Almost 50% of U.S. Consumers Don't Think They Need 4G LTE According to Survey

[dgstorm]

Investment firm Piper Jaffray recently performed a survey that had some intriguing results. Their survey basically asked 3000 respondents several questions related to 4G LTE. The results of this study suggest that most folks either don't care about or don't understand 4G LTE. Almost 50% of those surveyed indicated that they had no need for 4G LTE, over 25% didn't think there was any difference between the competing forms of 4G service, and just 15% believed that LTE was the best form of 4G service.

This basically relegates this service to a "geek/power-user" niche in the eyes of the masses, and that is probably why adoption isn't quite as fast as many carriers have hoped. It also appears that we aren't educating our friends and family members on the facts and merits of 4G LTE. We need to step it up!

Source: PhoneArena

 

[armeddroid]

The 50% who dont need it are probably Iphone users.
They think that the Iphone 4(s) means 4G.
I have come across so many iphone users that think that is what it means.
smh.
Apple leads the herds into ignorance, thanks to The Book of Jobs, so it is good.

 

[welsalex]

Man, we really need to spread the word more. Results like this will basically tell carriers they can spend less on improving since the masses are still clueless.

 

[liftedplane]

people just don't know what 4g is so they don't think they need it... there must be more education, people need to know the differences and that this could easily take over wired internet connections in the near future. hell the whole world could be connected in real time eventually.

 

[Raw Dodge]

Honestly I'm on 3g more than 4G even when it's strong. I can do everything I want with half the battery consumption.. Until 4G radios draw less battery I agree with 4G isn't needed, especially if 3g is not overloaded its plenty fast. If I'm plugged into a charger I need to do a lot of heavy browsing I will switch to 4 G. With today's limited data plans what good 4 G anyway you can burn thru your data cap so fast your head will spin... I still have my unlimited data plan and still spend most of my time on 3 G. I'm sending this from 3 G now

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[StupidGenius]

First off, 3000 is an extremely small sampling to base any reliable data on. Large margin of error there.

Secondly, Piper Jaffray is a notoriously Apple-biased research firm. Most of their analyses swing in their favor. They constantly report on Apple supply chain and product rumor. So who were these 3000 participants and what percentage of them owned a NON-iPhone?

That said, it's also a loaded question.
Do I need 4G (LTE)? No.
I also don't need the 320hp engine in my car, but it's nice to have that extra little kick. :biggrin:

 

[zinethar]

4g to me is like auto air conditioners. No one 'needs' it until they have had it. Then it becomes a must!. No iPhones have it yet so they don't 'need' it yet (and i agree most think what Apple wants them to think). I also agree with Raw Dodge that it seems to burn through battery much faster still. Many people also think its data rates are much more expensive. I would have been much more impressed if they asked 3000 smart phone users and got that data.

 

[tcrews]

I have to agree here.
A close friend of mine just argued with me for over and hour last week because his iphone is 4G he says. He says AT&T assure him it is as all his iphone buddies have the same thing.
I tried to explain to him its not and even sent him links to web pages showing the misleading AT&T was doing to its iphone customers and just what 4G meant and he would hear none of it.
He has a 4G phone that is the greatest as far as he is concerned no matter proof shows there is not even any kind of 4G radio in his phone.
Ah well sheeple just wont learn.

I have a close friend I had to convince as well that his iPhone 4s was not 4G capable. Luckily he was easily persuaded but it doesn't help that on the iPhone 4s, if you are in a 3G enhanced area (HSPA+) the iPhone 4s displays a 4G connection. Now his HSPA+ trounces Verizon's 3G (typical 5+ Mbps download and 3+ Mbps upload, when I showed him my 39 Mbps download and 8 Mbps upload on my Droid 4 he got a tad jealous.

I have a co-worker who tried to argue the point that HSPA+ was just as good as 4G LTE until I emailed a screen capture of my Droid 4 speeds. He's a huge Apple fan but conceded quite quickly that it was not.

 

[lloydstrans]

Time to chime in with my 2¢ worth, I have never met anyone that needs 4g, let alone 3g, cell phone in general. The operative word here is "needs". But I'll be the first one to say I "want" 4g etc. Can't wait for 5g, my order is already in. To say we need 4g is inane.
Let the bashing begin.

 

[Krennel]

Time to chime in with my 2¢ worth, I have never met anyone that needs 4g, let alone 3g, cell phone in general. The operative word here is "needs". But I'll be the first one to say I "want" 4g etc. Can't wait for 5g, my order is already in. To say we need 4g is inane.
Let the bashing begin.

I actually have to agree with you. I'm a pretty geek guy, and for all the needs with my phone, 3G is more than enough.

Also, while 4GLTE is an impressive innovation, tiered data plans render it worthless. Awesome, I have 20mbps down and 15 up, but what the hell am I going to do when I hit my 2GB data cap? Absolutely nothing. Maybe stop my car in the middle of Kansas and hope this hole in the wall gas station has a wifi hotspot.

 

[angelman]

I have 4g on my nexus with a consistently strong signal however I rarely turn it on as it is a battery hog. I still fail to see the use in it. I can stream pandora, and internet radio without it. I can stream netflix fine without it.
What do people use 4g for otherwise?
THe web isnt very appreciably faster, I assume the bottleneck is more the phone processor than the data connection. Speedtest.net reports I have something like 10mbs download or more which is about the same if not faster than my desktop and yet the web pages definitely don't load as fast as my desktop.
I was also rather shocked and humbled when my friend showed me his iphone 4s proudly showing me it's 4g capability. I laughed and told him that of course the iphone wasnt actually 4g and that apple just put that 4g logo there to make iFan boys feel happier. Well he loaded up speedtest.net and I think he was getting as fast if not almost faster than I was on my nexus with his crappy iphone and it's fake 4g. I had to rather swallow my words and walk away from that one.
So what do people need/use 4g for, bittorrent and tethering exlcuded

 

[lloydstrans]

The only time I turn on 4g is to download PDFs, which I believe their content size should be listed, and upgrades. I watch YouTube in 3g if I get bored.

 

[xPlatinum-Androidx]

Apple users probably PSHHHHH :icon_evil:

 

[StupidGenius]

If you didn't have a strong signal (which can be hard to determine sometimes) it wasn't an Apples to Apples comparison. (No pun intended)

I live in a strong 4G area and the iPhone is no contest.

 

[metalspring]

Time to chime in with my 2¢ worth, I have never met anyone that needs 4g, let alone 3g, cell phone in general. The operative word here is "needs". But I'll be the first one to say I "want" 4g etc. Can't wait for 5g, my order is already in. To say we need 4g is inane.
Let the bashing begin.

well actually it would probably be more like 4g+, its still lte technology, just called lte advanced...and it is actually probably too fast lol
video (dont expect these kinds of speeds when it actually gets here, dont forget they are the only ones on that lte advanced network)
First commercial LTE Advanced demo great success in Sweden, promises up to 1Gbps downloads

article on it (more realistic speed provided here- 10x what you normally get with lte)
LTE Advanced Testing Shows 10x Speed Boost Over Normal LTE - HotHardware