[Techtaffy Newsdesk]

According to a study published by Cisco, Mexican mobile users prefer Wi-Fi networks because the networks are considered faster, more cost-effective and more reliable when connecting to the Internet from smartphones, tablets, laptops, e-readers and other mobile devices and offer better performance and security.

The mobile network traffic in Mexico is expected to increase 23-fold from 2011 to 2016, with Mexican broadband users owning 2.85 mobile devices, a figure slightly higher than for the typical  U.S. broadband consumer, who owns 2.59 mobile devices (source: Cisco VNI research).

Cisco conducted a customer research in Mexico in July 2012 – an online survey of 769 customers, age 18 and over, representative of the Mexican population with broadband access.

Key findings include:

• Most mobile users are connecting their devices via Wi-Fi at some point, including more than 80 percent of smartphone owners.
• Approximately 45 percent of laptops, 35 percent of tablets, and 30 percent of e-readers are connectingexclusively through Wi-Fi.
• On average, smartphone users use Wi-Fi about 40 percent of the time to connect their devices to the Internet.
• With the exception of smartphones, users would prefer to connect all of their devices via Wi-Fi. Given a choice, 87 percent of laptop users and more than 80 percent of tablet and e-reader owners would either prefer Wi-Fi to mobile access, or have no preference
• More than 70 percent of mobile users consider Wi-Fi faster and more cost-efficient than any other type of access; about 60 percent believe Wi-Fi is more reliable and offers optimal performance for their applications; and 55 percent think Wi-Fi is more secure, despite the technical superiority of cellular mobility regarding security.
• More than 80 percent of the people interviewed take advantage of a public hotspot at least weekly, either in parks, streets, coffee shops, restaurants, etc.
• Very few users are paying for public Wi-Fi. Two-thirds of regular Wi-Fi users enjoy free access to public hotspots, 14 percent access hotspots as part of their broadband subscription, 6 percent as part of a mobile plan, and 8 percent as part of a loyalty program. Business-expense-account-friendly venues such as hotels and airports are the most popular locations used by the less than 5 percent of regular users who pay for public Wi-Fi access.
• Offering free Wi-Fi can be a way to retain existing broadband customers and to attract new ones from competitors; more than 80 percent of broadband customers indicate that they would be at least moderately likely to switch providers if they were offered free public Wi-Fi, with 64 percent saying that they would be “very” or “completely” likely to switch
• The survey results seem to indicate that we may be on the verge of a “New Mobile” paradigm—one in which Wi-Fi and mobile networks are seamlessly integrated and indistinguishable in the mobile user’s mind. More than 80 percent of consumers were “somewhat” or “very” interested in a proposed offer that provides unlimited data across combined access networks for a flat monthly fee.
• Among three innovative business models proposed to respondents, the highest interest was expressed for national and international Wi-Fi roaming (85 percent of respondents were either very or somewhat interested), followed by secure Wi-Fi access to remotely stored content (76 percent “very” or “somewhat” interested) and enhanced in-store shopping experience (76 percent “very” or “somewhat” interested).