Traditional ISPs are having to fight harder than ever to retain their customers as more and more of us are switching to mobile broadband.
According to the recent YouGov Dongle Track Report the increasing popularity of mobile broadband could pose a serious threat to Internet Service Providers offering fixed-line connections. The survey found that one in eight mobile broadband subscribers have either abandoned their fixed line ISP or opted for a mobile internet service instead of a traditional ISP. A further 5% of those subscribing to both fixed-line and mobile broadband are planning on dropping their ISP service within the coming year. The mobile networks - Orange, Vodafone, O2, 3 and T-Mobile all offer a mobile broadband service.
According to YouGov “With increasing numbers of households dispensing with their landlines (13% according to Ofcom) accessing the Internet through the mobile phone network is a viable option especially for the young and mobile.”
However, traditional ISPs such as BT Broadband, AOL, Talk Talk and Tiscali, might find themselves confronting a wave of returnees unless mobile broadband providers step up their game. A quarter of those surveyed who currently use mobile broadband were thinking of cancelling their subscription because of high costs and slow connection speeds.
“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” said Marek Vaygelt, head of technology and telecommunications consulting at YouGov. “It is in these areas that fixed ISPs have a distinct advantage and need to concentrate their marketing effort to minimise customer loss.” 1050 mobile broadband users and 2050 non-users were interviewed as part of the survey.
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