North American homes now contain on average seven active connected devices, while PCs account for less than a quarter of Internet traffic, says Sandvine’s latest Global Internet Phenomena Report Spotlight.

sandvine active devices 26 AugustThe report — based on data from a selection of the broadband network solutions firm’s fixed communications service providers (CSPs) in North America — also found a surge in home roaming, that is the use of mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) on fixed Wi-Fi networks. These now account for almost 30% of North American fixed access traffic, compared with only 9% five years ago.

In the US though, PCs were responsible for 61% of Olympic streaming traffic on a typical day. Roku devices (10%), were the set-top box (STB) of choice, beating Amazon Fire TV (3.9%) and Apple TV (3.3%). Yet on one network, the top consuming Netflix device (over 12%) was not a game console or Web browser, but the operator’s branded television STB that allows over-the-top (OTT) applications.

On PlayStation 4 consoles, game play traffic is only responsible for 2.5% of the total traffic that the device generates. Nearly two-thirds of traffic on the device is accounted for by video streaming (65%), and game downloads make up a quarter.

“The ability to understand what is happening within the connected home is valuable data that communications service providers can use to ensure they are providing their subscribers with the best possible experience,” said Don Bowman, CTO, Sandvine, commenting on the report.