North American homes average seven active connected devices

Sandvine report: North American homes average seven active connected devices

WATERLOO, ON — Sandvine, (TSX:SVC) a leading provider of intelligent broadband network solutions for fixed and mobile operators, today released its latest Global Internet Phenomena Report Spotlight focusing on devices inside the connected home. The report is based on data from a small selection of Sandvine’s fixed communications service provider (CSP) customers in North America.

Sandvine’s Global Internet Phenomena Spotlight: Inside the Connected Home contains a number of revelatory facts, the highlights of which include:

• The average household now has over seven active devices in use each day, with 6% of households having more than 15 active devices
• Laptop and desktop PCs now account for less than 25% of total traffic on fixed access networks
• Mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) on fixed Wi-Fi networks now account for almost 30% of North American fixed access traffic. This phenomenon known as “home roaming” accounted for only 9% of traffic five years ago.
• On PlayStation 4 consoles, game play traffic is only responsible for 2.5% of the total traffic that device generates. Video streaming (65%), e.g., using the device to access Netflix, and game downloads (25%) make up the majority of their bandwidth consumption
• In the United States, PCs were responsible for 61% of Olympic streaming traffic on a typical day. Roku devices (10%), were the set-top box of choice, beating Amazon Fire TV (3.9%) and Apple TV (3.3%)
• On one network, the top consuming Netflix device (over 12%) was not a game console or web browser, but the operator’s branded television set-top box that allows OTT applications

“The ability to understand what is happening within the connected home is valuable data that communications service providers can use to ensure they are providing their subscribers with the best possible experience”, said Don Bowman, CTO, Sandvine.

Sandvine’s connected home data reflects real network usage by subscribers. Other reports attempt to track device usage by relying on sales figures and consumer surveys, an inherently less reliable approach.

Check out Sandvine’s Internet Phenomena blog on a regular basis for the latest trends, predictions and phenomena impacting Internet usage around the world.