Customer reviews featured on BroadbandNow are required to meet reasonable criteria to ensure that they are helpful to visitors.
While we would prefer to simply include every single review submitted, real-world results convinced us that moderation was required to avoid the “Amazon effect” of biased reviewers and trolls who work to manipulate results in unfiltered systems.
All reviews are given consideration, but only those that are helpful, relevant, and specific are approved by our editorial team and publicly displayed to BroadbandNow visitors.
CAN PROVIDERS ALTER REVIEWS?
Broadband service providers are not able to alter reviews of their service in any way. However, we do allow them to turn the reviews section “off” entirely if they choose to do so. Additionally, providers can reply to reviews if needed. We offer these options to avoid legal issues that do not further our mission to bring transparency to the broadband industry.
WHAT WOULD CAUSE US TO REMOVE A REVIEW?
- Unhelpful reviews: Reviews that don’t provide helpful information to readers are subject to removal.
- Libelous reviews: reviews that make unsupported attacks on specific companies or people are subject to removal.
- Legal issues: Any review that creates a situation where we could be sued for hosting it is subject to removal.
WHAT DOES A HELPFUL REVIEW LOOK LIKE?
Zero-star rants aren’t helpful. Neither are five-star “reviews” from corporate employees.
Customer reviews that help potential customers include pros, cons, and honest opinions. Here is an example of a review that we would consider helpful:
I moved to Orange from a city with multiple options, so I was disappointed to find that they were the best cable option here. The speed doesn’t hold a candle to the fiber service I had before, but it’s workable. My biggest issues have been packet loss while using Skype, speed that’s 20% less than what they advertise, and constant sales calls asking me to add TV. Netflix works fine regardless of time of day. My neighbor has them and tells me they have outages monthly, but I haven’t had that problem. I use my own modem and router, while they rent, so that could be why I haven’t experienced down time yet.
This review is negative, but it’s helpful because it explains why the reviewer chose the provider, how it compares to other services they’ve tried, and specific pros and cons about daily use.
Here are two examples of reviews that would be rejected:
ZERO STARS1!! THIS COMOPANY IS TERRIBLE!!!
This provider is the best service i have ever purchased. If it was legal, I would marry them. 🙂 🙂 🙂
While one is negative and the other is positive, both fail to provide information to support their rating. For this reason, they would both be rejected.
HOW ARE BROADBANDNOW PROVIDER RATINGS CALCULATED?
BroadbandNow provider ratings are calculated by polling random visitors with IP-verified prompts and aggregating ratings from customer reviews. We found this was the best way to get realistic ratings from actual customers.
On the one hand, this prevents paid reviewers from tampering with the system by leaving repetitive five-star reviews. On the other, it prevents incensed customers or competing providers from leaving similar repetitive one-star reviews for specific brands.
WHY DOES BROADBANDNOW MAINTAIN THIS SERVICE?
Our mission is to make US broadband data and service information freely, transparently available. For more information about our mission, see our Mission Statement. For information about how we make money, see our Advertiser Disclosure.