Users still prefer USB modems

According to a research mobile data users still overwhelmingly prefer USB modems for keeping PCs and other devices connected. But over the next five years they may turn more to built-in cellular radios and portable Wi-Fi hotspots.Despite the growing market for connected tablets and the availability of laptops and netbooks with high-speed cellular modules built in, worldwide shipments of USB modems still surpass embedded 3G and 4G modules by three to one. One problem with built-in modems is that wireless technology changes faster than most users want to change computers. The market for embedded modems is fairly small, only about 5 percent of laptops worldwide shipped with built-in cellular modems.Embedded modems could start to gain popularity as tablet sales grow and as the incremental cost of the modems shrinks whereas portable Wi-Fi hotspots that use cellular data networks may dwarf both embedded and USB modems by 2016, the research concluded.