本帖最后由 DEN-O 于 2012-12-19 08:22 编辑
http://www.economy-news.co.uk/micro-economic-news/1903-4g-mobile-broadand-too-expensive
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EE's 4G mobile broadband: Consumers see 4G as note being 'mature' enough and too expensive
Published on Tuesday, 30 October 2012 12:58
Written by Will Peters
<http://www.economy-news.co.uk/mi ... adand-too-expensive>
Today sees EE finally launch their 4G offering, a move that is set to move the UK "a little further up the global league of Broadband Countries; the real unknown now is whether the public will buy the service," says Andrew Ferguson the editor at Thinkbroadband.com.
A poll held by Thinkbroadband of visitors that ran for the seven days between the pricing announcement and the network going live provides an insight into what the public think about the news.
When asked whether the pricing of 4G from EE would put them off upgrading, a massive 70% of the 1,250 respondents said yes, with only 12% giving a clear no.
Another 12% want to play the wait and see game.
This suggests that the price sensitivity that has been heightened by people tightening their belts over the last couple of years is impacting on mobile contracts, and possibly faster mobile data speeds is seen as a luxury item rather than a must have.
"The market for attracting customers who do not already use data on their mobile phone seems small, as 84% have a data allowance as part of their pay as you go or monthly contract. This suggests that EE is really looking at enticing existing Orange and T-Mobile customers to upgrade, which will prove difficult when there is no unlimited data plan on 4G contracts," says Ferguson.
The level of complaints about the price of the EE 4G service does not appear to be because the majority are using masses of data; the Thinkbroadband poll reveals that 76% use less than 2GB of data per month.
Although 9% did claim to use 8GB or more per month and it is those heavy data users who would probably make most use of the extra speed that 4G offers.
EE has been brutally honest about the potential speeds on its 4G service, with speeds of up to 12 Mbps being discussed.
"However, when people are already able to use HSPA+ on the 3G networks which supports a theoretical 42 Mbps, there will be lots of people deciding to stay on the older services but buy a HSPA+ compatible handset, e.g. iPhone 5 and the new Nexus 4. Interestingly, Google has launched the Nexus 4 without LTE support, which suggests that across the world, 4G LTE is still not seen as a mature service," says Ferguson. |