
The dramatic increase in the number of people using mobile broadband services is raising concerns about the capability of service providers to cope with the increased amounts of data being transmitted over cellular networks.
According to Mobile Today, as mobile broadband packages fly off the shelves, suppliers are having to look ahead at their ability to cope with the rapid growth in internet traffic.
Based on experiences in Sweden and Austria - which were used as testing grounds before services were introduced in the larger UK market - mobile broadband provider 3 has identified a few areas where problems might arise.
"With mobile broadband, we have seen blockages in areas we didnt expect, but these have been easy to fix in the short term," commented chief executive officer of 3 Kevin Russell.
However, he added that some unforeseen capacity issues had been more difficult to identify, asserting that the company is working on addressing them.
Recent statistics from 3 suggest a dramatic increase in the amount of data transmitted over its 3G network as a result of an increase in mobile broadband users.
Vonage allows fixed-line broadband customers the ability to make
cheap calls at a flat rate using
internet phone services.