analytics report q4/2010

Copyright © WeFi Inc. 2010

Analytics Report Q4/2010An analysis of global Wi-Fi

Copyright © WeFi Inc. 2010

Table of ContentsTABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................................................... 2

1. OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................................ 3

1.1. About WeFi.........................................................................................................................31.2. About This Report ..............................................................................................................31.3. Data Collection and Analysis Method ................................................................................31.4. Report & Presentation Methodology.................................................................................31.5. Platforms ............................................................................................................................4

2. WI-FI DATA USAGE BY PLATFORM ....................................................................................................................... 5

2.1. Key Observations................................................................................................................53. CELLULAR DATA OFFLOADING METRICS .............................................................................................................. 6

3.1. Offloading ratio ..................................................................................................................73.2. Key Observations................................................................................................................8

4. WI-FI SESSION DURATION BY PLATFORM.......................................................................................................... 10

4.1. Key Observations..............................................................................................................105. NUMBER OF WI-FI NETWORKS CONNECTED BY DEVICE ................................................................................... 11

5.1. Key Observations..............................................................................................................116. DEVICES SIMULTANOUSLY CONNECTED TO WI-FI NETWORKS ......................................................................... 12

6.1. Key Observations..............................................................................................................127. PUBLIC WI-FI HOTSPOT CATEGORIES IN USA..................................................................................................... 13

7.1. Wi-Fi Data Downloaded for Different Hotspot Categories ..............................................137.1.1. Key Observations ....................................................................................................13

7.2. Wi-Fi Sessions Durations for Different Hotspot Categories.............................................147.2.1. Key Observations ....................................................................................................14

7.3. Number of Devices Connected in Different Hotspot Categories .....................................147.3.1. Key Observations ....................................................................................................15

7.4. Time-Related Wi-Fi Usage Patterns .................................................................................157.4.1. Key Observations ....................................................................................................17

8. ANDROID MODEL STATISTICS ............................................................................................................................ 18

8.1. Most Popular Android Models using WeFi .....................................................................198.2. Key Observations..............................................................................................................20

Copyright © WeFi Inc. 2011 3

1. OVERVIEW

1.1. About WeFi

WeFi was established in 2006 with the goal of transforming the fast growing assortment of Wi-Finetworks worldwide into a global virtual network that will complement cellular data networks, as ameans to supply the exploding demand for mobile bandwidth. WeFi has been pursuing this goal bydeveloping and marketing software for laptops and mobile platforms that enable users to effortlesslyfind and connect to Wi-Fi, and automatically share the information about the availability and qualityof Wi-Fi networks with all the other users. Using patented technology, WeFi’s servers continuouslyanalyze Wi-Fi crowd-sourced data received from millions of client devices, and establish an up-do-date representation of the availability, characteristics and quality of Wi-Fi networks around theworld. This is used for connecting client devices to the best available networks around them. Bygetting client devices online via Wi-Fi whenever possible, WeFi facilitates the offloading of mobiledata traffic from cellular data networks.

By the end of Q4/2010 WeFi’s software was installed on over 6 million end-user devices of variousplatforms, and WeFi’s live database has accumulated over 80 million Wi-Fi networks (access points)from all over the word (with about 100,000 new unique networks added daily), making it the world’slargest database of Wi-Fi connectivity data.

1.2. About This Report

WeFi has been analyzing the accumulated Wi-Fi data over the last 4 years, and decided to share someof the unique statistics and characteristics of Wi-Fi worldwide deployment and usage with the mobilecommunications industry, as well as any company or individual interested in Wi-Fi as a fabric forwireless Internet. Since Q1/2010 WeFi publishes a series of reports highlighting the interesting trendsand statistics derived from WeFi’s research.

1.3. Data Collection and Analysis Method

When WeFi-enabled devices are being used to connect to Wi-Fi networks around the world,anonymous data is received from these devices and accumulated on WeFi’s servers and database.We have used this huge amount of data to analyze and extract various characteristics of Wi-Fi usageby various devices in over 220 countries and territories around the world, as well as thecharacteristics of Wi-Fi networks and routers as can be derived from the Wi-Fi connectivityexperienced by the various devices. The charts presented in this document are based on dataaccumulated from October through December 2010, and are normalized to one month (30 days)where needed.

1.4. Report & Presentation Methodology


In most of the graphs/charts presented in this report, we took the data of a certain feature groupaccumulated over the three months of Q4/2010, and it to represent one month (30 days) of activity.

We divided the range of results into (typically) four groups of the specific value range. Then wecomputed how many of the results lie in each of these result ranges, in percentage.

For example (this graph is provided for clarification only):

In this chart, 50% of the sampledNetbooks represent data usage of over2 GB and 10% of Netbooks representusage between 100 MB and 500 MB,while for Android devices, 35% of thedevices represent Wi-Fi usage under100 MB.

1.5. Platforms

In the Q4 report, we decided to focus mainly on comparing a typical portable computer platformagainst a typical smartphone platform. To that end, we chose Windows-based Laptop and Netbookcomputers, which comprise the vast majority of the world’s portable computers using wirelessInternet, while for the smartphone platform we chose the Android mobile operating system, which isthe fastest growing smartphone platform worldwide.

Additional Platforms

WeFi holds, in addition, detailed Wi-Fi data of Symbian-based smartphones, which can be madeavailable upon request.

Note that this report does not contain information acquired through iPhone devices. WeFi hasdeveloped a client application for the iPhone platform as well, however, due to the decision made byApple to ban all Wi-Fi scanning applications (http://bit.ly/bg9Wy6) in February 2010, this applicationis not available on the formal iPhone App Store (iTunes). WeFi’s application is very popular, however,on the “alternative” iPhone App market, Cydia; but since Cydia users do not necessarily represent thetypical iPhone user population, the iPhone data is not covered in this report.

Disclaimer: The information in this publication is representative of WeFi's own aggregated hotspot databaseand has been prepared for informational purposes only. It is based on WeFi's own databases (as well as datafrom other third party sources available in the public domain). As such, there can be no assurance as to theaccuracy or completeness of such information and this publication and the information contained herein areprovided on an "as is" basis. By reading this report you also agree and acknowledge that WeFi expresslydisclaims all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, on the information provided herein and thatWeFi shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, special or consequential damages or liabilities resulting from useof (including reliance on) the information contained herein. Copyright 2010 WeFi Inc. Reproduction isforbidden unless authorized by WeFi Inc. All rights reserved.


2. WI-FI DATA USAGE BY PLATFORMThis graph shows monthly amounts of data downloaded over Wi-Fi by each device type, in Q4/2010.

2.1. Key Observations

It is evident that the highest usage of Wi-Fi data is found on laptops/netbooks, as these devices are

connected to the Internet almost constantly, and even when users have 3G cards on their portable

computers they prefer to use Wi-Fi where they can. Comparing Symbian and Android, we see that while

most of the Symbian devices (over 70%) download less than 100 MB per month over Wi-Fi, Android users

utilize Wi-Fi more extensively (50% of them download over 100 MB per month).


3. CELLULAR DATA OFFLOADING METRICSThe following graph shows the difference in wireless data usage over 3G cellular networks by the

different platforms, and then we evaluate the effectiveness of offloading data from 3G to Wi-Fi.

This graph represents a significant difference in data usage over the 3G network between netbooks and

the smartphone platforms, as the vast majority of smartphone users use less than 100 MB of data per

month, while out of the netbook users, only about 60% use less than 100 MB, and there are about 10%

of the users in each of the higher data usage ranges.

In order to analyze the difference between the Android and the Symbian platforms in more detail, we

split the 0 MB to 100 MB range, and the graph below shows the breakdown into data usage below 10

MB, and from 10 MB to 100 MB.

The graph reflects even stronger differentiation between Android and Symbian smartphones, as about

75% of Symbian phones use less than 10 MB of data over 3G, while 40% of Android phones use over 10

MB and under 100 MB:


3.1. Offloading ratio

In order to evaluate the “Offloading Effect” on the different platforms, we compare the average 3G

data usage to Wi-Fi data usage per platform; the ratio between the two numbers indicates how much

of the data is diverted from 3G to Wi-Fi by using WeFi, as shown in the following graphs.


When the data usage over Wi-Fi is charted on the same graph with data usage over 3G for devicesrunning the WeFi software on different platforms, it becomes clear that streamlining the connectionto Wi-Fi networks results in de-facto offloading of data traffic from the cellular networks onto Wi-Fi.However, this trend is much more evident with netbooks than with smartphone platforms: whenusing the Internet over 3G adapters/dongles, data consumption is less than 100 MB a month, butwith Wi-Fi most users (over 80%) consume over 2 GB per month.

Among the smartphone platforms, the ratios between 3G and Wi-Fi usage in each usage-range is verysimilar, while Android devices still use more data than Symbian in the ranges of over 100 MB.


4. WI-FI SESSION DURATION BY PLATFORMThe following chart represents the average duration of Wi-Fi sessions (from connection todisconnecting) over the different platforms.


While the durations of Wi-Fi sessions on Windows-based mobile platforms (Laptop/Netbook) areapproximately linearly spread over the different time ranges, we see that on the mobile smartphoneplatforms a higher percentage of sessions last less than 5 minutes.

This difference can be expected since smartphones are used more on the move, and one usuallybrowses the Intenet on a netbook a bit longer than one would on a smartphone.

However, the strong difference between session durations of Android and Symbian phones is quiteinteresting. Nearly 90% of Wi-Fi sessions on Symbian last less than 5 minutes, while only 65% ofAndroid Wi-Fi sessions are in this range, and over 25% of Android sessions last 20 minutes or more.

After examining the Wi-Fi sessions in detail, we found this phenomenon is related to the Wi-Ficonnectivity scheme of the Symbian operating system, which sustains the Wi-Fi connection only aslong as a particular application is using it. This is different from the Wi-Fi connection scheme onAndroid (which is similar in that sense to the Windows OS), where a Wi-Fi connection that wasstarted either manually by the user or by some application, remains open until it is specifically closed.Thus most Wi-Fi sessions are longer on Android than on Symbian.

Q1/2010


5. NUMBER OF WI-FI NETWORKS CONNECTED BY DEVICEThe following chart represents the number of different Wi-Fi networks (hotspots) that WeFi-installeddevices have connected to over 30 days.

For each platform, the graph shows what percentage of devices have connected to one Wi-Fi networkonly during a 30-day period; what percentage have connected to 2 or 3 networks; to 4 to 10networks, and to more than 10 different Wi-Fi networks.


The number of different hotspots a device connects to in a month is indicative of the Internet usagemobility of that device. i.e. in how many different places that device has connected to Wi-Fi.

Notably, about 40% of Laptop users connect to one hotspot only per month – we typically assumethis to be their home or home-office network. However, in many cases laptops connect to theInternet over cable (home or work), while at the same time they may be connected to nearby Wi-Fi;this report only counts connections to Wi-Fi solely while not connected over cable.

These graphs clearly show that the platform which connects to the largest number of Wi-Fi networksis Android. It is interesting to see that while Wi-Fi-enabled Symbian smartphones have been aroundmuch longer than Android, and many more of them are deployed worldwide, Android is graduallytaking the lead as the leading Wi-Fi mobile Internet platform.

Q1/2010


6. DEVICES SIMULTANOUSLY CONNECTED TO WI-FI NETWORKSWeFi samples the number of different devices that are connected to a Wi-Fi network simultaneously

when a WeFi-enabled device connects to that network.

Note: In some cases, peer devices data cannot be obtained from the router, due to various filters or

unknown router types; for completeness, these cases are included in the graph as “no data”.


This graph clearly shows that nearly 60% of the devices have connected to Wi-Fi networks when 3 ormore other devices were connected to the same network. This situation is typical to public Wi-Finetworks, but can also represent an office network with a few users utilizing it at the same time;however, the probability of a Wi-Fi network being public grows when looking at the group of devicesconnected to Wi-Fi networks when more than 5 other devices were connected to it.

As public Wi-Fi networks are capable of serving dozens of client devices, there is something else to belearned from this graph: public Wi-Fi networks are still far from full utilization, and there is still a lotof room out there for mobile devices to use Wi-Fi for mobile Internet.


7. PUBLIC WI-FI HOTSPOT CATEGORIES IN USAIn Q3-Q4, WeFi’s research has focused on public Wi-Fi networks (hotspots) in the United States, aswe believe the load of mobile bandwidth is growing most rapidly in the US, and Wi-Fi will have to bedeployed and used faster and in larger quantities in the US relative to other countries, as a solutionfor data offloading.

In this section we share some of the interesting characteristics of different categories of hotspots inthe US. The category of each hotspot is determined using WeFi’s unique algorithms, which analyzethe communication parameters of the routers and Wi-Fi connections, as well as various datameasures and usage patterns sampled on the devices.

7.1. Wi-Fi Data Downloaded for Different Hotspot Categories

The following graph illustrates the amount of data downloaded on average during a Wi-Fi session in

the top 7 most popular hotspots categories, as compared to residential hotspots.

7.1.1. Key Observations

As can be expected, when users connect to Wi-Fi in coffee shops they use a high amounts of data

among the public hotspot categories, and we also see high usage in libraries; Still even in both of


these internet-friendly types of hotspots people use less data than they would use on their

residential Wi-Fi network.

7.2. Wi-Fi Sessions Durations for Different Hotspot Categories

In this graph we present the average durations of Wi-Fi sessions for the different hotspot categories.


Naturally Wi-Fi session are longest in residential hotspot – people may just leave their laptops open

and connected to Wi-Fi at home even when engaged in other domestic activities; while among the

public categories, Wi-Fi sessions are longest in coffee shops. This provides empirical support for the

common assumption of lengthier Wi-Fi connections in coffee shops.

7.3. Number of Devices Connected in Different Hotspot Categories

When the WeFi software on a user’s device connects to a hotspot, it measures how many different

users are connected to that hotspot simultaneously at that time. We found that there are some clear

distinctions among the numbers of devices simultaneously connected to a Wi-Fi network in different

hotspot categories, as described in the following graph.



While it isn’t surprising that only one or two devices will be typically connected in residential hotspots

at the same time, we find that the number of simultaneously connected devices in Education-related

hotspots is significantly higher than in other public hotspot categories. After we analyzed the usage

patterns of Wi-Fi enabled devices in Education-related hotspot, this finding corresponds to the typical

audience of such hotspots: students are almost always moving around with laptops and/or

smartphones, and they usually crowd together in common time frames (breaks between classes,

lunch time, study groups etc.) so it can be expected that at such time periods there will be multiple

devices connected to hotspots simultaneously in these areas.

7.4. Time-Related Wi-Fi Usage Patterns

WeFi’s analysis team also studied the Wi-Fi behavior as related to different time-based patterns. The

first graph below shows the distribution of the number of Wi-Fi connections to hotspots of different

categories along a 24-hours daily sequence. We sampled the time of day in which the devices

connected to the various types of public hotspots, and split them into 5 segments: morning hours,

“lunch time”, afternoon / early evening, evening and late night. The differences among the categories

are depicted in the following graph:


WeFi also sampled the Wi-Fi connection by the day-of-week, to try and uncover unique connection

patterns among the different categories. The distribution of Wi-Fi connection to the different days of

the weeks in the top 7 hotspot categories is presented in the following graph.


0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Wi-FI Connection by Day-of-Week Q4/2010

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday


Looking at the split of connection times over the day, it is interesting to see that residential hotspot

as well as hotel hotspots are mostly used in the evening and late night – when people come home or

go back to their hotel, returning from their daily activities; while hotspot in shopping areas are used

the most in the afternoon and early evening hours – when people typically carry out most of their

shopping activities.

When examining the way Wi-Fi is used on different days of the week, again we find resemblance

between residential and hotel hotspots, where weekends display more connections than other week

days.

Education and library hotspots feature the heaviest Wi-Fi activity during the first days of the week,

with a distinct drop on the weekend, which corresponds well to the typical availability of such public

places to the wireless Internet user audience.

In coffee shops we see gradual decline in Wi-Fi usage from Monday throughout the week, but a

certain activity level remains over the weekend.


8. ANDROID MODEL STATISTICSIn the first 3 quarters of 2010, Android has been the fastest growing Smartphone platform. This wascovered by many analyst firms, notably Morgan Stanley (Web 2.0 Summit, November 2010):

And a report by Canalys from January 2011 shows Android shipments in Q4/10 have since passedNokia smartphone phone shipments and it is now the highest selling smartphone platform:


This growth is reflected in the data about Android models using the WeFi software, as shown below.

8.1. Most Popular Android Models using WeFi

The graph above shows the top Android manufacturers among WeFi users in Q4.

Although the graph above shows that 4 manufacturers dominate the Android market, with HTC inclear lead, we found that the actual Internet connectivity behavior, in terms of data used over Wi-Fivaries significantly among the specific different models of Android phones. In the following table, weshow the top 10 Android models used by WeFi users in Q4, with the Wi-Fi data usage profile of each.



HTC is the most prominent manufacturer, probably due to the many different models of HTC Androiddevices available on the market. Interestingly, Sony Ericsson models are slightly more popular thanSamsung devices among WeFi users, and nearly as popular as Motorola models, although Motorolamodels are promoted by the carriers more. This can indicate that Sony Ericsson users tend toconsume more online media and Internet and so are more inclined to use WeFi to help them getmore bandwidth.

This inclination of Sony Ericsson devices to heavier Internet usage also arises from the graph of Wi-Fiusage by Android models: the Xperia X10i is the model that uses the highest amounts of data overWi-Fi among all the models used by WeFi users.

The graph also shows that older models, such as the Droid and HC Magic, tend to use the leastamounts of data over Wi-Fi.

Another interesting finding is the penetration of the Evo devices – in Q4 Evo was the 7th most popularmodel among WeFi users (out of about 50 different Android models), while in Q3 we recorder nearlyzero presence of Evo – probably due to aggressive marketing by Sprint. Interestingly, although Evo ismarketed as a “4G Phone”, it is one of the models that use the highest amounts of data over Wi-Fi –probably because there are not nearly enough 4G networks out there for them to use…

analytics report q4/2010

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