back to article 90% of mobile data eaten by TINY, GREEDY super-user HOTSPOTS

Usage of mobile data is extremely unevenly distributed. This is the conclusion of a report by the Location Intelligence business unit of a major communications equipment company. JDSU, which makes test equipment for mobile operators, looked at who is using the most mobile data and where they are using it. Its research found …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    JDSwho?

    I presume that's JDS Uniphase, and not a juvenille delinquent State Uni?

    Also low usage stats and spotty coverage are mutually self-reinforcing.

    1. YetAnotherLocksmith Silver badge

      Re: Self reinforcing low usage

      Absolutely right.

      This phone is a shiny one with 20Gb a month of 4g data. How does 99%+ of the mobile data* get used? Over the crappy 2g network, patchy coverage 3g or through my own femtocell at home!

      (We actually gave up on the crappy ADSL and that is now pretty much devoted to running the femtocell, as it just about has enough bandwidth to cope if nothing else is on it, as we need mobile phone signal in the house. Work, you know?)

      *that's by time, not bits. Once where there is 4g signal I can download more stuff in ten minutes than in a week with barely a phone signal.

    2. JetSetJim
      Headmaster

      Re: JDSwho?

      JDSU, although now splitting into the snappily named Viavi Solutions and Lumtentum.

      They make a lot of fibre-optic & DSL test gear (Openreach use them) as well as the security solutions on a lot of the worlds currencies

  2. Tom 64

    "Given that a 4k film can be 300Gb"...

    ... compressed with what??? DivX like its 1999?

    1. Colin Miller

      Re: "Given that a 4k film can be 300Gb"...

      I assume that's studio-edit quality, before being compressed to Blu-Ray quality, at 50 GB for a two layer disk, so around 20-30GB for the film itself.

      Downloading 300GB at 10Mb/sec will take the best part of three days.

  3. John Miles 1

    Fixed Broadband context

    Just to add a bit of context - Ofcom (and Cisco VNI) reports indicate that UK Mobile data volume is equivalent to only about 5% the volume of fixed BB data ( 29PB vs 650PB, June 2013 data). Though of course some of the fixed BB data will include traffic from home wifi connections to phones.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Meh

    Wow

    People at home using devices hooked up to their own wifi, rather than cell data use less.

    Businesses with lots of mobiles / tablets / visotors, most likely not connected to corporate network use the most.

    Stunned.

  5. Tom 13

    Hmmm....

    The data tells us that operators are growing macro networks with vast blanket investment to get blanket coverage but the inequality of usage means that the majority are paying for the minority's excess.

    So maybe net neutrality isn't such a good idea after all. Whodda thunk?

    1. Bob Dole (tm)

      Re: Hmmm....

      Any system that seeks to spread costs around to standardize plans rather than be pay as you go always results in the majority paying for less services than the minority. That's by design. Doesn't matter if we're talking healthcare, cable/tv or mobile access.

      To think otherwise is ridiculous. When companies moved off of pay for what you use plans and began oversubscribing their own networks they essential forced net neutrality on themselves.

      My phone data plan is "unlimited". Which is a nice word but my providers definition of "unlimited" is very different from mine. You see, I think it means I can use this device to be online 24x7 streaming movies or whatever. They think it means i have 5gb until they put the speed limiters on. That is false advertising.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As I already pay for my data

    Why would I use a femto cell and pay again to send it over my broadband connection?

  7. James 100

    Hot spots

    Assuming they're consistent locations over time (no doubt the likes of Glastonbury etc will show a hefty spike for a few days, and no usage the rest of the year) it seems obvious for operators to stick in their own femtocell (on their own ADSL/FTTC line) to free up network capacity for the rest of the cell's coverage area.

    I just wish UMA had caught on better the first time round: nice and easy for us to use free coffee-shop wifi in busy areas if it had. (I'm sure there will be a strong correlation between peak usage areas and wifi coverage, after all.) Maybe the newest branding ("WiFi calling" in the iPhone) will finally catch on better?

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