Why Is US Mobile Internet Use So Low?

[barryegerber]

A study published by eMarketer.com shows that use of mobile Internet services in the US is very low compared to other countries. Come on US Internet users! Let's get to using these services or tell us why you don't.

Why Is US Mobile Internet Use So Low? : Read more

 

[smart_alec]

In San Diego, all the big providers offer mobile internet... for no less than $50/month, IN ADDITION to a voice account, which will cost a minimum of $30/month. Including taxes, and you'll end up paying close to $100 a month... for an impoverished internet experience compared to broadband at home, with a big screen (compared to a smartphone). With rates like that, it's no wonder that consumers aren't going for it.

 

[jcwbnimble]

There is no mystery as to why U.S. cell phone users limit their mobile internet use. The author hits the nail on the head; Crappy connection speeds and expensive usage fees make mobile internet use prohibitive. Anyone who keeps track of these things knows that the rest of the industrialized world (i.e. Europe and Asia) have far superior phones, cell networks, and customer service.

The less than lackluster sales of the Iphone are proof. It's truly an amazing tool, but people have not flocked to it because AT&T charges too much for a decent amount of data transfer and their data network is spotty at best. Why would I sign up for an expensive data plan when my regular cell phone coverage is not 100% reliable?

Mobile carriers here in the US have no incentive to offer good products or customer service while the weak FCC is watching them (or not). I truly believe that US carriers would be fined millions if they had to contend with the European regulatory agencies.

I don't know if this holds true for most other Americans, but I personally just want to use my cell phone as a phone. Another factor is that Americans spend more time in cars than the rest of the world. People in Europe and Asia take advantage of their far superior and expansive public transit systems. If I want directions I will use the GPS in my car. If I want to find a restaraunt near me, I use my GPS. Since people in Europe and Asia aren't in a car most of the time, they have to utilize their cell phone for these services.

As I have stated, there are many reasons why Americans don't utilize the mobile internet that much. I think the only "people" worried about this lack of usage are the mobile carriers themselves. They see this huge potential revenue stream and want to tap it. Americans are smart enough to see this and have basically thumbed their noses at the greedy corporate pigs that run AT&T, Verizon, etc.

 

[stsai]

Speaking personally, even if the networks were flawless (and we all know they are far from that), I'm not interested in paying $100/month, on top of my home broadband (which gets far more use than anything I would ever use w/ a phone). The $50/month for my basic cell phone service is more than enough money out of my pocket.

Side note; I might be alone on this, but I want a cell phone that's just a phone. I'm not interested in a built-in MP3, a camera, video, or whatever else the companies are trying to sell. My favorite phone way back when was the old Motorola flip-phone, mainly because in addition to being just a phone (and an easy to operate one), it was rugged as hell (dropped on concrete several times and not a scratch or failure to operate). Today's phones (currently use a base-model Nokia) feel fragile as hell and I doubt could take the punishment. I'm also not a fan of touch-screens (easily scratched, dirtied, etc), so even if the iPhone wasn't so overpriced (it is), I still wouldn't buy it.

 

[Guest]

uhmm.. ok well either if your arent or are interested in paying that $100/month you would have to anyways..depending on the phone and service plans that you get with it..And there are phones that pay less than $50/month rather thatn the full $50, some go for less so you don thave to pay more.

I think that you are on your own on that..just because people these days are in to phones that are in or hip or what ever you call it.
and yeah i guess your feeling the phones back then, but that was BACK THEN..this is now. and yeah you wouldnt buy the iPhone and you DONT have to..its what you want. Those scratches and operated phone calls can be avoided now a days too. all you need is a phone cover and thats it..a few scratches..oh well, at least you have a phone. jeeze!

Any phone in my opinion is great. what ever you feel like getting, GET it..

 

[Guest]

Sad to see that us Canadians have even lower stats than the Americans. Of course I think most of our text messaging is SMS.

 

[tomski5421]

dfd

 

[Guest]

In reponse to ?????? -- either you must be a 12 year old or you are just dumb. Read clearyly what the other comments are saying and how it's related to the article.

 

[Guest]

I'm using Rogers in Canada. I bought a 3.5G phone in Europe(E-Ten x800) and when I got back to Canada and I saw the little 3G icon lit on the phone I was happily deciding to test it. I went on google.com I search for the word "test" and then I loaded the first page. Everything was very fast, I was really impressed. Knowing that it might be expensive I've decided to check on that. After calling customer support I found out that I've downloaded 480kb at 5c/kb and I owe them 24 dollars. TWENTY FOUR DOLLARS for 2 internet pages!!! This is outrageous! Because was the first time me doing this they have a policy that allowed me to be reimbursed. Rogers sucks big time, I hope they will disappear in a terrible financial crash. So they have all the equipment but they just leave it rust because not even a fu..ing rich CEO won't navigate the internet at these rates.
I went in Romania and on a "prepaid" card I was able to navigate the internet at a rate of 0.5 Euro for 1Mb. This is only like 20 times cheaper, and it was a prepaid account. I think the cell phone companies in NA are not mature enough to release the hounds. It's a big congregate of idiots and a monopoly. I remember a story couple of years ago when small company in NY "dared" to offer at a very resonable price mobile internet. They went down in flames: actually Bell bought them in order to destroy the competition. And yes in Canada situation is even worst: there are 2 GSM providers but only one owner (Rogers) behind both of them. So it will take years until they will offer something resonable. I promise I wont use their 5cents / minute internet. I mean EVER.

 

[Guest]

Everyone else has summed it up nicely: mobile internet access in the United States is both a) painfully slow and b) painfully expensive. At home I pay $45 a month for a cable modem connection that gives me up to 15Mb down and 768Kb up. On my smartphone (which I use mostly to get email from work, plus occasional web surfing) I pay $49 a month (plus voice and SMS charges, etc) for something more akin to a 56k modem connection, or maybe a 128Kbps ISDN line if I'm lucky. Unfortunately most modern web sites are optimized for high-speed connections and so loading a page in my phone's browser can take 2-3 minutes sometimes.

The only things that I usually use my mobile data plan for are corporate email, Google Maps (which is a great mobile application), and to read the headlines while I'm in the can at work. For everything else it's just too slow. I'm not even sure how they can legally call it "broadband" because it's so damn slow. If it weren't for the corporate email I'd probably drop it altogether because it's just not worth it at the prices they charge.

The one feature that would make it much more useful would be if I could tether my phone to my laptop for Internet access where not other access was available. Unfortunately, that costs an extra $15 a month, even though you're just re-using the same internet connectivity that you already have through your phone. Besides, WiFi has become so prevalent lately that finding unsecured APs (or free WiFi) is almost trivial. In any area remote enough to not have WiFi available you probably couldn't get the mobile broadband either.

 

[Guest]

When I got my iPhone the charge for unlimited internet access was an additional $20 per month. Not sure what carriers people are talking about for the $50 per month (unless they're mixing up the cost to get cellular internet access for a notebook computer with that of a phone).

Even at $20 a month, I don't really use the internet side enough to justify it. Some of that is my fault (as I haven't invested the time to learn everything I can do with it). But it is a cool toy.

Michal

 

[Guest]

One of the problems is that the Japanese and European companies are heavily subsidized by their governments. In the US cellular companies don't receive the RUS, Rural Utilities Service, funding that the land line companies get. This results in less investment in infrastructure. Remember we are still a capitalist country for now while most of the EU is Socalist. Our phone companies have to make enough profit, the amount could be argued, or they go out of business. Also it is hard to compare the US to EU because of sheer size. A good example is the comparison of the Autobaghn and our interstate system. The Autobaghn is roughly 7,000 miles and the interstate system is 24,000 to 27,000 miles. Big difference in the amount of revenue required to build and operate wireless networks just to cover these well traveled systems.

 

[Guest]

What about tethering? Most carriers don't seem to want you to use your mobile for connecting your PC or they want you to pay through the nose for it.

Another thing to consider is what someone else alluded to. The wireless networks in the U.S. do not have that great of coverage. I live in a fairly large and high disposable-income area, yet I lose my signal at the local mall. What makes it even more amusing is my carrier has a sales kiosk in that very same mall! They have to use a land line for their data connection.

Otherwise, the article hits the nail on the head. High prices, slow speeds, spotty coverage, not tethering, bad service. Why ever would we use the product? Every day I consider throwing my cell in the trash can.

 

[Guest]

Americans are getting ripped on all cell phone retated charges, eg paying to recieve texts and calls. In NZ its fairly cheap but no where near as cheap as other countries.

 

[Guest]

That's all due to greedy little bean counters that run these companies....

 

[liemfukliang]

I think US luck enaugh than Indonesia. In Indonesia we only have GRPS for flatrate. There is HSPDA @100 KBPS / 800 kbps at 100 IDR / minute, which is very very var away from real HSDPA spped.

 

[Guest]

I am probably one of the few people in the US that do use mobile internet. I use it for everything. I read the news check my email. And I used to be able to connect my old phone to my laptop and use it and 3G service is not soo bad. But I lost that phone and got an iPhone and its a pretty crippled phone other then the browser. You can't send anything over its bluetooth you can't connect it to your computer and use its connection. and on top of that the Edge network is like going back to 56k. And at least back then pages were made for slow connections. Loading a page like myspace can take up to 2 minutes and that is if it decides to actually work. Sometimes you can't even get a connection to the data network. even though it says it is connected and you have full bars of service. But I still use it a lot none the less. I average 100-150MB a month is data for web browsing and email since thats all you can do with an iphone. I don't talk very much on my phone. I have the cheapest voice package at $45 plus 20 for 200 text and unlimited data So $65 a month. I mostly use the website Meebo for aim since everyone I know is always on that and that only counts as data. But really if you have a smart phone you are force to pay for PDA connect plans that run at $45 a month on top of your bill. $100 a month is insane. for crippled internet and email.

 

[Guest]

In the US cellular companies don't receive the RUS, Rural Utilities Service, funding that the land line companies get. This results in less investment in infrastructure.

Yes, due to corporate greed.

Remember we are still a capitalist country for now while most of the EU is Socalist. Our phone companies have to make enough profit, the amount could be argued, or they go out of business.

US telco's make record breaking profit every year.

Also it is hard to compare the US to EU because of sheer size. A good example is the comparison of the Autobaghn and our interstate system. The Autobaghn is roughly 7,000 miles and the interstate system is 24,000 to 27,000 miles. Big difference in the amount of revenue required to build and operate wireless networks just to cover these well traveled systems.

Again, US telco's make record profit every year. And to compare your US vs EU statement here, the EU has higher corporate taxes than the US, yet we still lag behind in tech adoption vs the EU.

 

[Guest]

I'd like to underline that, at least in Italy, there aren't so many wifi networks around (e.g. no Starbucks). So if we want to use the Internet while not at home/work, the mobile plus a circa 35$/month flat connection, is the only way to go.

 

[macwanabe]

Here in South Africa it's the exact opposite. Our DSL access is very expensive. $70 for 384kb and 3 GIG of bandwidth per month. Compare this to HSDPA 3G access speeds of 3.5MB/s to 7MBs/s and costs of 2.5c american per megabyte and it becomes obvious why we have more mobile internet users than dsl users. Note we have no subsidies on any of our networks. We even have faster and more advance cellular networks than many european countries.