The percentage of time smartphone users spent connected to Wi-Fi in Canada amid the COVID-19 pandemic has ‘significantly increased,’ according to OpenSignal’s latest report.
The report notes that the percentage of time Canadians spent connected to Wi-Fi on their phones in the second week of January was 69.9 percent. In the third week of March, it increased to 76.3 percent, which is a seven percent increase.
“In North America, we detected significant increases in the percentage of time smartphone users spent connected to Wi-Fi in the third week of March, starting on March 16, with the largest change taking place in Canada,” the report reads.
Between March 9th to 15th, the mobile average time on Wi-Fi for Canadians was 70.6 percent. However, between March 16th to 22nd, the number increased to 76.3 percent.
In contrast, the percentage of time smartphone users spent connected to Wi-Fi in the United States in the second week of January was 56.2 percent. In the third week of March, it was 59.9 percent, which is a more modest increase.
Interestingly, Spain saw the largest week-on-week increase during the first full week of lockdown for the country when it was declared the second worst-hit country in Europe.
It’s important to note that this study just refers to the time users spent connected to the Wi-Fi on their smartphones, not their computers or laptops since that would likely be considerably much higher since people are working from home.
OpenSignal notes that an early indicator of change is the average percentage of time smartphone users spend connected to Wi-Fi. As people are spending a lot more time at home, this is increasing.
“Normally, people spend more of their time connected to Wi-Fi on weekends and during public holidays — demonstrating that it is a good indicator of increased time spent at home,” OpenSignal notes.
As COVID-19 and its impacts continue to spread across the country and the rest of the world, we’ll likely continue to see a rise in the percentage of time people are spending connected to Wi-Fi on their phones.
Image credit: OpenSignal
Source: OpenSignal
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