Acision, which claims to be a world leader in mobile data solutions, has published the results of its latest YouGov based consumer study into UK mobile operator quality. The results found that 77% of users encountered some form of quality of experience issue while using Mobile Broadband (down from 84% in 2010), 54% had suffered slow speeds (down from 67% in 2010) and 42% experienced connection problems (down from 45% in 2010).

Perhaps one problem could be that some mobile operators continue to claim top service speeds based on the theoretical capability of connectivity hardware and or their current network technology. This is highly misleading, often more so than fixed line broadband ISP promotions.

Ofcom found earlier this year that the average mobile download speed was just 1.5Mbps (Megabits per second) - rising to 2.1Mbps in areas of "good 3G coverage". Well below the 21Mbps+ capability of existing HSPA / HSPA+ networks and kit claimed by some.


The research also revealed that only 11% of consumers "disagree" or "strongly disagree" with mobile operators stepping in to optimise video traffic (Traffic Management) during periods of congestion. However it's hard to answer that sort of question accurately until you know exactly what kind of "optimisation" would be involved.

Likewise 21% of respondents are even willing to pay to prevent the video stream from stalling (i.e. buffering) and to improve the overall quality. A number of operators, such as O2 UK, are known to be exploring the possibility of using future superfast 4G (LTE) Mobile Broadband services as a platform for offering boosted speeds to particular services (more problems for the Net Neutrality gang).

Finally 70% of those questioned stated that they would like to be notified in real-time about network congestion, while another 71% wanted to be notified about large download sizes that could impact their data usage (the saying, "there's an app for that", comes to mind). Mobile Broadband remains an incredibly useful service but for most people it's still just a compliment to their fixed line connection and not a replacement.