.
That’s notable, of course, as more and more Americans become
“cord cutters,” and choose to watch streaming video over an Internet connection
rather than subscribe to cable.
But for apartment owners, it also highlights an elephant
sitting in the middle of multifamily’s living room. Namely, while
residents have been saying for years that a reliable, high-speed Internet connection
is the most crucial amenity for any apartment, the industry as a whole still doesn't seem to have heard that message.
That’s the gist of Broadband Communities’ latest MDU Survey, which found that less than 39% of
apartment owners were familiar with the term “fiber to the home.” Of course, that's the phrase pros use to designate high quality, high-speed Internet delivered to residential addresses, such as apartments, over fiber-optic lines.
The magazine concluded,
“In general… perceptions of MDU owners and managers toward broadband-related
issues, and particularly ultra-broadband issues, continue to lag the
perceptions and needs of their own residents.”
For years, multifamily owners have loved to complain about
cable providers being inflexible and hard to work with, as well as deaf to their
residents’ concerns about customer service, which often ended up at the
apartment manager’s door.
But with the combination of these two pieces of news, it’s
time for multifamily to start listening to what cable is saying, loud and clear: high quality, high-speed Internet actually is kind of important, after all.
