City dwellers around the world are clear about one thing: having a good mobile coverage is now ranked among the top five factors in a city. The ability to use your smartphone seamlessly is one of the most important aspects when it comes to being happy living in a city. Good quality voice and internet connections are vital to city life. For more from the ConsumerLab: http://www.ericsson.com/thinkingahead/consumerlab

1. voice and
internet vital
to city life
CONSUMERLAB
www.ericsson.com/consumerlab

2. Good quality voice and
internet connections
vital to city life
City dwellers around the world are clear about one thing: having a good mobile coverage is now
ranked among the top five factors in a city. The ability to use your smartphone seamlessly is one
of the most important aspects when it comes to being happy living in a city. This article covers
how voice and internet satisfaction differs in various places – and not just between places, but
also in the same place.
Cities bring more opportunities
A majority of citizens believe that people who live in
small towns are happier than those living in big cities.
Nevertheless, many people choose to live in big cities.
Things like leisure activities, job opportunities, meeting
new people and having a sense of freedom are important
aspects in people’s lives, and these outweigh the disad-
vantages of living in a city. Most feel they have possibili-
ties in the city that they would not have anywhere else.
In the Ericsson ConsumerLab insights from 2012, we
can see there are different levels of satisfaction in the
cities measured. The levels range between 40 to 65
percent, with people in Singapore, San Francisco,
NewYork, Shanghai, Berlin, London and Sydney among
the most satisfied, and those in Mexico City, Lima,
Jakarta, Beijing and Buenos Aires the least satisfied of
the cities in the study (Figure 1).
Mobile coverage is now seen
as important as clean water
Shopping, food markets, restaurants, cafés, pubs and
entertainment are always top of the list when people
talk about their city. These amenities are an important
reason why people chose to live in a city in the first
place, and these are the ones people are most satis-
fied with. Interestingly, mobile phone coverage is now
in fourth place, closely followed by water distribution,
both necessary utilities that have to be in place for a
good life (Figure 2).
Graph 1 - Satisfaction level in each city
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical platform 2012
Base: ALL
San
Francisco
(65%)
New York
(63%)
Mexico
City
(44%)
Lima
(38%)
Buenos
Aires
(39%)
London
(61%)
Madrid
(52%)
Paris
(57%)
Berlin
(59%)
Rome
(50%)
Istanbul
(58%)
Beijing
(45%)
Shanghai
(58%)
Tokyo
(60%)
Singapore
(57%)
Jakarta
(45%)
Sydney
(59%)
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical platform 2012
Base: Internet users aged 15-69
Figure 1: Overall satisfaction with life in each city

3. Areas people are most dissatisfied with are practicali-
ties, such as parking, the traffic situation and child
care, but also the way the authorities communicate,
and environmental issues such as air quality.
What needs to be done to make people more satisfied
varies in the different cities, but improving safety and
having a better city plan are among the top five factors
in most cities, together with public transport, the traffic
situation and work opportunities.
Mobile coverage and internet access, the new utilities
These days, having high-quality mobile coverage and
internet access are as important as having clean water
and electricity. It is therefore vital to know how satisfied
people are with their voice coverage and internet
connections to make sure they are meeting their
expectations.
Satisfaction differs depending
on the location in the city
In general, people in big cities spend half of their
time at home, one quarter of it at work or school and
the rest in any other location (Figure 3). It is therefore
essential that your communication solution works at
home. On average, 70 percent of all citizens are satis-
fied with their voice and internet connection at home.
The same applies at work, where 60 percent are satis-
fied. How­ever, it is a different story for other places,
where people have less influence on the quality of the
connection.
When people move outside their home and work envi-
ronments, their satisfaction level drops for both voice
and internet connections. The level of satisfaction is
less in parks, on beaches, at shopping malls, sports
or music events, and when using different means of
transportation. The bottom score in all cities is in the
subway.
Voice wins over internet connection
But there is another dimension to this. In all places
except for the home, the internet connection is falling
behind voice. The biggest difference we find is when
people are walking on the streets, where there is a
14 percent unit difference between satisfaction levels
for voice and internet connections. Places such as city
centers, parks, beaches and local buses are close
behind with a difference of 12 percent units.
The ability to
find parking
Child care Road traffic
situation/street
system
Communication
with city authorities
Air quality
Water
distribution
Mobile
network
coverage
Availability of
entertainment
facilities
Availability of
restaurants,
cafés, pubs, etc.
Availability of
shopping malls,
food markets, etc.
TOP 5
BOTTOM 5
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical platform 2012
Base: Internet users aged 15-69
Figure 2: What city dwellers are most/least satisfied with
17%
65%
Graph 3 - Places people visit in the city
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical platform 2012
Base: Smartphone users
56%
31%
27%
4%
Sport events
13% 68% 19%Music events/
Concerts
19% 72% 9%Movies/Theatres
30% 63% 6%Parks, beaches
39% 55% 6%Restaurants,
bars, pubs, cafés
42% 54% 4%Shopping malls
Grocery stores
At least weekly Less often Never
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical platform 2012
Base: Internet users aged 15-69
Figure 3: Places people visit in the city weekly (smartphone users)

4. Lowest satisfaction for transportation
The lowest satisfaction level for all cities is transporta-
tion, with the subway coming bottom for every city with
a satisfaction level of just 36 percent for voice and
31 percent for internet. In addition, 25 to 50 percent
say they are dissatisfied – the highest dissatisfaction
level of all – and both voice and internet connections
are perceived as being equally bad (Figure 4).
In some cities, people are more dissatisfied than in
others. Mexico City, Tokyo, London, Paris and NewYork
stand out here, with as many as 50-60 percent who are
dissatisfied with the voice and internet connections on
the subway.
Voice and internet satisfaction varies in different cities
It is clear that people are more satisfied with voice
coverage than with the internet connection in all areas
of a city, but the satisfaction level varies in different
cities (Figure 5).
The satisfaction level is higher in San Francisco, Madrid
and Istanbul than in Buenos Aires. But the differences
in satisfaction between voice and the internet are much
the same in all cities with 15-20 percent of the people
less satisfied with the internet in parks, on beaches, in
the city center and on the street. The exception is San
Francisco, which has a mature market for both voice
and internet connection, with hardly any differences in
satisfaction between the two.
Low score for all transportation:
slightly better for buses and trains
Even though transportation comes bottom regarding
satisfaction levels for all cities, there seems to be a
difference between the subway and local buses and
trains. Voice connections are perceived to work better
when traveling on the local bus or train than in the
subway, where voice and internet connections are
equally bad. Having good voice coverage and internet
connection is vital for most people when traveling to
work; the ability to e-mail or to have personal contact
with friends and family by calling them or by text
messaging and using social media is something
people take for granted nowadays (Figure 7).
Graph 4 - Satisfaction with Voice coverage and internet connection in different places
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical platform 2012
Base: Smartphone users
696765646260
56
49
41
36
70
57
53
61
55
5052
45
42
35
31
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
H
om
e
C
ity
centre
In
the
streets-w
alking
W
ork/school
Restaurants/cafes
Parks/beaches
Shopping
m
all
Localbuses
Sport/m
usic
event
Localtrains
Subw
ay
Voice
Data
12% points
difference
12% points
difference
14% points
difference
%
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical platform 2012
Base: Internet users aged 15-69
Graph 5 - Satisfaction with Voice coverage and internet connection in four different places
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical platform 2012
Base: Smartphone users
Voice (%)
Data (%)
Madrid
San Francisco Istanbul
72
71
66
69
63
62
61
60
46
42
25
56
53
70
56
47
50
44
51
39
32
23
City center
In the street walking
Home
Work
Park/beaches
Restaurants
Local bus
City shopping mall
Sport/music event
Local train
Subway
86
82
80
80
78
76
71
65
63
39
73
60
70
57
68
75
69
53
53
45
34
City center
In the street walking
Restaurants
Park/beaches
City shopping mall
Home
Work
Local bus
Sport/music event
Local train
Subway
Buenos Aires
56
53
53
51
50
48
42
40
35
24
64
41
35
46
36
43
40
29
26
20
Home
City center
In the street walking
Restaurants
Park/beaches
Work
City shopping mall
Local bus
Sport/music event
Local train
Subway
28
59
73
72
72
71
71
65
63
62
53
43
78
66
70
62
64
66
62
57
58
46
42
Home
In the street walking
Work
Park/beaches
City center
Restaurants
Shopping mall
Local buses
Sport/music event
Local train
Subway
76
77
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical platform 2012
Base: Internet users aged 15-69
Figure 4: Voice and internet connections in different places (smartphone users)
Figure 5: Satisfaction levels for voice and internet connections in four different cities (smartphone users)

5. When out and about – you want
to share your experiences
Of the people interviewed in all of the cities in the
study, 30 percent said they visit parks and beaches
on a regular basis. Being able to visit a green area is
an important aspect when living in a big city. Taken as
a whole, among the factors measured, the one that
shows the highest correlation to happiness with life
in the city is perceived to be an abundance of clean,
green parks and public spaces. When we visit parks
and beaches with our friends and families, we also
want to share our experience with others. This habit
is prevalent in everything we do, using social media
wherever we are, and especially when we are out and
about (Figure 6).
Graph 7 - Activities on the Smartphone when out and about
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical platform 2012
Base: Smartphone users
Make personal calls
Listen to music
SMS/Chat
Browsing Internet
Personal email
Work calls
Use social networks
Play games
Read newspaper/books
Work emails
Work activities
Watch video clips
Organize family activites
69%
64
60
53
51
43
41
39
39
36
27
25
23
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical platform 2012
Base: Internet users aged 15-69
Figure 6: What we do when we are out and about (smartphone users)
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical platform 2012
Base: Internet users aged 15-69
Figure 7: What you do while commuting (smartphone users)
Graph 6 - Activities while commuting (Smartphone users)
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical platform 2012
Base: Smartphone users
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Listen
to
m
usic
Brow
se
the
Internet
C
heck
personalm
ailsSend
SM
S
M
ake
personalcalls
U
se
socialnetw
orks
C
heck
work
m
ails
Read
books/new
spaper/m
agazines
M
ake
w
ork
calls
O
therw
ork
activities
Play
gam
es
W
atch
Video
clips/TV
C
heck
changes
in
tim
e
tables
C
heck
changes
in
traffic
O
rganize
fam
ily
activities
U
se
G
PS/O
nline
m
aps
M
ake
purchases
online
Very seldom
Never
Almost every day
Ericsson AB
SE-126 25 Stockholm, Sweden
Telephone +46 8 719 00 00
Fax +46 8 18 40 85
www.ericsson.com
EAB-13:034069 Uen
© Ericsson AB 2013
There is great potential to increase the satisfaction level
for people living in a city if voice quality and internet
connections are improved, and especially in the areas
where it does not work satisfactorily today.