By: Ann Hatchell

It’s a simple dynamic: smartphones are quickly taking their place as the central hub people use to manage their digital lives.  Their versatility, portability and sheer ability to seemingly do pretty much everything have made them indispensable to consumers and business users. Accordingly, 77% of consumers surveyed by Hot Telecom use more than 1 mobile device and over 40% of them use 3 or more mobile devices on a day-to-day basis.

But that’s just the first part of the equation.  The corollary is that people, precisely because they depend on their mobile devices so completely, demand a high-quality, consistent network experience everywhere, all the time, no questions asked.  And if they don’t get it from their service provider, many will move to another provider. When consumers were asked for reasons to switch to another provider, 38% of surveyed consumers cited data coverage and 35% said data download speeds were among the top 3 reasons.

In fact, mobile data consumers are more aware than they’ve ever been of  network quality of experience – what matters to them is data download speeds, coverage, access to WiFi to enhance voice and data experience, as well as the ability to create a truly personalized experience.  These were the key findings of a global research study commissioned by Amdocs, and conducted by Hot Telecom earlier this year, surveying consumers in North America, Europe, South America and Asia.  The survey probed 4,700 consumers on their perspectives around network quality of experience.

In a nutshell, mobile data users will actually pay more for improved network quality of experience, which can be a loyalty driver for service providers. Another headline:  46 percent of global consumers were willing to pay more for better data coverage and 42 percent for faster data download speeds.  Additionally, when asked how important some capabilities were in increasing consumer loyalty towards their provider, 55 percent cited data coverage and data download speeds.

Why is quality of network experience so important?   It’s about facilitating the digital lifestyle.  With consumers spending on average more than 4 hours per day on mobile devices, the quality of that network experience is becoming more important than ever. 

The North American Perspective

North American consumers represented 29 percent of the survey sample, were the furthest along the technology migration path with 52 percent of those surveyed on 4G networks, and were the biggest spenders, with 23 percent spending more than $100 per month on voice and data services vs. 16 percent globally.  

In North America, more than 80 percent of those surveyed used a smartphone, more than 70 percent used laptops, and about 50 percent used tablets.  The top used applications were voice, text, email, browsing and social media.   Consumers are increasingly “experience-aware” –knowledgeable about how they’re accessing the network, speed, quality of coverage, even the worst and best local spots for coverage.  In North America, mobile users are not encountering as many technical issues as users in other regions; when they did, however, it was mainly in rural areas.

North American consumers are among the most satisfied with their provider, but what they dislike the most are data plan prices -- followed by roaming costs, data download speeds and data coverage.  Similar to other markets, North America consumers are willing to pay more for improved quality of experience: 40 percent would pay more for better data coverage, 33 percent for faster data download speeds and 30 percent for data speed boosters (think of a button or app a user can press for HD video, for example).