78 per cent of Brits use their mobiles abroad

Airline-based network operator AeroMobile surveyed 2,000 UK consumers to find that 78 per cent use their phones while on holiday, even though 68 per cent claim they're worried about data roaming charges.
62 per cent of respondents claims texting is their preferred means of communicating, with 13 per cent using devices for social media access. Under a fifth browse the mobile while overseas – men are more likely to do so than women.
Meanwhile, a fifth of hardy Brits leave their phones at home. Interestingly, despite men being more web-happy while abroad, 26 per cent of men leave the phones at home, compared to 16 per cent of women.
Additionally, nearly 30 per cent of over 55s don't travel with a mobile phone, compared to just 13 per cent of 25-34 year olds.
Kevin Rogers, CEO of AeroMobile, said: "What’s clear from this research is that there is demand, particularly from the younger generation, to be connected whenever, wherever. In the past roaming has been a contentious issue, but we’re now seeing better deals available for consumers who want to use their mobile devices overseas.
"Growth on the AeroMobile network, which provides a roaming service inflight, points to increasing demand from consumers who are happy to roam. We’ve seen a huge appetite for both SMS and mobile internet services at 30,000 feet; so far in 2013 data usage per flight has doubled and we’ve seen a 40 per cent increase in the number of text messages sent per flight. We’re confident we’ll see even more growth in this area over the coming months."

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...-abroad/021472