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Mobile broadband overtakes wifi hotspots
Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk
The massive boom in mobile broadband services over the past year has seen the technology overtake “location specific” wifi hotspots, according to new research (25-09-08).
UK mobile phone companies, which provide mobile broadband services, have a 47 per cent share of users accessing the internet away from home or work, reported Point Topic. This compares to 42 per cent who prefer to use a wireless hotspot to get online.
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"Vodafone is top in dongle-user market share"
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And you don’t have to have your laptop with you to connect to the internet over a mobile network - many people can simply log on using their mobile phones. Of those who use mobile broadband, 26 per cent are with O2 (www.O2.co.uk), while Orange (www.Orange.co.uk) and Vodafone (www.Vodafone.co.uk) both have about a 20 per cent share of the market. T-Mobile (www.T-Mobile.co.uk) and 3 (www.Three.co.uk) follow with 14 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.
“But O2 isn’t the first choice of the new wave users who’ve got dongles or data cards to connect to the network,” explained Tim Johnson, chief analyst at Point Topic. “Vodafone is top in dongle-user market share with 24 per cent of respondents. O2 comes in at 23 per cent followed by Orange, T-Mobile and 3.”
Other research from mobile connectivity provider iPass, showed that European business use of wifi hotspots grew by 89 per cent year on year, with London leading the world in hotspot use.
“We see both Wi-Fi hotspots and 3G mobile broadband playing an important role in keeping the workforce productive, and iPass expects WiMax and other 4G technologies to continue this trend towards a ubiquitously connected multi-technology world,” said Joel Wachtler, iPass vice-president of marketing and strategy.
Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said: “Although mobile broadband has seen a huge amount of growth this year, low usage limits mean that it’s still not suitable for many people to use as a replacement for their home broadband connection.
“With most monthly download limits set only 3GB for mobile broadband packages - and high costs for those who exceed their limit - it makes sense for mobile broadband users to switch to wifi when possible as there are often no download limits applied and the connection will be more stable,” he concluded.
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