• by Aaron Baar , March 1, 2012

The increased use of tablets, smartphones and other mobile connected devices is putting a strain on the wireless networks and has caused more problems than ever over the past year.

According to J.D. Power and Associates’ “U.S. Wireless Network Quality Performance Study,” network performance issues (which include dropped calls, calls not connected, audio issues, failed or late voicemails, text transmission failures, Web and email connection errors and slow downloads) has steadily increased since the beginning of 2011. Nearly all of the problems arise from data-related issues, with rates increasing from 16 reported problems per 100 connections in the first half of 2011 to 19 problems per 100 connections in the second half of the year.

“The patterns in terms of where people are doing their [wireless] activity is obviously skewing more towards indoors and the home, which leads one to believe that the wireless providers ought to be unloading some of that traffic on the wireless networks,” Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates, tells Marketing Daily. “There’s some things customers and wireless providers can do a better job of, including offloading wireless capabilities. It’s just the way the industry is going and it’s not going to get better.”

The increase in network problems is also attributable to the increase in smartphones, with which users send higher volumes of calls, text messages and emails. According to Parsons, wireless customers said they used their phone for Web or email services 20 times within a 48-hour period (translating to an average 300 times a month) in the second half of 2011, up from an average 285 times a month in the first half of the year.