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Mobile broadband threatens landline internet

Mobile broadband threatens landline internet

Tuesday, 19 August 2008

By Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk

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One in eight mobile broadband users have replaced their fixed-line connection with a dongle, or chosen mobile broadband from the start, according to new research.

YouGov’s latest research also showed that five per cent of people currently using both mobile broadband and home broadband intended to ditch their landline within the next year.

"Customers find mobile broadband easy to use and install"

However, all is not rosy in the world of dongles and USB modem sticks, with a quarter of existing subscribers considering cancelling their contracts due to slow speeds and high costs.

Marek Vaygelt, YouGov head of technology and telecommunications consulting, said: “Customers find mobile broadband easy to use and install but transmission speeds and to a lesser extent network coverage reduce the initial enjoyment of getting up and running.”

Providers should to concentrate on improving customer satisfaction rather than offering more freebies - such as free laptops - in exchange for longer, more expensive contracts, stressed YouGov.

“Operators need to consolidate by improving their networks and tackling the fear and uncertainty that some potential new customers have about price,” concluded Vaygelt.

Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said: “Although mobile broadband packages have seen a huge boom in popularity this year, with more than 500,000 dongles sold between February and June, fixed-line connections still have a lot to offer.

“Because of the very low download allowances on offer - only 3GB a month with most packages - many people would be hard pushed to replace their existing home broadband packages - which often have fair usage limits of around 40GB - with the far smaller offerings from mobile broadband providers.

“It will be some time yet before mobile broadband can truly contend with the home broadband behemoths,” concluded Phillips.

Related article - Mobile broadband.


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