In-home use of mobile devices, also known as home roaming, continues to increase in North American households as viewers turn to smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices for entertainment and communications, according to a Sandvine Global Internet Phenomena Report Spotlight released Aug. 24.
Laptop and desktop PCs now account for less than 25 percent of total fixed access network traffic regionally, Waterloo, Ontario-based Sandvine highlights in a news release. Smartphone and tablet-based fixed WiFi traffic now accounts for nearly 30 percent, according to Sandvine. This home roaming is up from 9 percent only five years ago.
The average number of connected devices in North American homes has also risen sharply in recent years. More than seven connected devices are being used in North American homes on average. More than 15 active devices are in use in 6 percent of homes.
Game Consoles’ Role in Home Roaming
Connected devices include connected game consoles, which users are increasingly employing to engage in other activities other than playing video games. Game play traffic accounts for just 2.5 percent of total traffic originating from PlayStation 4 consoles, according to Sandvine. Video streaming accounts for 65 percent and game downloads another 25 percent.
Turning to more recent statistics, PCs accounted for 61 percent of Olympics streaming traffic on an average day. Ten percent of average daily Olympics-viewing traffic came via Roku TV set-top boxes (STBs). Amazon Fire TV STBs accounted for 3.9 percent and Apple TV 3.3 percent.
Notably, an operator-branded OTT STB accounted for the most Netflix streaming on one network – 12 percent.
Sandvine’s Global Internet Phenomena Report Spotlight is based on actual traffic and usage data gleaned from a small selection of customers of its fixed communications service provider (CSP) service.
“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”, commented Sandvine CTO Don Bowman.