Locked-down smartphone users in the UK are sitting on unused mobile data worth £165 million

Locked-down smartphone users in the UK are sitting on 165 million gigabytes of unused mobile data worth a staggering £165 million, study claims

  • Consumers stuck at home due to COVID-19 are using their WiFi instead of data
  • Data use among non-essential workers has fallen from 2.4 to 1.9 GB a month
  • More than two-thirds of users would like their data rolled over to later months
  • While 22 per cent would like a refund and 8 per cent want to gift this to charity

Locked-down smartphone users in the UK are sitting on 165 million gigabytes of unused mobile data worth a staggering £165 million, a study has claimed.

Consumers stuck at home during lockdown are using a fraction of the data that they would usually, relying on home WiFi instead, comparison site Uswitch has reported. 

Among non-essential workers, average data use has fallen from around 2.4 gigabytes a month in February to 1.9 gigabytes now — a 21 per cent decrease. 

Of these users, 38 per cent would like to see their unused data rolled over to following months, while 22 per cent said that they would prefer a refund.

Around one-in-five said they want to donate either the cost of their unused data to a charity or the data to essential workers — whose usage has increased by 4 per cent. 

 

Locked-down smartphone users in the UK are sitting on 165 million gigabytes of unused mobile data worth a staggering £165 million, a study has claimed

‘Locked-down consumers are sitting on a mountain of unused mobile data worth a staggering £165 million,’ said Uswitch.com mobile expert Ru Bhihka.

‘We have mobile deals set up to accommodate browsing on the go – but since so many of us are home-bound and relying on Wi-Fi to stay connected, we’re simply not burning through our data allowances in the same way.’

‘Many consumers would like to see this data rolled over to when they have more use for it, and it’s great to see some providers like Sky Mobile already doing that.’

‘If you are unsure about how much data you need, it’s worth checking to see how much you are currently using each month,’ Mr Bhihka added.

‘If it is more than you require, run a comparison to see if you can find a better suited plan.’ 

In the study, which was conducted this month by market researcher Opinium, 2,002 British adults were surveyed about the smartphone plans and data usage.

Among non-essential workers, average data use has fallen from around 2.4 gigabytes a month in February to 1.9 gigabytes now — a 21 per cent decrease. Of these users, 38 per cent would like to see their unused data rolled over to following months, while 22 per cent said that they would prefer a refund

Among non-essential workers, average data use has fallen from around 2.4 gigabytes a month in February to 1.9 gigabytes now — a 21 per cent decrease. Of these users, 38 per cent would like to see their unused data rolled over to following months, while 22 per cent said that they would prefer a refund

The researchers found that around 70 per cent of mobile users have a data allowance — and of these people, 10 per cent of people have unlimited data.

The rest, meanwhile, had an average data limit of around 7.1 gigabytes each month.

Users reported expecting to have an average of 5 gigabytes of unused data before their allowance renews at the end of May.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk