Author
Kris Kozamchak
Categories
5G Outdoor Wireless Networks
As I ordered my daughter’s dress for a wedding off Amazon, confirmed my online monthly order of essential oils, renewed our vehicle registration online, and downloaded my data history from Facebook, I thought about a recent report I read. The 2018 Internet Trends Report, released by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, had some interesting observations that related to my everyday use of the Internet.
Not surprising is the daily media usage by adults, which is 5.9 hours per day with 3.3 hours on mobile, 2.1 on a desktop/laptop and .06 on other connected devices. When I analyzed my day, I found that I started at home on my smartphone checking work email first thing when I woke up, then personal email and finally a quick check of social media- all before 6:30 a.m.! Between work and personal emails, texts, online research for work, and other social media, I easily accounted for almost 6 hours of media time.
The report also states that the global penetration rate for the Internet is at 49 percent, but growth is slowing there as well. It wasn’t a surprise when I thought about what we are seeing at CommScope. Communication networks are prevalent in most cities and now even in rural areas. What we are seeing is the need for densification as people that are already using the Internet connect more devices and use more bandwidth.
Finally, the survey found that global smartphone shipments aren’t growing. Again, not surprising and a recent announcement from Samsung on a change to their smartphone strategy underscores this finding. Personally, I’ve found that my current smartphone works just fine as long as I have the apps that I need and an Internet connection.
That connection to the Internet is becoming more vital to everyday life. Without the connection, whether wireless or wired, the Internet and all its information and applications would be useless to me. The Amazon Shopping app or ecommerce site to renew my registration wouldn’t be possible.
What started as a connection via dial-up to get email and access the web (think “You’ve got mail”) has now become the ability to purchase cool earrings via a smartphone while sitting at your son’s baseball game.
Take a look at the report and let me know if there were any surprises.
