Mobile data usage nearly doubled in 2013, says report

[Jos]

Mobile data usage nearly doubled in the last year according to a study published by industry analyst Chetan Sharma, a consultant for wireless carriers. On a global scale the average is now at 240MB per month, up from 140MB last year, while usage on the US jumped from 690MB to 1.2GB on average during 2013.

Sharma said the uptick in data use could be attributed, at least partly, to the widespread coverage LTE, along with faster and bigger smartphones better suited for browsing. Though not explicitly mentioned in the report, the growing popularity of mobile apps such as Instagram, Snapchat and Vine probably played their part too.

If data usage keeps growing at this pace it could be a boon for companies like T-Mobile or Sprint, which unlike Verizon and AT&T, don’t enforce hard limits on data usage per month. For now the average is still within lower ~4GB tiers offered by these carriers, though, and although Verizon’s CEO has said unlimited plans are not sustainable there’s nothing stopping them from gradually adapting to consumers’ growing needs.

For what it’s worth Wi-Fi continues to play an important role in mobile data traffic, helping offload as much as 60% to 70% of the total traffic in most countries. With Wi-Fi sharing services like Fon making their way to the US in 2013 and companies like Republic Wireless falling back to Wi-Fi to provide service, there’s still a lot going on in  this space to keep you from being at the mercy of wireless carriers’ data caps and overage charges.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/55129-mobile-data-usage-nearly-doubled-in-2013-says-report.html

 

[Guest]

I wonder how much of that data traffic is due to wireless companies keeping closer track of what their customers are doing so they can make more money off targeted ads and satisfy the NSA, FBI and your local police? ...and they get to charge us to do it!

 

[psycros]

I imagine that Google tracking alone is eating up one or two percent of all internet bandwidth. The real issue here is: what are the wireless companies going to do about the coming data crisis? Keep hiking prices on a so-called limited resource? Or will they do the sensible thing and start building out 4G networks nationwide and limit speeds in order to provide unlimited service to the greatest number of customers? Nobody needs a megabyte per second down except possibly the military. Nobody. *Everyone* needs affordable, unlimited internet, particularly those with no current options except wireless.

 

[Guest]

Oh sure - offer consumers only 'smart phones' loaded with bloatware which seemingly require weekly update+refreshes and then be amazed that "data usage" has doubled. Who would of thought that "Angry Birds" push advertising would account for such a upswing in data use?