UK - New research suggests that "added extras" are the way forward in enticing customers to sign up mobile broadband contracts.
Research undertaken by UK consumer website Broadband Genie suggests that 31% of consumers care more about free contract extras, such as laptops or dongles, than they do about connection speed or price.
This model of business marketing is inherited from traditional mobile airtime contracts, where companies turned to free hardware giveaways, such as handsets, memory cards and even games consoles to encourage customer sign-up. Consumer expectation of these free add-ons means that companies have no choice but to continue the trend. This news is likely to frustrate network providers, who struggle to compete in a saturated marketplace.
A desire for fast speeds came second, with only 20% of customers claiming it a priority. This may have something to do with low expectation of mobile broadband capabilities. As Chris Marling of Broadband Genie says, "[speed] is the one thing the mobile internet suppliers can't provide. As fast as they improve their networks and add base stations, more customers are signing up to mobile broadband or smartphone deals and using up all the bandwidth. 4G can't come soon enough."