Broadband provider O2 has conducted a survey which shows that its customers are more concerned with getting high speed, consistent broadband and top-notch customer service than with potential job losses and even NHS waiting times.

Since the survey is conducted by O2 and presumably targeted fairly broadband-aware citizens, this result may seem less surprising. However, the 41 per cent of respondents that said they were daily impacted by a sluggish broadband connection was ahead of the other frequent frustrations by a margin that is impossible to ignore.

Only 14 per cent of people said that extended waiting periods before treatment by the NHS were a daily irritant, which is in stark contrast to the 36 per cent of people who said that unhelpful or rude customer service representatives would adversely affect them in daily life.

O2 conducted the survey of over 2000 people at the beginning of the month and it is publishing the findings in order to promote a new advertising campaign that identifies familiar obstacles and pitfalls that broadband users may encounter with their internet service providers (ISPs); pitfalls which O2 claims to avoid.

O2’s Felix Geyr said that the arrival of the new coalition government and the results of the survey show that ISPs will need to alter their current policies and address current inadequacies in order to win the support and respect of the public.

73 per cent of the respondents said that a quick fix for these issues in the first few months of the new government would be desirable. However, most experts agree that there are more pressing issues facing the coalition than getting cheap cable broadband out into every home and forcing ISPs to shape up their customer service departments.