The average household in the U.S. and Canada now has over seven active devices in use each day, with 6% of households having more than 15 active devices.
That’s according to a new report from Sandvine, a broadband network solutions provider.
The Global Internet Phenomena Report Spotlight focuses on the connected home, and is based on data from a small selection of Sandvine’s fixed communications service provider (CSP) customers across North America.
The study was conducted to “better understand how the increasing number of devices impacts Internet usage,” Sandvine explains.
Sandvine’s research also found that mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) on fixed Wi-Fi networks now account for nearly 30% of North American fixed access traffic. This phenomenon, known as “home roaming,” accounted for just 9% of traffic in 2011.
Meanwhile, on PlayStation 4 consoles, game play traffic is only responsible for 2.5% of the total traffic that device generates.
Video streaming (65%) — for instance, using the device to access Netflix — and game downloads (25%) make up the majority of their bandwidth consumption.
But the top-consuming Netflix device (over 12%) was not a game console or web browser. Rather, it was the operator’s branded television set-top box, such as a Roku, Apple TV or Chromecast device.
