For 43 percent of respondents to a U.K. survey, data allowances now have become more important than the number of minutes in a mobile service plan. For those respondents, the top priority for users, when choosing a service plan, is the amount of the data allowance (presumably assuming pricing is roughly comparable).
Still, for 41 percent of respondents, the size of the voice bucket still is the top criteria.
The importance of the data allowance arguably is a function of the importance of web-based apps and Internet communications apps such as email. Some 73 percent of survey respondents reported that web access was essential.
Likewise, 71 percent indicated email access also was essential. As other surveys have shown, people are using voice less as they shift to Internet-supported messaging, text communication modes or simply spend more time engaging with web or native apps.
Some 26 percent of respondents consume less than 30 minutes of voice a month. Some
23 percent, however, spend more than five hours each month browsing the web on their
phones.
About nine percent of respondents say they make or receive five hours worth of calls a month.
Some 32 percent of respondents have allowances of less than 300 minutes per month
and just 11 percent buy service that includes unlimited minutes.
Some 25 percent of respondents estimate they use less than a fifth of their minutes each
month, while eight percent use more than 80 percent of their voice allowances.
About 29 percent of users report they consume their minutes allowance primarily for quick chats with friends and family of under five minutes each, while 12 percent say they only use the call function of their phone in emergencies.
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Fully 75 percent of respondents report using text messaging and 41 percent say they use mobile email. About 13 percent use Apple’s FaceTime video messaging to communicate with family and friends.
Some 16 percent use Skype.
The research was carried out online via online with the uSwitch consumer opinion panel of 1,649 respondents in July 2013.
When respondents were asked “which of the following phone functions do you think you could live without?”, 5.2 percent said “calling function,” 7.8 percent said “texting function,” 26.8 percent said “web browsing” and 29.1 percent said “email.”
Some 33.5 percent said “apps” were indispensable. Some 20.7 percent said “camera,” 19.8 percent indicated the “clock/alarm” and 54.1 percent reported “music/radio.”
About 24.5 percent reported they needed all those functions.
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