In order to assess how Internet users evaluate fixed access in comparison to USB modem access, all respondents with Internet access were asked about their degree of agreement with the following questions:
a. USB modem mobile Internet is more expensive than fixed Internet;
b. USB modem mobile Internet is slower than fixed Internet;
c. USB modem mobile Internet is less reliable than fixed Internet.
The response options were "totally disagree", "disagree", "agree", and "totally agree".
According to results there seems to be a consensus regarding the statement that USB modem mobile Internet is more expensive and has a lower subscribed speed than fixed access Internet - more than half of the respondents said that the price of the USB modem is higher than the price of fixed Internet, and that the USB modem’s subscribed speed is slower than fixed Internet’s (see Figure 10).
Concerning the reliability of fixed access and USB modem access, 40.9% of respondents agreed with the statement "USB modem mobile Internet is less reliable than fixed Internet", a proportion that is 52.9% if the respondents who did not know how to or did not want to answer the question are ignored.
It should be noted that the proportion of respondents that do not agree with this statement is higher among respondents using USB modem exclusively and among those with both fixed access and mobile phone access to the Internet, regardless of whether the issue was the price, speed or reliability of USB modem Internet in comparison to mobile Internet.
Figure 10 - Comparison of opinions on fixed Internet and USB modem Internet
Estimate: (#) Non-reliable estimate; (*) Reliable estimate; (unmarked) Reliable estimate.
Source: ICP-ANACOM, based on the results of the Survey on the means of access to the Internet.
In ANACOM (2011c), the quality and the perceived value of mobile Internet (7.45 and 6.30, respectively, on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means "not at all satisfied" and 10 means "very satisfied") is lower than that found for fixed Internet (7.26 and 6.22, respectively, using the same scale).
