Survey Reveals US Consumer Interest in More Wi-Fi Services from Mobile Operators
Smartphone owners interested in using Wi-Fi to improve coverage, receive discounted calling
Milpitas, Calif., July 27, 2010
Seventy eight percent of people in the US who own smartphones with Wi-Fi capabilities would be interested in an application that would use Wi-Fi to deliver ‘five bars’ of coverage at home or in the office, according to a MarketTools Zoomerang survey of 330 smartphone owners. The survey also showed 88 percent would be interested in a service from their mobile operator that would give discounted calling when the phone was connected to Wi-Fi.
Additional highlights from the online survey conducted April 2010, include:
- 43 percent of people who own smartphones with Wi-Fi capabilities use the Wi-Fi every day.
- 45 percent of those people use Wi-Fi because it provides easy access to the Internet, and 43 percent use it because it is faster than the cellular network.
- 24 percent say Wi-Fi on their smartphones is annoying because it only works in some locations, reflecting a desire to use Wi-Fi more broadly.
- 30 percent of respondents own a Research in Motion (RIM) smartphone; 27 percent own an Apple iPhone.
- 48 percent use AT&T as their mobile operator; 11 percent are T-Mobile customers.
“Consumers in the US are clearly interested in taking more advantage of the Wi-Fi on their smartphones in order to improve mobile service and save them money,” said Mark Powell, vice president and general manager of Kineto’s Client Business Unit. “Mobile operators have distinct market opportunities to reduce churn, improve service quality and keep customers satisfied by enhancing their use of Wi-Fi.”
To address subscriber demand and combat its data crunch, AT&T recently announced that it has launched a Wi-Fi hotzone in New York City’s Times Square offering free access to its smartphone customers. The goal of this pilot deployment is to explore the use of Wi-Fi in areas with high volumes of 3G traffic and mobile data usage. In the first quarter of 2010, AT&T reported that 69 percent of the company’s Wi-Fi connections were made from smartphones and integrated devices, up from 35 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
The survey was commissioned by Kineto Wireless Inc., the key innovator and leading supplier of solutions that enable delivery of mobile services over broadband. Kineto also commissioned a Q2 2010 survey of smartphone owners in the United States. A more comprehensive look at the UK and US survey results, along with the press releases, can be viewed at Kineto.com.
About MarketTools Zoomerang
Zoomerang, a product of MarketTools, Inc., is the world’s #1 source for online surveys, helping thousands of organizations, including over 70 of the Fortune 100, in over 100 countries. Zoomerang’s survey software provides a powerful alternative for organizations that need to conduct fast, accurate, comprehensive surveys with minimal cost and effort. For more information, visit http://www.zoomerang.com.
About Kineto Wireless
Kineto Wireless is the key innovator and leading supplier of standards-based solutions that enable mobile operators to embrace the cost and performance advantages of fixed and mobile broadband access networks. The company provides software and services to major wireless infrastructure and handset vendors so they can deliver Smart Offload solutions based on Wi-Fi and femtocell technologies, as well as Voice over LTE. Kineto customers and partners include Airvana, AudioCodes, Cisco, GENBAND, HTC, Juniper Networks, LG Electronics, Motorola, NEC, Qualcomm, RIM, Samsung and Ubiquisys. For more information about Kineto, please visit http://www.kineto.com.
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