Users Like WiFi to Get Email, Maps, Video Conferencing Apps

by Michelle Maisto

In a survey of 2,200-plus business travelers, 74 percent said they’d prefer a WiFi connection to a cellular one; 77 percent said connecting to WiFi is the biggest challenge to their productivity when they’re traveling.

More than 80 percent of respondents said they find WiFi faster and better able to handle large documents. Cellular, however, is more widely available—and far more expensive.

A large majority (87 percent) said they feel “frustrated, angry or anxious” when their expectations for a WiFi connection, in expected locations like airports and hotels, aren’t met. Yet 1 percent admitted to feeling “relieved.”

While access to Skype and mapping apps and cloud-based services are important to travelers, 95 percent said the thing they most need to connect to is email.

The number one irritant with free WiFi services is that the connection is often slow (74 percent). The next biggest complaints were the hassle of typing everything in and logging on (52 percent) and the lack of true security (36 percent).

Business users who pay for WiFi access complained most of all about its expense (62 percent), followed by its lack of availability (36 percent). Like those using free services, 27 percent of those paying were irritated by the process of entering credit card information, but even more (29 percent) complained about the performance of the hotspot.

When asked what they want, business travelers said no advertisements or other “noise,” and an easy, single log-in across all networks. iPass’ new cloud-based service minimizes friction for users. iPass says businesses dictate which employees are allowed to connect, and it takes care of the rest.

Overpaying for WiFi—paying sometimes more during a single day of travel than for a month of service at home—takes an emotional toll. Even when it’s the company that’s paying, “Sometimes you can’t bring yourself to feel ripped off,” said Bower. “It’s a huge issue.”

The iPass survey found business travelers increasingly turning to tablets. Said Bower, “70 percent of people are only traveling with a tablet and a smartphone … and 36 percent said they don’t use a desktop computer anymore. The world is really changing for people and how they get their jobs done.”

Despite 74 percent of business travelers saying they prefer a WiFi connection, only 7 percent said they “always” purchase WiFi when they travel, and nearly 80 percent said “never” or “seldom.”