A survey on smartphone user attitudes to WiFi seems to show users’ readiness to use the option is high and growing. The question is: how should operators respond? By Ian Scales.
According to Kineto Wireless, which has conducted online surveys in both the US and UK into WiFi use on smartphones, around half the respondents claimed to use WiFi on their phones every day (slightly fewer in the US at 45 per cent).
YouGov claims this was a fully representative sample, so we’re not getting the views of a self-selecting geekage, so given the fiddliness of actually using WiFi when out and about the 45-50 per cent daily use figure is slightly surprising and starts to paint a picture of possible pent-up demand and an opportunity or two.
In the UK Kineto’s survey was conducted with 2,200 participants on YouGov. Those who used WiFi on their smartphones were asked why: 40 per cent cited the faster speeds available (faster than 2 and 3G) and 50 per cent said ease-of-use was a factor.
The respondents got really excited when asked if operators should pull finger and offer WiFi for improved indoor coverage (74 per cent) and a discount for calls made over WiFi (80 per cent), although asking customers whether they are in favour of discounts is a bit of a ‘doh!’ question.
So WiFi is there, users will use it, operators have a looming smartphone capacity problem.
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