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Poll: WiFi or 3G for mobile usage?

My latest entry on the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic sparked a nice little debate on people’s preference and usage behavior between WiFi and 3G on mobile phones.

I thought it would be good if I asked my readers here which of the two modes of connectivity they often use.

So our poll for this week — WiFi or 3G: Which one do you often use with your phone?

wifi vs 3g

As usual, I’ve added a poll at the sidebar so you can submit your votes there but please leave a comment if you want to share your own usage behavior and why you chose one over the other.

As for me, even if my place is full wireless, I think most often use 3G on my phone. I access 3G on the road, while driving and outside the house — with my phone, that would be about 90% of the time.

There are 2 factors that affected my usage behavior in favor of 3G — one is that I have allocated 3G minutes on my postpaid account and, second, 3G internet is pretty cheap and fast nowadays that I don’t really bother looking for free wifi whenever I’m in public places.

Update: I’d like to clarify that this poll is not about which is better or faster. It’s a survey which of the two modes of connection you often use despite the advantages of one over the other.

Let’s look at an example:

Mobile 3G on Phone: 90% coverage area of Metro Manila, 100 – 300Kbps speeds
WiFi on Phone: 1% coverage area of Metro Manila, 256Kbps – 3Mbps speeds

Is the mobility of a 3G connection more suitable for you or the speed of WiFi? And by the way, WiFi speed is also dependent on its source. If you’re using WiFi on dial-up connection, your WiFi is still going to be slow.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

55 Responses

  1. Avatar for Rem Rem says:

    WiFi on my 5800 and 3.5G/HSPA on my Sony Ericsson. Pero nag iinit kasi yung phone kapag HSPA gamit ko lagi. :D

  2. Avatar for lia lia says:

    …i think wi-fi, am an office worker, can access internet at pc during office hours, after then have coffe on a wi-fi establishment so…id settle for free..

  3. Avatar for HolyMacaroni HolyMacaroni says:

    have you guys heard of the 4G? it can even contact ETs living in other planets.ill chose 4G…lol..how about you? are you one of us?

  4. Avatar for rObytot rObytot says:

    both i guess… but if the whole world is in WiFi, definitly WiFi…

  5. Avatar for Dashboard Dashboard says:

    WiFi – why not coconut! 3G ah?? spot the nut!

    Winner WiFi – why not!

  6. Avatar for vince vince says:

    i use wifi at home and wifi still at work.. its free eh.. i seldom use my operator’s connectivity options.. mahal eh..

  7. Avatar for anton anton says:

    3g and wifi shouldn’t really compete. both are useful for what each was intended to be.

    wifi is hands-down preferable when you’re a bit grounded — in your house, in a restaurant, coffee shop, resort, but still un-wired.

    3g is king for extremely mobile use — in a running vehicle, at the beach, in a parking lot, in a highway stop, in non-wifi zones.

    hopefully though, a new technology will come to replace both 3g and wifi. something exteremly mobile and far reaching, but extremly reliable and cheap as well.

    will wimax be this technology?

  8. Avatar for SoNn SoNn says:

    I use 3G (from Sun Broadband) for my Mac. I then share it over WiFi for my iPod touch. I guess it’s a tie. And since I moved to Sun Broadband, I seldom use Smart 3G anymore.

  9. Avatar for Atlanta SEO Atlanta SEO says:

    every time I see this kind of thing I get jealous. We are JUST now getting WiFi in our city and it’s more than my DSL bill at home, and still kind of spotty. My buds across seas have been getting free, open wifi for a while, now and AT&T costs me about $60/month just for my iphone data plan (another $50 for voice plan)… Of course Im on 3G about 80% of the time, and the rest I’m just in a local spot, not true city-wide wifi…
    Sad that for the amount of money the average user here pays, our rate is behind everyone else!

  10. Avatar for Mhaki Mhaki says:

    A very professional reponse to negative comments, i give you that Abe. You just can’t please everyone! Keep it up and keep it coming! Btw, i use 3g alone with my phone.

  11. Avatar for gabsanchez gabsanchez says:

    I can’t help but notice that some might have been confused with this entry’s intention. Well, whatever works.

  12. Avatar for Weblogger|CarloBlogg Online Weblogger|CarloBlogg Online says:

    Wifi din ako, yun ang lagi kong ginagamit,; although gusto ko matry ang 3G-never had the chance though :D

  13. Avatar for thephilippineisland thephilippineisland says:

    For me, i find using wifi is more practical than 3g. Here in Philippines, the communication networks are not so being focused or give importance on their 3g feature. Although, there are few people here using this kind of technology but it would be quite expensive for an average people. I guess wifi is much cheaper and more useful in some ways.

  14. Avatar for agentorenz agentorenz says:

    wifi dito sa bahay.. ang mahal kasi pag 3g..kinakain ang load..

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