Wi-Fi to Overtake Wired Network Traffic by 2015

Wired network traffic is still growing at a steady 26%, doubling every 3 years. But wireless traffic is forecast to continue growing at 36%, doubling in just over 2 years - over and over and over.

We forecast traffic as a way to ensure that guest expectations are met without unexpected upgrade requirements - and we know that guests given a choice between wired and wireless connections will choose wireless 3 to 4 times as often as a wired connection. That makes investments to retro-fit hotels with Ethernet an impossible ROI propisition because the cost is so high and the use so low.

<p><img src="http://gigaom2.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/cisco-vni-wifi-vs-wired-vs-mobile.jpg" alt="" /></p>

But with wireless traffic outpacing Internet use in general, we'll need to rework that year-over-year expectation. We've already seen properties where fewer than half the devices on the network were Windows and MAC laptops - and the growth in tablets, WiFi phones, gaming consoles on the road and other devices will soon make laptops a permanent minority. Nearly all of those non-laptop devices have WiFi and NO wired ports.

We long ago gave up handling coverage as the primary issue for wireless - capacity is the real key. Even with .11n, if you put in fewer than 1 Access Point for every 12 active users you are going to get complaints (24 per dual-radio AP of course). How many rooms do you have? That number divided by 8 is the number of wireless Access Points you need - any fewer and you are just waiting for the complaints to start.

Are you ready to double the capacity of your in-house network and your Internet connection every 2 years?

link to original source by Janko Roettgers

via Sandvine, Engadget

Netflix now accounts for 22.2% of all Internet traffic in North America and up to 30% of all traffic during peak times, according to Sandvine, a manufacturer of network traffic control products.

So, Web Browsing must be, like 22.1%, right? Noooo... as you can see here, Web browsing (and other miscellaneous traffic using the http protocol) account for just 16.8% of traffic - less than BitTorrent at 21.6%. YouTube is the fourth largest traffic source at 8.2% of all traffic.

That leaves 31.2% for everything else, including not only email, twitter and FTP, but also ALL other on-line media traffic including iTunes, Hulu, and Amazon Video on Demand. So is your network only built to handle web pages and email? That accounts for less than 20% of what's actually be done with your network.

You probably ought to start looking at how to manage (and mitigate) the other 80%.

The Wall Street Journal article 'Luxury Hotels Free Up Wi-Fi' discusses how some brands are starting to drop Internet access fees for Loyalty program members, but at the end of the article Josh Weiss (Vice President, Brands and Guest Technology for Hilton Worldwide) is quoted:

"It is not uncommon for one guest room to consume more bandwidth than an entire hotel did three years ago," says Hilton's Mr. Weiss.

But here's a warning to data junkies: Hilton has individual user caps. Bandwidth hogs who go over the cap "will see a slowdown," he says.

If they already have bandwidth caps to ensure equitable access among guests, then what Weiss is referring to is a punitive consumption cap. Use too much and your individual speed limit gets decreased.

From AOL Travel

So, how many points is that?

http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/04/15/rent-liechtenstein-for-70k-a-night-through-airbnb/

You can see not only the rise and gradual fall of Internet Explorer - but get a reminder of just how old IE6 and IE7 are, and why it needs to be replaced if you're one of the unlucky few still using it (they were released in 2001 and 2006!).

from TechKing: 

via the Idaho Business Review

U-Haul International, Inc., named Boise the second-highest “growth city” in the country in its annual national report on migration.

U-Haul report says Boise was a top city for migration in 2010

from Glenn Fleishman at WiFi Net News:

The airport dropped fees for Wi-Fi last year, and saw a 412 percent increase in 2010 use over that in 2009: 1.4m sessions instead of 350,000.

Boston.com article: here

Relevance? The last time we switched a property from paid to free usage went up 300% in 60 days. Giving your guests what they want (free basic Internet access) is good - but failing to plan for an increase in usage is going to frustrate them.

We can show you how to predict demandfor the next three years based on your room count, meeting space, occupancy, average length of stay, and guest type.

Ford's been putting itself in a lot of unexpected places, the latest is a sponsorship of Facebook access during flights with Gogo's in-flight Internet access services (so not *all* flights, but all of the planes equipped to use Gogo).

Analysis by Glenn Fleishman: Facebook for Free on a Flight in February

Press Release from Gogo Inflight Internet: http://gogo.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=63

January 10, 2011 from Dave Taylor as posted on The Huffington Post:

The lengths some guests will go to when asked to pay for Internet access in their room, and why.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-taylor/the-increasingly-ridiculo_b_806515.html

Half of all WiFi hotspot traffic in 2012 predicted to come from handhelds, not PCs.

http://gigaom.com/2010/12/30/wi-fi-hotspots-only-going-to-get-hotter/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+%28GigaOM%3A+Tech%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher