MOBILE DATA DEFIES INFLATION

parts to maintain a phone for at least five years after a device is removed from sale, with comprehensive details on how to take apart, repair and re assemble phones and tablets.

Replacement of batteries will have strict rules with the devices where batteries are more prone to needing replacement will have to be simple for the layman to swap. Allowance is made for ruggedised phones. Consumers are looking to use their phone for longer and upgrade less often, in part because model to model improvements are less significant than in 2G and 3G devices. : https://op.europa.eu/en/publicationdetail/-/publication/955d36e7-2906-11ed8fa0-01aa75ed71a1/

Despite inflation-busting price increases, the UK mobile consumer has seen the cost of data fall, according to a report from Cable.

“Contrary to what one might expect as the cost of living continues to rise, the average package cost has fallen, from $23.28 to $17.58,” said analyst Dan Howdle.

Cable surveyed 58 UK SIM-only consumer plans, and compared them with plans from providers in more than 100 other countries. These were then converted to US dollars as a reference currency. The numbers exclude roaming costs.

The analysis priced mobile data in the UK at $0.79 per GB, a significant fall from 2021, when it was calculated to be $1.48/GB. The average package had fallen in price from $21.28 to $17.58.

But this places the UK behind France ($0.12/GB) and Italy ($0.23/GB).

The high costs of mobile data in Sweden ($1.88), Germany ($2.67), Belgium ($3.00) and Switzerland ($7.25) may reflect local purchasing power, as well as a less competitive market. Israeli mobile pay consumers pay just 4c for a gigabyte of mobile data a month.

None performed well with latencies of 40 milliseconds, however. That’s a far cry from the promises made at launch.

“With 5G’s sub-5 or sub-2 ms latency, you can get live 3D video to your fully wireless headset and experience events in real-time –kissing goodbye to motion sickness,” one mobile network promised as it turned on 5G in July 2019. The benefits are real, but theoretical unless the network moves to the newer 5G Standalone technologies. Ookla found median latencies of 29ms for Vodafone and EE, 32ms on O2, and 35ms for Three.