Mobile Internet revolution…delayed?
Friday, 14. March 2008, 15:54:06
Digi writes that there is almost zero growth in the usage of Internet on mobile phones. A representative from NetCom, the TeliaSonera-owned second largest mobile phone carrier in Norway, is cited saying that the traffic on their flatrate subscriptions, “Connect”, tripled last year, while use on their regular subscriptions is more or less standing still.
Well, it isn’t very surprising, considering that they still charge 20 NOK (about 2.50€) to a megabyte for their regular subscription plans, the price has been at the same level for the last ten years, while rates for regular phone calls or text messages has dropped significantly. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the data charges are expensive, just downloading the front page of a normal on-line newspaper (not the mobile version) would cost 20-40 NOK, and watching a video clip on your mobile phone will probably ruin you. Add to that if you happen to do this while roaming abroad, where data rates often are ten times or more.
I am switching over from NetCom to OneCall this month. Their data rates are a quarter of NetCom’s, so I might actually use Opera on my mobile more than just to load the very-lightweight WAP version of the Oslo route planner, and while using a local hotspot somewhere. I also use Opera Mini every now and then when I want to read a site that where surfing with images off (as I do in the regular Opera Mobile) doesn’t work very well, but that costs a bit as well.
Well, it isn’t very surprising, considering that they still charge 20 NOK (about 2.50€) to a megabyte for their regular subscription plans, the price has been at the same level for the last ten years, while rates for regular phone calls or text messages has dropped significantly. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the data charges are expensive, just downloading the front page of a normal on-line newspaper (not the mobile version) would cost 20-40 NOK, and watching a video clip on your mobile phone will probably ruin you. Add to that if you happen to do this while roaming abroad, where data rates often are ten times or more.
I am switching over from NetCom to OneCall this month. Their data rates are a quarter of NetCom’s, so I might actually use Opera on my mobile more than just to load the very-lightweight WAP version of the Oslo route planner, and while using a local hotspot somewhere. I also use Opera Mini every now and then when I want to read a site that where surfing with images off (as I do in the regular Opera Mobile) doesn’t work very well, but that costs a bit as well.
WIDGETIZE
Emc Es7k # 14. March 2008, 19:39
I'm in Canada and regular data charges here are pretty much the same...WAY too expensive. On top of the same $5 CDN (about the same as the US dollar at the moment) the carries here also charge an additional air time connect fee of $0.25 per miniute. So needless to say your are correct, internet browsing on cell phones is way too expensive unless you can find a carrier with a decent flat rate plan.
In Canada that happens to be Bell Mobility at the moment. I have subscribe to a flat rate mobile browser plan plan for a number of years now. Orginally when I signed up it was $5 a month, but they have since increased the price to $7. That's still more the half what the other major carries are charging these day. So I don't have to worry, I can Opera Mobile all I want, including downloading all the pictures. I am currently using a HTC Touch phone (WM6 based) with a decent screen size. That is one of the other reasons I feel internet browsing on cell phones is slow to adoption, screen size is just too small on most phones. I previouly was using a Samsung A920 and even with Opera Mini the experience was just not acceptable. But now it's great, Opera Mobile on a large screen and unlimited internet access for $7 flat, I for one am a happy camper.
Emc
Jonny Axelsson # 15. March 2008, 18:28
Me, I pay about 250 NOK/month for unlimited UMTS here in the Czech Republic, which I'm fine with. I could get somewhat cheaper offers, but I don't want a subscription, and for my usage (I download several GB/month, which obviously wouldn't be possible with the NetCom scheme) that's the best I can get. My phone is my my primary connection to the Internet, meaning that I am connected everywhere, not just at home, at work, and places that happen to have open WiFi.
It is much lower bandwidth than fixed line links, but that isn't much of a problem for my use (for me GPRS was too slow, but UMTS is reasonable).
João Eiras # 16. March 2008, 01:41
Hallvord R. M. Steen # 1. April 2008, 20:32
Their service sucked anyway. Only good thing was the free GPRS.
Peter Krefting # 18. April 2008, 09:47
Too bad I didn’t notice that until after I signed up for OneCall, it seems that MTU’s pricing is more or less a copy of OneCall’s, with the free GPRS in their own network thrown in as a bonus.