A third of the 2,000 UK residents independently polled did not believe they would have access to 3G services during major events. While only 68% of respondents expected to be able to make and receive phone calls.
On the social networking side only a third of users polled expected to have access to Twitter and 42% of users believed they would have access to Facebook.
Users were particularly frustrated when losing traditional phone services during summer events, with 61% of respondents indicating that they found it extremely frustrating when they couldn’t receive phone calls and 55% when they couldn’t receive texts.
“Mobile operators are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up service demand, and this is resulting in service failures at the most frustrating moments. Operators need to make their networks smarter at managing traffic and ensure customers never miss out,” said Lars Pedersen, CEO at CommProve.
At the weekend, television coverage of the men’s cycling road race event was highly criticised after GPS data tracking each cyclist’s progress was delayed due to spectators overwhelming the mobile network. Mark Adams, IOC communications director, told spectators to lower their use of social media during events to avoid a repeat incident.
Hutchison’s 3 received the highest perceived reliability score of any UK mobile operator in the survey, with 53% of customers believing that 3’s mobile internet could be relied upon at a large event.
