Wintry weather impacts mobile industry and usage of handsets
Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - 15:53:18
The recent snowy weather which left much of the UK in gridlock, had a decided impact upon various aspects of the mobile phone industry and also altered the way in which people use their handsets.
People who had ordered phones for delivery or sent their mobiles off to recycling firms suffered from delays, as the postal service and third party parcel services suffered snow-related setbacks.
People who were looking to receive customer service related to their mobile phone or price plan were also struck with problems, because call centre workers for major networks like O2 were unable to make it into work in locations from Leeds to Glasgow.
In some areas, people were unable to get the normal level of mobile network coverage due to snow having an impact on the masts which broadcast the signal, although this is believed to have occurred in a limited number of cases.
While the snow has been a curse for those who need to travel, it has also created beautiful scenery, encouraging many to get out their mobiles and take a picture. The number of people consequently uploading their snaps to social networking sites like Facebook, meant that mobile internet usage shot up over the last week.
750,000 pictures were snapped on the first of the month, according to Vodafone, with many choosing not just to upload them but also to send them direct to friends via multimedia messaging, with a 155 per cent weekly increase recorded.
Even voice calls and texts increased last week, as people had to work remotely from home rather than risk going into the office in icy conditions.
Spikes in calls and messages can be directly linked to the days upon which the worst weather struck, a fact attested to by Orange, which said that a 13 per cent rise was seen last Tuesday in Yorkshire and elsewhere in the north.
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