Posted: 01st Feb, 2010 By: MarkJ

The results from 412 respondents to our latest monthly survey reveal that over half of people in the UK have an interest in Mobile Broadband but many (25%) want service speeds to be improved. Bigger usage allowances also came a close second with 23%, followed by Service Reliability (22%) and Lower Prices (18%).
It's quite understandable that consumers expect Mobile Broadband to be fast, much as they would with any Internet access service that has "
broadband" in the title, but most often buy such products only to be disappointed by the performance.
In reality data capacity costs money and Mobile Broadband revenues cannot keep up, thus real-world download speeds are often found to be considerably lower (1-2Mbps) than the theoretical maximum of 14.4Mbps promised by existing technology (HSPA); most operators advertise between 3.6Mbps and 7.2Mbps.
Is mobile broadband interesting to you?
Yes - 54.3%
No - 45.6%
What does mobile broadband need to see improved the most?
Faster Speed - 25.4%
Bigger Usage Allowances - 23%
Service Reliability - 22%
Lower Price - 17.9%
Other / Don't know - 11.4%
It's important to remember that Mobile Broadband is by no means a proper replacement for traditional fixed lines. Mobile networks are costly beasts and lack an equal level of service; though admittedly both suffer from similar issues of coverage and performance, albeit not to the same degree.
This month's new survey asks "
Do you support the 50p next gen broadband tax on all fixed phone lines?", which is designed to help fund the rollout of future and faster services to rural areas:
VOTE HERE.