By Claus Hetting, Wi-Fi NOW CEO & Chairman
With more than 80% of smartphone data running over Wi-Fi, the mobile user experience is a lot more Wi-Fi than cellular. Spectrum Mobile says they’ve got the best Wi-Fi and the best cellular. The result is ‘fastest overall speed’. They’ve recruited the help of celebrity Ellen DeGeneres to get that message across.
Spectrum Mobile – the mobile service owned and operated by cable giant Charter Communications – says they are confident their mobile service is the best in the USA. They recently hired mobile analytics company Nielsen to deliver a comparative study of available mobile services across the US, and the results were conclusive. “In speed and reliability, we’re ahead by a landslide. It’s not even close,” says Group Vice President Wireless Products at Charter, Justin Colwell.
The prime reason for being ahead of the pack is simple, says Justin Colwell. “We know – through numerous tests – that our Internet service is the best in the country, which also means our Wi-Fi is the fastest. Add to this our cellular service, which for Spectrum Mobile comes from Verizon. And Verizon is the fastest cellular in the country,” Justin Colwell says.
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Justin Colwell is emphatic when it comes to the value and importance of Wi-Fi for the mobile experience: “Historically, mobile was only about cellular. The truth is that today, the mobile experience is a lot more Wi-Fi than cellular by a wide margin,” Colwell says. “This fact has been overlooked. We need to shift to the concept of fastest overall speed – it’s the only meaningful metric,” he says.
Spectrum Mobile’s latest data indicates that about 83% of Spectrum Mobile subscriber data consumption happens over Wi-Fi. A remarkable 75% of the total data consumption per Spectrum Mobile subscriber happens over Wi-Fi in the home, Justin Colwell says. Spectrum Mobile services are only sold to customers who already subscribe to Spectrum’s home Internet and TV services.
He also says that Spectrum Mobile’s in-house developed connection manager has an important role to play in getting service quality right. “The connection managed makes sure you’re ABC – or Always Best Connected, to either cellular or Wi-Fi, depending on the quality of the signals in a given location. And we do allow the manager to select cellular as the best network when necessary – even though it costs us money to do so,” Justin Colwell says.
/Claus.
Below: Watch Spectrum Mobile’s ad featuring comedian and talkshow host, Ellen DeGeneres.