There has been speculation that the popularity of mobile broadband could lead to customers ditching their home broadband lines completely, in favour of a mobile wireless broadband connection instead. However, we think that there is a long way to go before mobile broadband becomes the first choice for connecting to the web and here’s why:
Reliability: The networks are still not very reliable
Backhaul: The network backhaul is not good enough. Operators have been too cautious to upgrade their backhaul as it costs good money.
Suitability: Mobile Web will never be stable enough for large and medium business and it does not cater for heavy data use.
Mobile Broadband does however, offer great freedom as you can get online with average advertised speeds of up to 3.2Mb no matter where you are. It is also very easy to use, with devices that you can simply “plug and play” and finally with pricing now on a par with some fixed line deals, it is certainly cost effective.
However, one thing to watch out for is the download limits. If you exceed your limits which are usually much lower than fixed line services, you will have to pay for the excess.
We may still have a while to go in becoming entirely mobile but the shift in trends is as significant as the one we saw in the mid nineties, when consumers began to choose mobile phones over land lines. So watch this space.
