A survey by mobile broadband advice site Broadband Genie found that more than half of the visitors to their site did not know how much mobile broadband data they use each month. In many cases, the visitors could be paying hundreds of pounds for data they don’t use.
In a survey of more than 1,000 mobile broadband users, 53.5% answered ‘Don’t know’ to the question, ‘How many GBs of mobile broadband do you use per month?’ Around 11% use up to 1GB, 13% 1-5GB, 9% 5-10GB and 14% per cent 10GB or more.
| How many GBs of mobile broadband do you use per month? | |
| Up to 1GB | 10.9% |
| 1-5GB | 13.1% |
| 5-10GB | 8.6% |
| 10+GB | 13.9% |
| Don’t know | 53.5% |
Broadband Genie editor Chris Marling said: “Consumers misunderstanding data limits is unfortunately common. At this time of year, we often see horror stories of ‘bill shock’ caused by holidaymakers confused over how much data different mobile broadband tasks use. While these make the headlines, they are generally rare incidents – the occasional tourist downloading some TV episodes while abroad coming home to a bill of thousands of pounds.
“However, the flip side of the coin hides the real story – people using too little data, not too much: the same consumer confusion sees many customers paying too much for their mobile broadband data tariff. Instead of a few people facing bills in their thousands, we’re talking about thousands of customers who could probably halve their mobile internet bill and see no difference in their online usage.
“Many people wont think to check their bill unless it’s higher than normal – if it’s just the amount they expect, they don’t think to see how close they are to their limit. We strongly advise people to go back over their bills to see how much they could potentially save, either by reducing their tariff or even going to a pay-as-you-go deal.
So do you know how much you use a month? Let us know now in the comments below.
UPDATE : The original survey concentrated on consumers, but we think it’s just as relevant to business users, hence our spin on the story. But we asked Chris if he felt businesses were liable to be suffering from the same problems and here’s his answer. “If anything, it’s probably higher in employees, as why would most care? As for bosses, I expect most just check their figures when the contracts come up for renewal, and even then not too deeply.” Is that you? Do you check your users data usage, do you check your own? Let us know now in the comments below.
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