Forty-five percent of European households would upgrade their...
Forty-five percent of European households would upgrade their Internet subscription or switch to a new ISP to get higher broadband speeds, the European Commission said Monday. Competition has made affordable prices available, but more attention is needed to ensure that…
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demands for higher speeds are met, it said. The Eurobarometer survey also found that 54 percent of homes limit their national and international mobile calls because of cost concerns, the EC said. This isn’t acceptable in the smartphone era, where high quality mobile services are an essential part of daily life, said Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes. However, the survey also found a sharp drop in the number of people worried about the cost of calls to networks other than their own domestic providers, a “clear sign” that EC efforts to cut mobile termination rates are working for consumers. The survey also found, among other things, that: (1) Around 40 percent of European users have found it difficult to access online content and apps because of insufficient speed or download capacity. (2) Sound quality is a concern, with only 38 percent of respondents saying sound is very good on their mobile phones, compared with 49 percent for landline phones and 25 percent for Internet calls. (3) Video blocks are the most annoying net neutrality/copyright issue. (4) Forty-four percent of households have at least one mobile Internet subscription, up from 30 percent in 2012. The e-communications household survey, completed in March, interviewed nearly 28,000 respondents face-to-face at home across Europe, the EC said.