JERSEY CITY, N.J.—Broadband use continues to climb and will approach or surpass 700 GB per month on average this year and 1 TB (Terabyte) within five, according to the latest edition of the OpenVault Broadband Insights (OVBI) report.

Last year, monthly average broadband consumption surpassed 600 GB for the first time, reaching 641 GB per month. The growth extended the multi-year trend of 9% or greater annual growth in usage. Based on this growth, the Q4 2023 edition of the OVBI projects broadband use will exceed 1 TB per month on average by the end of 2028.

The report also revealed the percentage of high-volume broadband users continues to grow. So-called “power users” of 1 TB or more have climbed 437% and “super power users” of 2 TB or more have grown 1,235% since 2018. “Extreme power users,” a new category consisting of those who consume 5 TB or more of broadband per month rose 71% in 2023 alone, according to the OVBI report.

Commercial customers are contributing to significant growth in upstream traffic, which has risen by 158.48% since 2018, it said.

“The combined impact of these growth factors is amplifying the need for increased operator focus on network performance and Quality of Experience (QoE), especially as operators deploy DOCSIS 3.1 and DOCSIS 4.0 technologies,” the report said. “Studies show that slow or inconsistent internet speed and repeated connection issues erode customer satisfaction and loyalty more than any other factor.”

Among the latest findings:

• Monthly average data use was 641 GB, up 9.3% year over year from 586.7 GB at the end of 2022 and up 16.5% from the 550.2 GB in Q3 ‘23.
• The 71% rise in extreme power users of 5 TB or more was just part of the growth across all power user categories: power users of 1 TB or more per month now account for 21.6% of all subscribers; while the percentage of super power users grew 37% to 4.7%.
• Nearly 40% of all users provisioned for gigabit speeds are power users.
• Commercial subscribers’ 68 GB of monthly upstream usage is 74% higher than the 39 GB used monthly by residential subscribers.

OpenVault chief product officer Brady Volpe and CEO and founder Mark Trudeau will discuss the findings during a webinar Feb. 15 at 11 a.m. EST. Registration is available online.

The entire report is available online.

JERSEY CITY, N.J.—As operators race to rollout more fiber into their networks and ever faster gigabit networks, consumers continue to increase their data consumption. A new OpenVault Broadband Insights (OVBI) report finds that monthly average data usage was 533.8 GB in Q1 2023, up 8.8% year over year from 490.7 GB in 1Q22.

The study also found significant activity by heavy broadband users, with heavy users hitting new records of data consumption. In addition, the percentage of subscribers on gigabit speed tiers more than doubled over the previous year, reaching 31.6% in 2Q 2023. 

In a first-of-its-kind breakdown of broadband usage by application category, the OVBI report notes that power users stream more than 2.2 TB of data per month, nearly six times as much as average users. Furthermore, power users’ gaming consumption of 498 GB per month was 2,271% higher than average users’ 21 GB per month. OVBI defines an average user as one who consumes 400-600 GB per month.

“As subscribers flock to faster and faster speed tiers, there is increasing pressure on operator networks to deliver uninterrupted and unimpaired user experiences,” said Mark Trudeau, CEO and founder of OpenVault. “With deeper visibility into the applications that subscribers are using, operators can proactively understand and strengthen the most vulnerable areas in their networks.”

In addition to the stark streaming and gaming differences between power and average users, the OVBI report also noted that average users dedicate a significantly greater portion of their bandwidth – 20% – to social media, well ahead of both power users (9%) and light users (6%). Light users of less than 100 GB per month expend 92% of their consumption on streaming and less than 1% on gaming. As always, the report leverages data aggregated from OpenVault’s suite of broadband management tools.

As part of its continued analysis of usage by participants in the Affordable Connectivity Plan, OVBI also found a notable difference between fully-subsidized subscribers who pay the entirety of their monthly bill with the plan’s $30 allowance, and partially subsidized subscribers who use the $30 allowance to defray part of the cost of higher-priced plans with faster speeds. 

OVBI found that partially subsidized participants consumed 40.6% more data than non-ACP subscribers, while fully subsidized participants who receive slower speed tiers (50-75Mbps) consumed just 18.2% more data.

OpenVault will host a webinar to elaborate on the report on Thursday, July 26 at 11 a.m. EST.  Registration is here.  

The entire report is at https://openvault.com/resources/ovbi/. OpenVault also provides continuously updated broadband consumption figures in OpenVault’s Broadband Tracker. 

The company's broadband tracker is currently projecting that average broadband data usage will be more than 583 GB for July of 2023.

HOBOKEN, N.J.—By the end of 2020, broadband networks saw traffic rise by more than 50%, while the average broadband usage approached one-half a terabyte, according to Open Vault’s Q4 2020 OVBI (Open Vault Broadband Insights) report.

Open Vault found that per-subscriber average data usage for Q4 2020 was 482.6 GB per month, a 40% increase over the 344 GB consumed in Q4 2019; it also was a 26% increase over Q3 2020’s 383.8 GB. With a broadband subscriber increase of 6.5%, Open Vault reports there was a net effect of 51% more broadband traffic in Q4. Media usage, meanwhile, rose 54% year-over-year, from 190.7 GB in 2019 to 293.8 GB in 2020.

Beyond growth, new trends also have emerged related to the pandemic. Since the 47% increase in average monthly use in April 2020, rising and falling trend lines have followed pre-pandemic norms, but at this new, higher level. There is also continued growth of upstream usage, with Q4 2020 seeing 31 GB/month of upstream consumption, up 63% year-over-year.

Other findings from the Open Vault report include 14.1% of subscribers are now consuming more than 1 TB of data per month, nearly double the Q4 2019 average (7.25%); extreme power users, who consume more than 2 TB per month, increased 184% year-over-year; more than half (53.6%) of all subscribers now consume more than the former power threshold of 250 GB per month; and on the provider side, those offering unlimited, flat-rate billing packages saw nearly 30% more power users than those with usage-based billing plans.

“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was complete and has forever changed broadband usage patterns,” the report notes. “Network operators now must contend with significantly higher average bandwidth usage, with implications for both network management and revenue. Network operators should evaluate all network management options to ensure they deliver the best customer experience while maximizing profitability.”

For more information, visit Open Vault’s website. 

HOBOKEN, N.J.—As cord-cutting continues to impact the pay-TV industry, a recent study during the second quarter of 2019 by OpenVault Broadband Industry has found a clue in figuring out if subscribers are contemplating a switch, and it is all based on their broadband usage.

According to the report, thousands of subscribers that made the move to broadband-only packages during the first half of 2019 steadily increased broadband consumption in the build-up to the switch. The future cord-cutters would use broadband 14% more than average subscribers six months before the change, 20% the month prior and 30% during the month they cut the cord. In the three months following, the difference rose to 70%.

OVBI’s report also highlights the difference of broadband usage of internet-only and pay-TV houses based off an aggregate of millions of subscribers. The average bandwidth consumption of internet-only houses came in at 390.42 GB, while pay-TV homes used an average of 210.89 GB, a difference of 85%.

Currently, the average broadband usage in the U.S. is 271 GB, according to OVBI, a 25% growth year-over-year from Q2 2018. Year-over-year median usage rose nearly 32% to 144.5 GB, which OBVI says indicates increased usage across all levels of consumption.

Additional findings shows that Usage-Based Billing still helps to limit the number of “power users,” subscribers who consume more than 1 TB of data per month, as they were 23% less likely to exceed the mark than Flat Rate Billing customers, and 61% less likely to exceed 2 TB.

“As more and more subscribers exhibit cord-cutting behavior, visibility into usage behavior and sound Usage-Based Billing plans will help operators to manage increasingly buys networks and ensure subscriber satisfaction,” said Josh Barstow, executive vice president of corporate strategy and business development at OVBI.

The full report can be found here.