Total mobile network traffic has risen 129% in the last five years, according to Verizon’s first-ever Consumer Connections Report.
The report was formulated to show how connectivity is influencing and improving the way people live, work and play. It is based on research that analyzes various data, including consumer data usage within U.S. cities, the most popular apps, and even state-to-state population flows.
One of the report’s top findings was the strong growth of city-level monthly smartphone usage, up from an average of 11.5GB per line in January 2022 to 15.5GB per line in November 2023, an increase of 34%.
Video is becoming ever more popular: Nearly half (47%) of consumer mobile traffic was devoted to video in the second half of 2023, according to third-party data sources that Verizon tapped. When Verizon examined the most popular apps, it found that video-sharing platforms dominated in time spent daily on the app and weekly mobile usage. The preference for video has been noted in other reports, although at higher percentages.
The report also identified year-to-year growth of 111% on Verizon’s fixed wireless services, 5G Home Internet and LTE Home Internet, which rose to nearly 1.9 million consumers at year-end 2023.
Outside of telecom, the report was able to use the data to pinpoint some geographic trends:
- Moving across state lines peaked in 2021, according to the number of Verizon accounts that started the year in a state and then left for a different state during the year.
- Consumers are leaving New York and California for warmer climates, lower costs of living and more space, in looking at the most popular state-to-state moves in 2023, the report suggests.
- The most frequent state-to-state moves out of New York were New York to Florida, New York to New Jersey, and New York to North Carolina. The most frequent state-to-state moves out of California were California to Arizona and California to Texas, the report said.
