Does Your 3G Broadband Ever Go On The Road?

I’m a constant user of 3G broadband, largely because I travel a lot and I want to ensure that I’ve always got an Internet connection I can access wherever I happen to end up. That’s a logical reason to use a mobile broadband connection, but it turns out that it might not be such a common one.

Picture by fabi_k

At a media event to discuss its current LTE trials yesterday, Optus disclosed an unusual bit of information about its 3G broadband customers: most of them use the service at home rather than elsewhere. More precisely, as Optus’ Henry Calvert explained:

What’s quite interesting is 84% of Optus customers we see to be using mobile broadband at home. It’s quite low mobility. There’s a bit of fixed line substitution going on.

If you’re in a share house, or an area where there’s no ADSL, that’s obviously a potential strategy for Internet needs, and even road warriors might use their dongle if there’s a problem with the home ADSL connection. But with such a high percentage, maybe there’s something else going on.

So I’m wondering: have you got a 3G broadband service largely for home use? Tell us — and tell us why — in the comments.

If you’re considering 3G broadband, be sure to check out our Planhacker guides to prepaid and postpaid options.


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