Mobile network operators worry about the strain increased use of the mobile Internet is putting on their 3G networks. But having a strained network might be preferable to having no strain at all as the growing penetration of smartphones - and the control they give users - sees WiFi use rocket. Ian Scales reports.
The problem is that the user habit of reverting to WiFi at home or in the office (ie, most of the time) is one that operators will find hard to break when and if they ever have the capacity to provide a low-cost alternative.
According mobile Internet analytics firm, Bango, over 20 per cent of mobile phone visits to web sites to purchase content are now made, not via the mobile network, but via a WiFi connection and that number is growing fast.
And why not? The fastest growing mobile segment across all the developed markets is the smartphone, and one of the smartphone's several important Swiss army knife features is WiFi. Add to this raw capability touchy-feely applications designed to make it easy for users to revert to WiFi whenever a connection is available, and you have a recipe for its burgeoning use.
And rocketing use of anything is always a threat to someone else. In this case, as Bango points out, WiFi use makes it difficult for the mobile networks and the content providers to 'recognise' visitors and then plague them with special offers and spam. To which many users might chorus a hearty 'Good!'.
But privacy is probably not even amongst the top 3 reasons for why users tend to opt for WiFi whenever it's available. For many users when purchasing content (ie downloading fat music or even fatter video files) the WiFi option is an obvious 'must' since a few content purchases are capable of busting even the most 'generous' monthly download allowance.
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Why W-Fi?