全速前进

2016年下半年，近60%的美国宽带家庭可能会升级。到2018年底，这一数字下降到48%。同样与服务提供者有关的是，不可能升级的家庭数目有所增加，在同一时期内，这一数字从不到四分之一增加到几乎三分之一。兴趣水平的下降可以归因于缺乏引人注目的用例，以及在100-999 Mbps范围内的服务可用性的增加。

如前所述，用户的意图因人口统计或用户群体的不同而不同。例如，家庭的升级意愿与OTT服务的数量之间存在很强的相关性。订阅一个OTT服务几乎使升级到1 Gbps的高可能性(6个或更多，按1到7的等级)增加一倍。

每增加一个OTT服务订阅，意图就会增加，47%拥有3个或更多OTT服务的用户很可能升级，而只有16%的用户表示不太可能这样做。

可以得出一个推论，消费者在OTT服务中“投资”越多，宽带挑战对用户体验的负面影响感知风险就越大。供应商可以利用这种情绪，与OTT供应商合作，捆绑补充服务。

在短期内，这些发现对千兆业务提出了挑战。在较长一段时间内，这种情况将会改善，因为消费者继续增加他们的高带宽活动(如虚拟现实游戏)和家庭变得越来越依赖于家里的连接。原文：In the second half of 2016, almost 60 percent of U.S. broadband households were likely to upgrade. By the end of 2018, that number declined to 48 percent. Equally concerning to service providers is the increase in the number of households unlikely to upgrade, which increased from less than one-quarter to almost one-third of households during the same time period. Decreasing interest levels can be attributed to a lack of compelling use cases and the growing availability of services in the 100-999 Mbps range.

As previously noted, intent varies by demographic or user groups. For example, a strong correlation exists between intention to upgrade and the number of OTT services a household engages. Subscription to one OTT service almost doubles the high likelihood (six or greater on a scale of one to seven) of upgrading to 1 Gbps.

Intent increases with each additional OTT service subscription, with 47 percent of subscribers with three or more OTT services very likely to upgrade, while only 16 percent said they were not likely to do so.

An inference can be drawn that the more a consumer has "invested" in OTT services the greater perceived risk of broadband challenges negatively impacting the user experience. Providers could capitalize on this sentiment by partnering with OTT providers to bundle complementary services.

In the short term, these findings present a challenge for gigabit services. Over a longer period, the situation will improve as consumers continue to increase their bandwidth-heavy activities (such as virtual reality-enabled gaming) and households become increasingly reliant on connectivity in the home.