A Snapshot of North America's Internet Usage

[Heath]

http://www.realcleartechnology.com/a...age_438.ht ml

Web users in North America have a large and growing appetite for data consumption, according to a new report from Sandvine. The report is interesting not just for the obvious insight that we're gobbling up more data (39 percent more than the first half of last year), but for the insight it sheds on what we're doing online.

Here's what they found: the mean monthly data consumption in North America was 44.7GB. We're using about 6GB of data for upstream activitity (i.e. uploads) and 38.6GB of downstream bandwidth.

Not surprisingly "real-time entertainment" -- principally streaming video -- is eating up our bandwidth, accounting for 68 percent of downstream data during peak periods. Web browsing is a distant second with 12.8 percent. As far as upstream data use, file-sharing holds the crown with 39.6 percent of all data use.

"Netflix continues to be the unchallenged leader for traffic, accounting for 32.3 percent of downstream traffic during peak period," Sandvine noted. Other services such as Amazon (with 1.31 percent) and HBO Go (0.34 percent) saw their shares decline in a greater amount than that of Netflix. YouTube, however, has been surging -- last year it gobbled up 13.8 percent of downstream traffic and now it accounts for 17.1 percent.

Meanwhile, BitTorrent traffic continues to delcine. It now accounts for just 9.2 percent of traffic during peak period and 11.1 percent of total daily traffic, which Sandvine said "demonstrates a sharp decline in share, as just 18 months ago BitTorrent accounted for 18.9 percent of total daily traffic in North America."

[Harmon]

Stupid study. Put it on fiber and nobody gives a shit. These companies supporting these studies are the same one charging us $60+ a month for measly 50-60megabit down streams. It's and endless technology that these cunts will continue to argue against yet trickle out competition as they feel their profit margins require.

It's fucking dumb, they are just milking a pretty much dried up cow and broadcasting it to the masses in the form of media manipulation. OMG I sound like a CT, but unfortunately it's true. Down/Up speed is something that only big businesses with a bottom line care about.

[Spudstr]

We have customers who have 1Gbps lines to their offices. and they push on average. 10Mbps or so.. people really do not use as much as they think they do.

[_Richard_]

Originally Posted by Spudstr

We have customers who have 1Gbps lines to their offices. and they push on average. 10Mbps or so.. people really do not use as much as they think they do.

wouldn't most of those customers have that ability on the event it is 'necessary'?