Voice vs. Data: Estimating Media Usage and Network Traffic Implications

Title: Voice vs. Data: Estimating Media Usage and Network Traffic Implications

Research Question: How do real users' media usage estimates, converted to bits, compare between voice and data traffic?

Methodology: The study surveyed two groups of students in New York City and Los Angeles, asking them to estimate their media usage for a typical day within the past 7 days. The media categories included telephone (wired and wireless), cell phone, internet, television, radio, music, newspaper, magazines, and books. The responses were then converted to bits to estimate the total media usage.

Results: The results showed that voice traffic (telephone and cell phone usage) was significantly higher than data traffic (internet usage) for both groups of students. The graduate business students spent an average of 58.1 minutes on voice telecommunications, while the undergraduate students spent 51.1 minutes. The e-mail ratio was about 3 to 1 for both groups, and the graduate business students visited 11.6 Web sites, while the undergraduate students visited 7.3. The graduate business students had an average of 0.5 software downloads and 0.5 A/V downloads, while the undergraduate students had an average of 0.9 software downloads and 4.2 A/V downloads.

Implications: The findings suggest that user-generated voice traffic exceeds data traffic, contrary to the popular conception that data traffic nearly, if not already, exceeds voice traffic on backbone networks. This discrepancy may be due to the fact that voice traffic is often underestimated or overlooked in network usage data. The study highlights the importance of considering both voice and data traffic when analyzing network usage and capacity planning.

Link to Article: https://arxiv.org/abs/0109007v1 Authors: arXiv ID: 0109007v1