The latest “Global Internet Phenomena Report Spotlight” from Sandvine has been released focusing on devices inside the connected home, and that research is indicating very healthy use of connected devices inside the home every day. The data is based on a small selection of Sandvine’s fixed communications service provider customers in North America.
The average household now has more than seven active devices in use each day, with 6 percent of households having more than 15 active devices, according to the report. Laptop and desktop PCs are lagging somewhat, and account for less than 25 percent of total traffic on fixed access networks. Mobile devices like tablets and smartphones on fixed WiFi networks now account for almost 30 percent of North American fixed access traffic, Sandvine is reporting. This “home roaming” reportedly accounted for only 9 percent of traffic five years ago.
And if you think PlayStation 4 consoles are dominated by game play traffic, the research says think again. Game play only accounts for 2.5 percent of the total traffic that device generates, according to the study. Video streaming like Netflix access is 65 percent, and game downloads are at 25 percent of bandwidth consumption.
On the Olympics front in the United States, PCs were responsible for 61 percent of Olympic streaming traffic on a typical day, Sandvine reports. Roku devices (10 percent), were the box of choice, beating Amazon Fire TV (3.9 percent) and Apple TV (3.3 percent).
Sandvine further reports that “on one network, the top consuming Netflix device (over 12 percent) was not a game console or web browser, but the operator’s branded television set-top box that allows OTT applications.”
