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Britain’s Biggest Bandwidth Hogs
So how has the UK spent lockdown? It seems as though Britain has hit the sofa to stream more content than ever before! Official figures from the ONS highlight how much bandwidth Britain has used in comparison to 2015.
The ONS Study found that the most popular activity was to stream video content. The survey determined that it took up 2 hours and 53 minutes each day. USwitch also discovered that the UK Broadband usage had increased by almost a third overall (29%). That’s A LOT of bandwidth usage!
However, a recent poll by YouGov discovered that 35% of broadband users in the UK have slower than normal speeds during lockdown! So the question is, how much bandwidth is the UK using and how is it affecting the quality of our connections?
Revealing the UK’s Top Broadband Issues
During the lockdown there has been an increase in the usage of UK broadband connections. Which will in effect take up a lot of bandwidth. 1 in 5 households (21%) have suffered with dropped connections. Including buffering or slow connections.
So therefore our friends over at USwitch took to Reddit to research:
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What the most common complaints were when it comes to broadband connections
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How often the UK searches Google for a solution to these issues
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Where in the country suffers the most with internet problems
Technical complaints toppled the list of broadband issues that people had. While Broadband speed was the top issue affecting those in Norwich. Googling for a speedy solution more than anywhere else in the UK. Improving latency was the top issue in Cambridge. As they were fed up with having to wait for their connections to respond.
USwitch discovered a number of customer service related complaints such as Switch Broadband Provider and Cancel Broadband was the most prevalent in Glasgow!
Top 10 Bandwidth Hungry Apps Revealed
Bandwidth is a hot commodity and a lot of your apps take up a lot of it! Netflix even applied restrictions on streaming quality to reduce the amount of bandwidth used in order to help video run smoothly. USwitch discovered that Netflix used around 1GB of bandwidth data at standard definition, per hour!
Furthermore Google Stadia and NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW used LOADS of bandwidth! With Google Stadia raking in 4.5gb of bandwidth per hour!
What is cloud gaming and why does it use so much bandwidth?
Cloud gaming requires gamers to play games which are streamed via the cloud. This is done via a data centre which provides the computing power. Every single thing a gamer does is communicated between them and the data center. Therefore this is why so much bandwidth is required and used during play.
Where do the UK’s Biggest Bandwidth Users Live?
The study by USwitch discovered that Southampton was the location that saw the biggest surge in broadband usage. Jumping 49% to 44 hours 36mins a week during lockdown. While which area in the UK uses the most bandwidth hungry apps?
Our study named Southampton as the UK location experiencing the biggest surge in broadband use – jumping 49% to 44 hours and 36 minutes a week during lockdown, but which area in the UK is using the most bandwidth-hungry apps?
The UK’s Most Used Apps During Lockdown
The average household has 8 devices which connect to the internet. USwitch discovered how much bandwidth do our most used apps eat up per hour?
Revealed: The Winners and Losers of Lockdown Entertainment
Video Calls Winner — Zoom
Video calling has a had a HUGE surge in popularity. 2/3’s of consumers 68% have said that they used the tech since the lockdown began. With Zoom being the biggest app with the highest search increase in the UK.
Plus it only uses 0.54gb’s per hour. Making it one of the least bandwidth hungry video calling apps. With Google Hangouts using the most at 0.70gb’s
Films and Box Sets Winner — Hulu
Suprisingly Hulu is the most popular video streaming service. 49% of searches for it since the lockdown. While Hulu isn’t available in the UK yet, it seems many could still access the content. Apple TV was a close second with 44% of people tuning in. Suprisingly Disney+ and Netflix were much further down the list! As they only had a third more searches than usual.
Amazon Prime hits bottom spot with 0.1% increase in searches. Maybe this is because many of us have those services anyway? Or maybe we’ve watched everything and are looking for new sources.
Catch-up TV Winner — My5
My5 tops the list when it comes to streaming catch up tv! With 100% more people searching for the service than before lockdown. Coming in 2nd was All4 with 46% more searches and BBC iPlayer had 19% more.
Music Streaming Winner — Apple Music
Apple Music had a 40% more increase in searches. The streaming quality could have knocked Spotify off the top spot. Streaming Spotify has 0.04gbs of data per hour of usage. With Apple Music uses 1gb of data as it’s a higher standard.
(USwitch)
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What are your most Data Draining Apps?
We all love our data and back in the day there was a stupid amount charged per MB! So, wouldn’t we all like to save MB’s where possible? We all don’t like that dread text message towards the end of the month that you’re about to run out of data. Therefore wouldn’t you like to know which apps are sucking the life out of your data plan? Well we’ve got some data for you! (See what we did there) A study, conducted by Mobile Phones Direct, explored the data usage of a number of apps that hurt your data balance.
First of all, daily video and music streaming is doing you more harm than good and it’s hitting your data, HARD. If you use BBC iPlayer and Channel 5’s My 5 then you’re gonna have to cut back. As they’ve been named as the worst offending video apps for data drainage. Taking up to a gig, a GIG of data for an hour of streaming. Suprisingly Netflix uses very little data at 314mb. See the handy chart below for more:
Quick Tip:
Download on Netflix to allow videos to be played offline to save data. However, if you don’t wish to download videos, let the show buffer whilst you are on WiFi network and then watch on your mobile network. Therefore you aren’t using any data as the file has already buffered on your phone! Furthermore on YouTube you can head into settings and make sure that the ‘limit mobile data usage’ option is ticked. This will force the app to only watch videos in HD when connected to a WiFi Network.
Music Streaming however, there may be a different way to save data, if you’re a Spotify user. Tthere’s a way to help limit the way that it uses your data! As well as changing the quality of the music, making the music available offline, or downloading the music that Spotify (and many other apps) offer you, you can do more.
With Spotify only there’s an app called Spotify Lite (Currently only available on Android). This version of the app only takes up 15mb of memory compared to 100mb. Most of all, the app doesn’t allow HQ music to be played. If you’re an Apple Music or a Tidal user however, then they take up the most data when listening for an hour. Tidal gobbles up 184mb compared to Spotify using almost 100mb less.
(Deloitte)
*Mobile Phones Direct watched 5 minutes of content from each app and multiplied it to determine the total data usage over an hour. Each video was watched on both an iPhone 7 plus and XR in HD using 4G. Results may vary.
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Raylo: Music With A Cinematic Twist
“Cinematic music….I have not heard anything like this before…give me more RAYLO!”
RAYLO are a brand new music group who mix melodic R&B vocals and UK Rap. Formed of singers/rappers, Reece Whyte and Teni Solomon, and producers George Renwick and Robin Reeve.
Their latest work ‘So Gone’ is available now via all streaming services and there’s also a music video for the lead single of the same name.
The EP is an eclectic mix of tracks that showcases their range and versatility. From down tempo tracks such as ‘Remember Me’ to up beat soundtrack to your summer productions on ‘Polaroid’. ‘So Gone’ is an EP to remember and they’ve definitely have announced their name in style!
Their lead track ‘So Gone’ is a melodic and thought provoking R&B heavy hitter, with Teni Solomon and Reece White laying down lyrics which demonstrate their road to success. The mix between silky smooth sultry R&B melody is a stark contrast to the smooth gritty flow that Reece Whyte lays down. Music with substance.
Our presenter Marcus Bronzy describes their latest single:
“Cinematic music….I have not heard anything like this before…give me more RAYLO!”
Listen to ‘So Gone’ here: Apple Music / Spotify
Follow RAYLO:
Twitter / Instagram / Facebook
iTunes Gone?
Is iTunes dead? Who actually buys music anymore? Are Apple going to kill off iTunes? Or are they going to give it a slow death? Well there have been rumours that Apple are looking to kill off it’s music downloading service, iTunes, in favour of it’s music streaming service, Apple Music. These rumours were so strong that Apple were forced in giving a statement in which an Apple spokesman said that ‘It’s not true’ Short and sweet. We like it!
Metro revealed to the public last year that Apple were planning to stop selling album bundles, which Apple called iTunes LP’s. Metro reported that industry sources and analysts hailed this move as Apple looking to cease operation on their long running iTunes service. The rumour began when Digital Music news stated it would shut down on March 31st, 2019. Yet an Apple Spokesman stated that it wasn’t true.
Legendary music producer turned Apple employee, Jimmy Iovine, stated, according to the BBC, that Apple were indeed looking to shelve the service. When he was asked if it were going to be phased out of just shut off all together. Jimmy said that there’s no timescale and ‘If I’m honest, it’s when people stop buying. ‘It’s very simple.’
So who knows?
iTunes vs Subscription
Apple are in a race to become the biggest streaming service in the world. Whilst it’s hot on the heels of Spotify’s number 1 spot. (70million subscribers) Compared to Apple’s 38Million, there’s still some growth to go, but with 2 million growth in subs over 1 month. It can be argued that Apple could and should catch up by the end of the year.
To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!
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Spotify IPO
Spotify have as recently as the end of December filed for an IPO via a ‘Direct Listing’ this is a very smart move by the Swedish company. This is an alternative route to Snapchats IPO, and regular WallStreet ‘rules’. As there is no public furore leading up to the listing. Thus allowing execs to pitch their buisness to analysts and other suitable and potential investors. Better yet there are no fees to Wall Street underwriters. (As they would price a company’s shares before trading.)
What’s different?
A major difference between Snap Inc’s IPO and Spotify’s ‘Direct Listing’ is because Spotify have a LOT of money. (With over 60M paid subscribers they can afford to) So raising more money isn’t directly in Spotify’s interest.
Instead, they’re offering employees to cash out (at a current private valuation) and sell their shares to new investors!
To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!
Apple buys Shazam
Apple have acquired the music discovery app Shazam! Shazam is the app that basically lets you identify songs, movies, TV shows and commercials from short audio clips. So you are then able to listen to them via your favourite music streaming service. Usually Apple Music/Spotify. So, this is not good news for Spotify.
Apple spokesperson told The Verge:
“Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users. We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today’s agreement.”
Allegedly the purchase of the music discovery app is $400M! While only pulling in $54M in revenue!
How will this affect you?!
There are a number of ways the acquisition can benefit the tech giant. Music! As a result the most obvious way the music discovery app can help Apple is via Apple Music! (If they shut down the app and use integrate it into the iOS, one would assume via Siri. Therefore Spotify referrals will be non existent) As click throughs per day are said to be 1M. Consequently this is HUGELY beneficial!
To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!
To download Shazam please click here!
