WeFi Analytics Report Q2/2011

An Analysis of global WiFi

This report presents key statistical facts derived from crowd-sourced data accumulated by WeFi from about 100 million Wi-Fi networks worldwide, obtained by WeFis software installed on nearly 7 million devices. In this release the emphasis is on Q2/2011. We focus on comparing the most common portable computer platform, namely Windows-based laptops/netbooks, and the most widely used mobile smartphone platform Android phones; we also drill down into the data usage statistics of the leading Android models. The data gures in this reports represent average measurements per device over 30 days.

PC /NETBOOK

ANDROID

DATA USAGE BY PLATFORM

Laptop users are heavy wireless data consumers: using Wi-Fi, half of them consume over 2 GB, and using 3G cellular cards still 20% of them consume over 2 GB.

DATA USAGE BY PLATFORM

Android devices in general consume less wireless data than laptops. Comparing 3Gto Wi-Fi data, however, shows that Android devices use much more Wi-Fi than 3G: 33% of Androids use more than 100 MB on Wi-Fi, while only 16% of them use over 100 MB on 3G. 23.37% 7.15% 2.41%
>2GB

16.1% 15.7% 8.7%

100MB-500MB 500MB-2GB <100MB

100MB-500MB 500MB-2GB

49.5%

Wi -F i

20%
>2GB

W i-F i

>2GB

67.08%
<100MB

0.5%
>2GB

13% 15% 52%

500MB-2GB 100MB-500MB <100MB

3%

500MB-2GB

12% 84%

100MB-500MB <100MB

3G

3G

100 % 90 % 80 % 70 % 60 % 50 % WiFi 3G 40 % 30 % 20 % 10 % 0%
< 100MB 100MB-500MG 500MB-2GB <2GB

100 % 90 % 80 % 70 % 60 % 50 % 40 % 30 % 20 % 10 % 0%
< 100MB 100MB-500MG 500MB-2GB <2GB

3G WiFi

DATA USAGE: LOW RANGE 0 MB-100 MB DRILL DOWN

To better understand the difference between the platforms, this drill-down of the range 0 MB to 100 MB shows that half of the laptops in this range consume between 10 MB and 100 MB, and half use less than 10 MB.

DATA USAGE: LOW RANGE 0 MB-100 MB DRILL DOWN

Drilling down into the < 100 MB data range on Android shows that most of the devices (52% out of %84) are at the lower end, using less than 10 MB per over 3G, which indicates that with WeFi on these devices a signicant part of the data is ofoaded to Wi-Fi.

AL 52% TOT
26%
10MB-100MB

AL 84% TOT
32%
10MB-100MB

26%

<10MB

52%

<10MB

WI-FI SESSION DURATION BY PLATFORM

Wi-Fi session duration is measured from connection to disconnection. The gures below show that Wi-Fi sessions are consistently longer on Laptops than on Androids, indicating that laptop users are more stationary when using the Internet over Wi-Fi.

ANDROID
10% 0-5 min 19% 5-20 min 25% 20 min-1 hour 24% 1-3 Hours 21% >3 Hours

PC/ NETBOOK
3% 0-5 min 7% 5-20 min 21% 20 min-1 hour 34% 1-3 Hours 35% >3 Hours

NUMBER OF WI-FI HOTSPOTS CONNECTED PER DEVICE

The graph showing the number of distinct Wi-Fi hostpots connected per Laptop device (with both Wi-Fi and 3G interfaces) over one month indicates that almost half of the laptops use only one hotspot most of the time; probably the users home or ofce network. It is likely that when leaving the home/ofce the user will go ofine, and stay connected periodically using the 3G card 46% 1 hotspot 39% 2-3 hotspots 12% 4-10 hotspots 3% >10 hotspots

NUMBER OF WI-FI HOTSPOTS CONNECTED PER DEVICE

In contrast to laptops, most Androids get connected to more than 2 hotspots per month, with 34% using up to 10 different networks, and 8% even more. This shows that Android users consume mobile Internet on-the-move much more than laptop users.

22% 1 hotspot 36% 2-3 hotspots 34% 4-10 hotspots 8% >10 hotspots

NUMBER OF USERS CONNECTED PER HOTSPOT

When devices connect to hotspots, WeFi records the number of additional devices connected at the same time to that hotspot. In some cases technical limitations and non-standard protocols prevents collecting this data (7% of the connections sampled by WeFi). This data shows that in 37% of the cases only up to 2 devices are connected to a hotspot, which typically indicates residential Wi-Fi. Only in 15% of the cases there are more than 5 users connected simultaneously, which indicates high probability of a public hotspots. One conclusions from this graph is that there is still a lot of rooms for public hotspots to be utilized for using mobile data.

15% >5 users 7% No data

37% 1-2 users

41% 3-5 users

TOP ANDROID MANUFACTURERS (AMONG WEFI USERS)

The share of Samsung devices out of WeFis Android user base has increased in the last quarter and now has reached 30%, just passing HTC with 29%. The growth is mainly due to marketing efforts as well as users demand for the different Galaxy models, including the new tablets.

HTC Desire 29% Huawei 8% Motorola 8% LG 9%

Sony Ericsoon 16%

Samsung 30%

WI-FI USAGE BY ANDROID TOP 10 MODELS

The 10 most popular Android model among WeFi users (from about 50 different models) exhibit differences in Wi-Fi consumption. While the most popular device, the Galaxy S, records less than 100 MB of Wi-Fi data usage by nearly 80% of the users, other models like the Sony Ericsson Experia, the Evo and the good old Nexus One show increased Wi-Fi usage, in comparison.
GalaxyS HTC Desire Droid Motorola i1 Xperia Evo DROIDX LG-LU3700 GT-P1000 Nexus One

<100 MB 100-500MB 500MB-2GB >2GB

79% 16% 4% 1%

70% 22% 6% 2%

78% 18% 4% 1%

86% 10% 3% 1%

55% 32% 8% 5%

51% 38% 10% 1%

56% 32% 11% 1%

69% 25% 6%

70% 20% 10%

61% 35% 3% 1%

SUMMARY:
while portable computers still consume signicantly more wireless data (both Wi-Fi and 3G) than smartphones, their usage is concentrated in a limited number of locations. Users are more inclined to access the Internet through their smartphones when they are on-the-go. When comparing 3G to Wi-Fi usage on both platforms, Wi-Fi is gradually being used more than 3G, with a stronger trend on laptops. Forward looking, there is still a lot of room for increasing data consumption via Wi-Fi over 3G on smartphones, enabling ofoading of congested, costly cellular networks onto the millions of Wi-Fi hotspots out there.