The taxi industry has been behind for decades while the rest of the world continued to advance. Technology is taking over and putting out of date systems out of business by winning the consumer over. Taxis have always been subpar and never really had any improvement until this rise of their competition, Uber. Now, companies like Samsung and billionaires like Elon Musk and Richard Branson.
Samsung started their journey in late 2015 while Elon Musk and Richard Branson started their separate journeys in 2014. As satellite internet providers like Xplornet continue to receive terrible online reviews from users, rural users await other options that will hopefully spark from advancements made for third world countries.
Even in 2016, some rural residents only get a maximum of 1 Mbps which is up to 18x faster than dial up, what most people had in the 90s. Internet service providers are receiving reviews as bad as the airlines. EarthLink has a 0.6 rating out of 10 for example. Another company, Hughes Network Systems, averages a 1.1 star review out of 5. These are not the only companies that face bad reviews in the satellite internet industry, but rather most of the customers have terrible experiences. They leave a big opportunity on the table for competitors.
With more than half of the world’s population living in cities, and that number only growing, it’s easy for big corporations to leave out those in rural areas. Access to high speed internet remains a problem even in first world countries like Canada or the United States. The main option for rural residents is satellite internet and each of those companies are very well known for terrible service.
The satellite providers generally run a monopoly in most rural areas, so customers are stuck with whomever is available in their area. The customer service is generally poor and it takes several days to get anything resolved at all.
Similarly, taxis were very slow to move until Uber came into the market. Now they are fighting to survive. A similar story is bound to come to other industries where customer satisfaction is low, and satellite internet service providers is one of them. Any company with Samsung, Elon Musk and Richard Branson chasing them with better technology, should be worried.