Providers 'are often blamed' for mobile broadband slowness

Whether or not it is their fault, service providers are blamed by almost half of mobile broadband users for slowness or interruptions, a survey has found.

Empirix, which commissioned the research, does not provide smartphones or IP telephony services itself, but helps those who do to assess the quality of their systems.

It found that over three-fifths of UK smartphone users have encountered problems when using mobile broadband to run internet searches, as well as when using applications or even simply sending text messages.

This is higher than the figure for Germany, which stands at around 50 per cent, but lower than the US fail rate of over 75 per cent for browsing the web, watching videos, updating social network profiles and downloading data on mobile handsets.

Bob Hockman, director of product marketing at Empirix, says: "The proliferation of mobile devices has created unparalleled use of new services and applications on smart devices, frequently causing a strain on service provider networks."