Do You Wi-Fi on Your Phone?

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It wasn’t that long ago that phones did what they were designed to do, connect to phone networks. Having Wi-Fi on a phone was a pipe dream, and why would you even want that? Then phones started to appear with integrated Wi-Fi, and everyone took notice. Formerly the domain of laptop users while on the run, Wi-Fi was quickly noticed to be not only desirable on phones, but mandatory. With Wi-Fi onboard almost all smartphones on the market, it is not surprising that over half of the connections to Wi-Fi hotspots are made by phones and other handheld devices, not laptops.

Mobile ad distributor JiWire has reported that 56 percent of all ads served over its Wi-Fi networks are dished up by handheld devices — phones in particular. The JiWire network consists of hotspots in hotels, coffee shops and airports, normally the domain of laptop users.

I suspect a couple of things are at play with this wide-spread usage of Wi-Fi on phones. Cost is likely one factor, as phone data plans are still expensive and many have monthly data caps that must be respected. Then there is raw speed — Wi-Fi networks are almost always faster than even the best 3G phone networks. When faced with a limited amount of time, the faster the network, the more that can be done.

I admit that when phones first started getting Wi-Fi capability, I kept it turned off most of the time. I was concerned about unnecessary battery drain, so I only turned it on when needed and quickly disabled it when I didn’t. Now I don’t think about it, Wi-Fi is usually on most of the time as I find it is actually gentler on the battery than 3G data connections. How about you? Do you use Wi-Fi on your phone or other handheld device? If so, what drives that usage?

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

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