Smartphone WiFi Use Explodes

Many mobile service providers expect WiFi (News - Alert) hotspots, both in the home, in the office and at public locations, to offload a significant amount of traffic from mobile broadband networks. And that seems to be precisely what is happening.

 

The percentage of requests from mobile devices using WiFi increased from 19 percent in November 2008 to 55 percent in November 2009, according to data from AdMob (News - Alert).

 

Consider what that implies: A majority of smartphone broadband traffic used WiFi access, not the mobile network. Of course, other devices, including gaming devices and the iPod touch, also are contributing to the explosion of Wi-Fi access.

 

About 36 percent of iPhone (News - Alert) traffic in the United States, as measured by AdMob, was over a WiFi connection rather than the mobile network, for example.

 

Less than 10 percent of traffic from the major Android (News - Alert) devices came over WiFi connections, AdMob says.

 

AdMob says three of the Top 15 devices generating WiFi traffic on the AdMob network were devices such as the iPod touch, which generated the most traffic, the Sony PSP, which ranked third, and the Nintendo DSi, which ranked 12th.

 

The percentage of requests over Wi-Fi in the US tripled over the past year, AdMob says. In November 2008, only eight percent of requests in the United States were over a WiFi network, compared to 24 percent in November 2009.

 

Online mobile usage also is starting to match behavior on the PC-based Internet more closely. In November, MillennialMedia saw average monthly page views per user rise from 106 to 113, as average session time increased from 4:46 to 5:02. The growth of rich media on its mobile network seems to be a bit slow, as those executions were up from 18 percent to 20 percent in November.