The Huffington Post recently gave us 50 technology statistics including some stats from our own Purple WiFi survey! Amazingly 90% of all smartphones are equipped with WiFi capabilities and we have picked some of the other interesting WiFi stats:
1) WiFi makes shoppers happy
We know from the Future Stores Report that showrooming happens, and enhances a customer experience in store. Also we have seen how WiFi has been used in shopping centres such as The Orchards Shopping Centre in West Sussex, UK. So, the statistics on WiFi use in stores aren’t surprising. According to Retail Touch Point – Up to 70% of consumers in-store have a WiFi capable device in their pocket and 50% of consumers feel comfortable making a large purchase in-store if WiFi access is available (Accenture). This highlights the expectation of WiFi availability in making a pleasurable retail experience.
2) Customers choose WiFi over cellular
There are now more and more hotspots providing WiFi access that save on a monthly cellular bill and it’s no wonder that WiFi use is so popular. The statistics tell us that WiFi is the preferred choice and WiFi over cellular has become the medium of choice reported by 2/3 of US consumers (Deloitte). A whopping 71% of all mobile communications flow over WiFi (Wi-Fi Alliance).
3) Hotels see WiFi as an essential amenity
Increasingly travellers are expecting free WiFi as an essential to their stay and liken it to being as necessary as being able to take a shower. HotelChatter found that 94% of people cite WiFi as the most important amenity yet they found that only 64% of hotels offer it free to their customers. Hotels are taking note as 38% of hotel customers say that they would book elsewhere if there was no WiFi available.
4) WiFi capacity
This article estimates that on average four wireless devices are now being brought into work per person! Although we reckon this figure is optimistic, there is definitely an increasing demand on WiFi capacity and this is set to rise further. Infonetic reports an estimated half of all networking devices will be mobile by 2015 and that most businesses are planning to increase WiFi capacity by at least 20% in 2014. According to Gigaom, by 2020 it is predicted that 24 billion devices will be connected to the Internet and the vast majority will use some form of wireless for access. See our top tips for poor WiFi access if you can’t get online easily enough.
5) WiFi isn’t everywhere just yet
The demand for WiFi access is already huge globally and it is expected that there will be more than 7 billion new WiFi enabled devices over the next three years. The statistics tell us we are not covering WiFi access to its full potential just yet, for example, only 39% of schools in the US have WiFi access (National Center for Education Statistics). We have already translated our product into 16 languages due to customer demand.
6) We definitely can’t live without WiFi
Nomophobia is a fear of being without our mobile phones and we need WiFi access to be comfortable in our daily lives. So much so that Iconic Displays found 75% of people say a week without WiFi would leave them grumpier than a week without coffee and 60% of people can’t go without WiFi for more than 1 day.