Coverage Matters Less, Lower Costs Matter More

The end of 2006 seems like a long time ago, and it is fairly obvious that the typical cell phone consumer has had a dramatic shift in expectations and tastes regarding their mobile experiences. This is reflected in the most recent “comScore Wireless Report,” which reported its findings based on the responses of more than 2,000 U.S. wireless cell phone users.

The study was conducted from February 29 to March 5, 2008, and compares those results to those found from a similar study conducted from October 25 to November 1, 2006.

Back in 2006, comScore found that “better coverage” was far and away the most important reason for switching to the consumers’ current cellular carrier, garnering a 27% share of all responses. This was almost twice the 14% share that “lower prices” received.

In the 2008 study, comScore found that while “better coverage” was still the most important factor (22%), “lower prices” gained significant ground (19%). “Family/friends subscribe to carrier” was a relatively close third with 17% of respondents indicating that that was the most important reason for switching to their current carrier. “Plan features” also saw a bump up in importance, from 9% in 2006 to 12% in 2008.

“Better minute level plan” saw its importance drop from 9% to 7%, while “other reason” dropped from 16% to 11%.

Still, not all cell phone users are satisfied with their current carrier. Between five to 15% of respondents indicated that they planned on switching carriers within the next six months.

Mobile Internet usage is also up significantly from 2006. Of current mobile Internet subscribers surveyed, 18% said they accessed the mobile Web more than once a day in 2006, with 17% saying they accessed it once a day. These figures jumped to 36% and 20% in 2008, respectively.

The vast majority of mobile Internet users are satisfied with their mobile browsing experiences, with just 10% saying they are dissatisfied. As expected, connection speed was the biggest point of contention here.

Consumers who are not subscribed to mobile Web plans indicated that price was the biggest hurdle, which was different from the finding in 2006 when non-users said the main reason they did not subscribe to mobile plans was a lack of need for it.

As has been the trend, 33% of respondents indicated that they do not have a landline, compared to just 14% of respondents indicating so back in 2006.

Forty-four percent of respondents agreed that they felt “lost” without their cell phones, while 67% agreed that having their cell phone makes them feel “safe.”

Source:

http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2145