SMS
2011-02-26 17:13:06 UTC
An interesting study on smart phone data usage by Cisco:
<http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-520862.html>
In 2010:
-Average iPhone data usage was 355MB/month
-Average Android data usage was 209MB/month
-Average smartphone data usage was 79MB/month (the installed bas of
Symbian, Blackberry, and Win-Mo devices pulled the average down to only
79MB/month).
One interesting tidbit from the study was this one:
"Much mobile data activity takes place within the user's home. A survey
conducted by Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) indicates
that the percentage of time spent using mobile Internet at home is
approximately 40 percent of total mobile data use, on average. The
amount of mobile data use that is "on the move" is approximately 35
percent, while the remaining 25 percent of mobile Internet use occurs at
work."
So if you look at the 355MB of average data usage per month on an
iPhone, an average of only 124MB was used while not at home or work, and
for Android it was only 74MB.
The 35% used while "mobile" includes _everything_ outside of home or
work _not_ just true mobile use. If you include non-home-non-work places
where Wi-Fi is very often available (restaurants, schools, libraries,
hotels, hospitals, car repair shops, coffee houses, parks, etc.) then
the true mobile data usage would be even less.
So the AT&T $15/150MB data plan would actually be more than sufficient
for the average iPhone user if they used 3G data only when mobile, and
Wi-Fi at home and work. Similarly, the PagePlus $30 plan which gives you
1200 minutes, 2000 text/MMS messages, and 100MB of data, would be
sufficient for the average Android user if they used 3G data only when
actually mobile.
The carriers are stuck in the middle of this. If they are able to
convince subscribers to use Wi-Fi when it's available then subscribers
will use far less 3G/4G data and could decide to switch to lower cost
limited data plans. If they don't try to get subscribers to use Wi-Fi
when available then those on unlimited data plans will rightfully expect
to be able to use vast quantities of data, which is what got AT&T into
trouble and caused them to drop the unlimited data plans.
<http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-520862.html>
In 2010:
-Average iPhone data usage was 355MB/month
-Average Android data usage was 209MB/month
-Average smartphone data usage was 79MB/month (the installed bas of
Symbian, Blackberry, and Win-Mo devices pulled the average down to only
79MB/month).
One interesting tidbit from the study was this one:
"Much mobile data activity takes place within the user's home. A survey
conducted by Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) indicates
that the percentage of time spent using mobile Internet at home is
approximately 40 percent of total mobile data use, on average. The
amount of mobile data use that is "on the move" is approximately 35
percent, while the remaining 25 percent of mobile Internet use occurs at
work."
So if you look at the 355MB of average data usage per month on an
iPhone, an average of only 124MB was used while not at home or work, and
for Android it was only 74MB.
The 35% used while "mobile" includes _everything_ outside of home or
work _not_ just true mobile use. If you include non-home-non-work places
where Wi-Fi is very often available (restaurants, schools, libraries,
hotels, hospitals, car repair shops, coffee houses, parks, etc.) then
the true mobile data usage would be even less.
So the AT&T $15/150MB data plan would actually be more than sufficient
for the average iPhone user if they used 3G data only when mobile, and
Wi-Fi at home and work. Similarly, the PagePlus $30 plan which gives you
1200 minutes, 2000 text/MMS messages, and 100MB of data, would be
sufficient for the average Android user if they used 3G data only when
actually mobile.
The carriers are stuck in the middle of this. If they are able to
convince subscribers to use Wi-Fi when it's available then subscribers
will use far less 3G/4G data and could decide to switch to lower cost
limited data plans. If they don't try to get subscribers to use Wi-Fi
when available then those on unlimited data plans will rightfully expect
to be able to use vast quantities of data, which is what got AT&T into
trouble and caused them to drop the unlimited data plans.