Everyone's been talking recently about T-Mobile's plans to roll out 3G in the New York area: Will it support data, or only voice? It's a bit of a debate right now. You can read more about the news here. Any one with the real scoop from T-Mo want to chime in?

But in any event, the whole discussion got me thinking: How big a factor is 3G in selling phones to the average customer? Are people coming in asking for high-speed data, or is it just those "in the know"? Are people confused about the high-speed standards? Is wi-fi more popular than 3G? 

What's the deal on the sales floor?

I have found that most of my customers ask more about wi-fi than 3G. For one wi-fi is more readily available in our area and two not everyone knows about the 3G and what a difference it will make once we do get it.

 Here in Norway 3G is almost a must, not that most people really needs it... it's just that they believe they need it

Welcome Gaute - great to have you all the way from Norway.

In australia its a must.

Anyone asking the question is usually representing a fleet of users who have quite high demands.

Most even ask for the Telstra NextG (3.5G ?). And to be honest, its an incredible service. Have office live, streaming video chat and a voice conference while transfering files its delightfull! 

We even have our pay-tv companies streaming their goods to the phones over it.

I'd equate it to not having broadband and having a dial-up connection in australia... Still quite common... but come on..

Honestly I have to say, 3g as voice doesnt really matter to most consumers.. The biggy is when it comes to data speeds. 3g is a must  for data because of how much more you can do with it ranging from phone as a modem to the luxury you get with having it. T-Mobile voice only 3g does nothing for the business people at all.

Welcome Mayhem12 - yes it's when it comes to data, 3G is a must - I have Comcast high-speed internet for my home internet service - they have been making 'improvements' to it these last two weeks and it has been going up and down like a yo-yo. I am so thankful that I was able to still connect seemingly almost as fast via my 3G phone.

Here in Austria it's a must and the actual coverage is really good (HSDPA in all big cities)... 

Welcome - mobilitygeek - thanks for visiting our new forum.

Most of my customers ask about 3G because they have heard about it but do not understand it. So after explaining it - most of my business customers say it will be a must. And after I show them my device and how I personally would love the video call feature that is on the Qtek 9000. I am waiting to to test the technology myself. But for my average customers Wifi is the demand for them.

As soon as I started using my Treo for tethered Internet access with my laptop, 3G became a necessity.

Ever since, I'm addicted to 3G speed, even when I'm in "topless" mode: http://www.chrisrue.com/funcave/2008/04/going-topless-at-mvp-summit.html

The average customer really has no idea what 3G is, let along GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, EVDO, etc.  All they know is this is fast, that's fater and that's fastest.

With the proliferation of streaming content and sharing of pictures, 3G is becoming a must, even if customers don't understand what it is. 

So, here I am with a periodic plug for Windows Mobile Training.

We just launched a 3G and networking course because of some of these very issues. A lot of users don't understand all the "jargon" surrounding the various options for connectivity, and sometimes it's confusing to sales people too.

If anyone has a chance to take a look at the course, I'd actually be really interested in hearing feedback about how well you think the course helps educate sales reps about the various options out there and where we could make improvements for future courses.

-Andrea

PS - Course is only on the US site right now, but will be up in english speaking countries end of next week, and in France, Italy, Spain, and Germany a few weeks after that.

Andrea:

but will be up in english speaking countries end of next week

Just wondering what your definition of "english speaking coutries" is?

 Is it where people speak English native, or whereever it is common to be fluent in English?

No pun intended, just curious  

 In my market, I'm still trying to get people to understand what SMS is, much less 3G.  For people that know about data, they want 3G, but a majority of my customers don't care that you can do things like e-mail or videos on their phone.  They don't see the value of it yet.