47% of US consumers feel they don't need 4G LTE

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Though Apple's next iPhone is widely expected to have high-speed 4G long-term evolution connectivity, a new survey has found that nearly half of American consumers feel they don't need 4G LTE.

The details come from a survey of 3,000 individuals polled by investment firm Piper Jaffray. The results of the poll were revealed in a research note published Wednesday by analyst Christopher M. Larsen and shared with AppleInsider.

The survey found that 47 percent of consumers feel they don't need 4G LTE, and another 26 percent indicated they feel all 4G network technologies are the same. Just 15 percent of those polled said that 4G LTE is the best network technology.

Apple released its first 4G LTE device earlier this year with the debut of the third-generation iPad. That's helped to fuel expectations that Apple's next iPhone, frequently referred to as the "iPhone 5," will also feature 4G LTE connectivity, exceeding the 3G network technology found on previous iPhone models.

Piper Jaffray's survey also found that consumers are ambivalent about which U.S. carrier has the best 4G LTE network. Among those polled, 51 percent indicated they don't know who has the best 4G network, or that all 4G networks are the same.

LTE


Among consumers who do have an opinion on 4G LTE networks, Verizon was the clear winner. But Larsen said the general lack of opinion among consumers is good news for AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.

The poll also asked consumers about Apple's next iPhone, and found that 55 percent of those surveyed said they are considering purchasing it. Among those who may buy an iPhone, 44 percent said they will choose Verizon, 29 percent said AT&T, 14 percent were with Sprint, and 13 percent would opt for T-Mobile, which isn't currently one of Apple's U.S. carrier partners.

"With these results in hand, we expect Verizon to continue to gain market share of high-value smartphone (subscribers)," Larsen wrote. "Keep in mind, the iPhone carries a high subsidy, and therefore high initial sales have a short term negative impact on margins."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 87


    Broadly, consumers don't understand technology or what they think they 'need' until they use it first. I think this is a poorly worded poll, but I'm sure people would and have said the same about broadband internet, HD TVs and mulitcore computers. 

  • Reply 2 of 87
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    <vc><strong>Though Apple's next iPhone is widely expected to have high-speed 4G long-term evolution connectivity, a new survey has found that nearly half of American consumers feel they don't need 4G LTE.</strong>

    What an idiotic survey.

    Of course most people don't NEED 4G LTE. It's nice, but I can't think of very many situations where it is a necessity.

    In addition, the survey is ridiculous. When creating a survey, you want the options to be similar on content and mutually exclusive. Here, people are asked "which is better" and then given an option of "I don't need 4G LTE" which doesn't even answer the question - and most people could give two different responses.

    I really wish that people who are in the business of giving surveys would learn how to construct them.
  • Reply 3 of 87
    jblongzjblongz Posts: 165member


    I find 4G substantially more productive here in NYC.  On my commute to work, I like to check my mails, web servers, google analytics and such.  3G was very slow and spotty. When I bought the 3rd generation iPad, the performance was 10x.  Pages load like wifi. In this city, waiting longer is getting less done.  Simple as that.

  • Reply 4 of 87
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member


    This is why the techie/nerd/geek crowd lives in a bubble. The majority of users aren't on their mobile devices 24/7 streaming movies and sucking up bandwidth.  The majority of users are texting, reading email, and occasionally visiting a web site to check the price of bananas that day. They don't need 4G or unlimited data plans. Only the wankers who visit forums like this one get enraged that they can't use 25GB of data every day and not pay extra for it, or that the latency on their smart phone is keeping them from winning some online game. Meanwhile the "spectrum apocalypse" is on its way. Oh God! how will we survive?

  • Reply 5 of 87


    If I were the phone companies, I would be more concerned that over 70% either don't think they need it or don't really care (aka, "they are all the same"). I would put myself in the "I don't NEED it group." Sure, it would be nice, but I'm really not willing to pay anything extra for the additional speed.

  • Reply 6 of 87
    I don't need LTE. I don't stream anything. I don't need to get my email 2 seconds faster nor do I need a webpage to load a few seconds faster.
  • Reply 7 of 87


    Has the time come already, that consumers have enough certain specs in their devices and aren't tempted to pay for more?


     


    It happened to CPUs, ink jet printers and digital cameras. Perhaps mobile connection speed reaches that point.

  • Reply 8 of 87
    isheldonisheldon Posts: 570member
    I wonder how many surveyed already had iPhone anti- AT&T bias to begin with?
  • Reply 9 of 87
    reefoidreefoid Posts: 158member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ghostface147 View Post



    I don't need LTE. I don't stream anything. I don't need to get my email 2 seconds faster nor do I need a webpage to load a few seconds faster.


     


    Same here.  I'm a techie but use hardly any 3G bandwidth, <100MB per month, so LTE is not much use to me.

  • Reply 10 of 87
    hentaiboyhentaiboy Posts: 1,252member
    And this won't work on Australia's 4G network either I'm guessing...
  • Reply 11 of 87
    845032845032 Posts: 76member


    Oh, I got it.


    So, next iphone is not LTE

  • Reply 12 of 87
    djrumpydjrumpy Posts: 1,116member
    Why is this news? If they don't want it, turn it off?

    For those that have experienced it, it's not and day for a mobile device browsing experience. I suspect many in this poll haven't used LTE or have no understanding of what it is compared to what they have now, or if most consumers are even aware of what they have now. Most tech heads will understand the benefits. Most 'users' will not notice or just don't care.
  • Reply 13 of 87
    shompashompa Posts: 343member


    I am amazed that 47% of people are sane. Having 100 Mbit (100Mbit is 4G. LTE is not 4G. LTE advance is 4G)  in you phone is nothing you need. Not as long as most countries have crazy data plans. Why would you download a blu ray to your phone? 


     


    Best case scenario is that LTE makes bandwidth cheaper for the cell operators. The same day you can have an unlimited plan for a normal price, many can pull the plug to their XDSL lines and cable modems. Many telephone companies are upgrading their base stations with fibre between them or WiFi to offload data. In the long run telephone companies needs to understand that they are nothing more then bandwidth providers. 


     


    I hope US follows Europe and stop subsidizing phones and instead offer cheaper call/data plans. In my country I can get 10 gig/month data plan for under 10 dollar/month. Real unlimited data is 100 dollars/month. US call/data prices are insane. For example AT&T that have tons of drop calls since they only have 1/3 of the recommended cell density. They have insane profits and they are just a dump data pipe. 

  • Reply 14 of 87

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DJRumpy View Post



    Why is this news? If they don't want it, turn it off? For those that have experienced it, it's not and day for a mobile device browsing experience. I suspect many in this poll haven't used LTE or have no understanding of what it is compared to what they have now, or if most consumers are even aware of what they have now. Most tech heads will understand the benefits. Most 'users' will not notice or just don't care.


    There are not enough tech heads to make LTE worthwile at the moment. Perhaps like 3D TV; techies snapped them up but failed to lure Joe and Jane The Plumber to buy enough of them to make profit.


     


    Has Sharp been in a tough spot from losing the 3D bet?

  • Reply 15 of 87
    845032845032 Posts: 76member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by shompa View Post



    In my country I can get 10 gig/month data plan for under 10 dollar/month.


     


    Really? Which country do you live in ?

  • Reply 16 of 87

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by 845032 View Post


    Oh, I got it.


    So, next iphone is not LTE



    5S would be the earliest I think.

  • Reply 17 of 87
    shompashompa Posts: 343member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by hentaiboy View Post



    And this won't work on Australia's 4G network either I'm guessing...


     


    The rumour is that the new Qualcomm chip is a world chip. 


     


    I still feel cheated by Apple. Bought the 4G iPad only to find out that LTE does not work in my country. 


     


    Best case scenario is that Apple bumps iPads 14 september. If they are going to bump the spec for the mini connector, Apple can with pretty small effort change the baseband chip for world use.


    If Apple also started to use 32nm SoC they could make iPad3+ the ultimate tablet. 

  • Reply 18 of 87

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by 845032 View Post


     


    Really? Which country do you live in ?



    South Korea? Taiwan? Singapore?

  • Reply 19 of 87
    kmareikmarei Posts: 178member


    Another issue is cost


    im sure at least to some of the people in the poll


    they know that once 4G is rolled put nationwide


    it means higher bills


     


    Sure 4G has a lot more potential than 3G networks


    but at least with At&t, 


    in most places I go to, I don't get full 3G speeds


     


    So this is like buying a car with a 100mph top speed to replace your old car with 60mph top speed


    even though you never drive faster than 30mph

  • Reply 20 of 87
    shompashompa Posts: 343member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by 845032 View Post


     


    Really? Which country do you live in ?





    Sweden. I pay actually less then 10 dollars and we have 25% sales tax here! 


    When you have used your 10 gig, you can still use the data plan without extra cost. They just throttle down to 384Kbit. And 384Kbit is the exact original spec of 3G. 




    Fun how 3G have gone from 384Kbit to over 40Mbit today in just 12 years. We will see the same with LTE. I love technology :)

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