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This is a nice article, but I disagree with the statement that "most of the time", users are accessing the mobile web via cellular (not WiFi) networks. The data
by mdwelsh 13y ago
This is a nice article, but I disagree with the statement that "most of the time", users are accessing the mobile web via cellular (not WiFi) networks. The data that I have seen on this is that the vast majority of mobile web usage is via WiFi - more than 70-80% of mobile pageloads occur on WiFi networks. (Context: I run the mobile web performance team at Google, part of Chrome.) This is in part because web usage is higher on tablets than on phones, but even on phones we see WiFi being the most commonly used network by far. This is not to say that cellular performance isn't important, but this skew might be somewhat surprising to people working in this area.
- redsymbol 13y agoMatt, this is fascinating. Not for tablets - there's been plenty of data suggesting people primarily use their (say) iPads in the home. But for smartphones, wifi being predominant is not what I would have expected. Is the data you've seen internal Google data, or is any of it available to us non-Googlers? Would be interesting to know the ratio of usage, how it varies by time of day, by activity, etc.
- perseus323 13y agoMatt, Thanks for your feedback, much appreciated - I'm surprised at this myself and the article will be updated soon. From personal experience, some of my friends use their smartphones for all their browsing, even when they are at home. That could be one of the reasons the WiFi stats are so high.