• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, October 19, 2009

The good news for the mobile Web is that the audience is growing at a steady clip, increasing 34% to nearly 57 million users as of July, according to Nielsen. The bad news is that Web surfing via cell phone continues to be a frustrating experience for most users.

Two out of three mobile Web users reported having problems when accessing Web sites on their mobile phones in the last year, according to a new study by Web application testing firm Gomez Inc. Slow load times were cited as the biggest issue, followed by mobile sites crashing, and the formatting of a page making it difficult to read or use.

Because most people are used to broadband connections at home and work, their expectations for the mobile Web are high. Most of the 1001 Gomez survey participants expect Web sites to load almost as quickly, as quickly, or even faster on their mobile phone than their home or work computer.

One out of five mobile users say sites should load in five seconds or less -- comparable to expectations for the regular Web circa 2007 or 2008. A recent study by the Nielsen Norman Group, which reached similar conclusions about the mobile Web, likened it to the traditional Web circa 1994. Gomez found that more than half of cell phone users are willing to wait only six to 10 seconds before giving up.

Not surprisingly, having a bad experience with a mobile site can hurt brand perception and reduce traffic. Nearly two-thirds of mobile users (61%) say they would be less likely to visit a problematic site again, and 40% say they would head to a competing site.

More than 80% claim they would access Web sites more often from their phone if the experience was as fast and reliable as on a PC. In terms of age groups, people ages 21 to 44 would be most likely to fire up their mobile browsers more if performance was better.

Unlike some other mobile studies, the Gomez report did not differentiate between regular cell phone and smartphone users. The study included people who own a mobile phone and had used it to access the Internet in the last twelve months.

A study released earlier this year by Universal McCann, AOL and interactive research firm Questus found that 80% of smartphone users were satisfied using the Internet on their devices.