Smartphone users are increasingly shunning 3G connections in favor of accessing the web via WiFi, hotspot location firm WeFi claims.
The firm’s latest WiFi traffic report found that users of Symbian and Android smartphones are spending more time connected to the Internet over WiFi, as part of a growing trend away from cellular connections that also includes laptop and notebook PC users.
Android devices are increasingly consuming large amounts of data via Wi-Fi, with around 17% of devices consuming over 2GB, and 25% between 500MB and 2GB per month.
While the majority of Android users – 35% - are still online for less than five minutes per session, 10% now use WiFi to access the Web for one to three hours, and 20% for between 20 and 60 minutes, WeFi said.
Symbian users are on the same track, though the bulk still consumer under 100MB of data over WiFi each month, with around 70% of sessions lasting for five minutes or less.
However, Symbian devices only maintain the connection while the user is active, which skews the usage data slightly, WeFi explained.
Around 35% of Android devices detected were from the US, with 7% hailing from Japan, 6% from the UK and 5% from France.
The data excludes the iPhone, because Apple has banned the distribution of WiFi sniffing apps through the iTunes store.