Data Usage Archives

Ad-Blockers Improve Load Times, Battery Life and Phone Bills

By Debra Kaufman
October 5, 2015

While ethical questions can be raised in regards to ad-blocking, the advantages seem obvious. All those ads clutter up the page, slow down load times and eat up battery life, say proponents of ad-blocking software. Over four days, staffers from The New York Times tested ad-blocking apps Crystal, Purify and 1Blocker on their iPhones, and “measured how much the programs cut down on Web page data sizes and improved loading times, and also how much they increased the smartphone’s battery life.” The results favored ad-blockers for mobile devices. Continue reading Ad-Blockers Improve Load Times, Battery Life and Phone Bills

Users Embrace Live Mobile Video, Data Plan Overages Grow

By Debra Kaufman
September 28, 2015

Live mobile video has exploded in the last few months, with offerings from Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and others. Mobile users have quickly caught on to how they can use live video, from concerts to personal rants. But the Achilles heel, however, is that live video uses a tremendous amount of data and, the immediacy of live video encourages users to go live without a Wi-Fi network handy. The result is that an increasing number of mobile users are going over their data plan, incurring extra charges. Continue reading Users Embrace Live Mobile Video, Data Plan Overages Grow

Data Caps May Result in Higher Prices for Internet Customers

By Meghan Coyle
December 4, 2014

The U.S. Government Accountability Office warns that data caps may drive the prices of Internet service up for everyone, instead of keeping costs low for the people who only use a small amount of data. Internet service providers do not have enough competition in some places, which would make it easier for ISPs to abuse a usage-based pricing system. The GAO recommends that the Federal Communications Commission develop a voluntary code of conduct for ISPs. Continue reading Data Caps May Result in Higher Prices for Internet Customers

Wireless: Startup Envisions Doubling Use of Radio Spectrum

By Valerie Savran
October 9, 2013

Kumu Networks hopes to provide a solution to the increase of smartphone users and data demands on wireless networks. Kumu claims that its technology can double the capacity of cellular and Wi-Fi communications by challenging the idea that mobile devices cannot transmit and receive data on one frequency at the same time. The Stanford University startup first emerged in 2011 when the team wrote a paper claiming two-way traffic could be carried simultaneously through a specific chunk of radio spectrum.

Continue reading Wireless: Startup Envisions Doubling Use of Radio Spectrum

Smartphone Data Usage Hits All-Time High

By Rob Scott
June 20, 2011

It should come as no surprise that Nielsen’s monthly analysis of cellphone bills for more than 65,000 lines indicates that smartphone users (which comprise 37 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers) are consuming more data than ever before on a per-user basis (especially those with app-friendly iPhones and Android devices).
The average smartphone user is accessing 89 percent more data per month than last year’s figures, growing from an average of 230MB per month to 435MB per month in the first quarter of 2011.
Nielsen reports that “data usage for the top 10 percent of smartphone users (90^th percentile) is up 109 percent while the top 1 percent (99^th percentile) has grown their usage by an astonishing 155 percent from 1.8GB in Q1 2010 to over 4.6GB in Q1 2011.”
As data usage dramatically increases, most users are paying approximately the same amount they did a year ago for data, translating to a lower cost per unit of data consumed. According to Nielsen: “The amount the average smartphone user pays per unit of data has dropped by nearly 50 percent in the last year, from 14 cents per megabyte (MB) to a mere 8 cents.”