Average Wireless User Now Consumes 31.4 GB The shift toward unlimited data has unsurprisingly resulted in consumers using more data, according to a new study. A new report from the NPD Group, the average US smartphone user now consumes a total of 31.4 GB of data on a monthly basis (note however that data includes both WiFi and cellular data). That's up 25% from just one year earlier when average consumption was 25.2 GB per user, the report notes.

Also not too surprisingly (since limited users are forced to use WiFi more often), the study found that cellular data use among consumers with unlimited plans is 67% higher than that of those with traditional limited plans. The report also found that The firm also found that iPhone users consume more cellular data than Android users, who tend to rely on more Wi-Fi connections more frequently. It also notes that streaming video continues to make up the lion's share of both cellular and Wi-Fi data consumption, accounting for 83% of overall data usage. "Unlimited data plans have become the de facto offering in the market and the significant variance between consumption levels of unlimited plan and limited plan users can be alarming for mobile carriers, as networks become increasingly congested," states the study. "When users migrate from limited plans to unlimited plans, their consumption behavior shifts in favor of using cellular data more regularly," NPD added. "Users on unlimited plans don’t regularly seek Wi-Fi connectivity for data-hungry transactions such as video streaming, application updates, and downloads as they are not concerned about data overage fees." The company's data was collected from roughly 2,500 consumers that opted in to the company's VPN monitoring service. The company's data was collected from roughly 2,500 consumers that opted in to the company's VPN monitoring service.







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Most recommended from 27 comments



Vchat20

Landing is the REAL challenge

Premium Member

join:2003-09-16

Columbus, OH 9 recommendations Vchat20 Premium Member So essentially the data is a farce counting both cellular data and Wifi? Or am I missing some key reason why we need to scrutinize Wifi data usage as well?



Sure, if I'm on Wifi that is where the major portion of my usage is going to be. Mostly Youtube, some Netflix, regular app updates (Android postpones until I'm on Wifi and charging at least for my V20, and I haven't had a day yet where I've had at least a few app updates pop up), etc.. In fact the last two months my phone is showing about 85GB of Wifi usage per month. I don't see that as unexpected.



However on mobile it'd be unusual to hit 2GB of usage. Just no use for most of the data hogs when out and about most of the time.



I'd just rather see a cellular data only breakdown. Combining with Wifi usage is just horribly muddying the numbers. videomatic3

join:2003-12-12

Pleasanton, CA 6 recommendations videomatic3 Member Limited wifi data When I'm on cellular data I have unlimited data

When I use my wifi I have 1tb cap that's already being used by my computers, why would I bother turning on wifi?