WeFi: Android starting to lean heavily on Wi-Fi

Using Wi-Fi networks to offload smartphone data traffic has been a big goal of operators, as they see their 3G networks overloaded with application and Internet traffic. According to Wi-Fi crowd-sourcing company WeFi, the impact of Wi-Fi is starting to show up in global connection data, particularly among Android handsets.

WeFi found that about 40% of Android handsets using its crowd-sourcing software consumed 100 MB or more of data on Wi-Fi networks each month during the first quarter of 2010. While usage tapered off after the 500 MB mark, Android phone users were clearly engaging heavily with Wi-Fi in their data sessions, according to WeFi’s numbers. The study indicated that when customers crossed over the 100 MB mark for consumption each month, the data load clearly shifted from cellular to Wi-Fi. Only 10% of Android smartphone users consumed more than 100 MB of cellular data a month.

Some devices in particular were particularly adroit at surfing in and out of Wi-Fi networks. Motorola’s (NYSE:MOT) Cliq MB200 was the hungriest for Wi-Fi, with more than 30% of the handsets consuming between 500 MB and 2 GB of data each month and 5% consuming more than 2 GB. The Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Nexus One came in second, with the HTC Hero 200 coming in a close third. The Android device that WeFi found to consume the least Wi-Fi data was the HT-03A, a 3G handset on NTT DoCoMo’s (NYSE:DCM) network in Japan. That’s probably explained by the fact that DoCoMo runs the oldest and densest 3G network in the globe, giving its customers little need to rely on Wi-Fi.

Furthermore, WeFi found that 30% of Wi-Fi sessions on Android devices lasted 20 minutes or more, even though the high mobility of smartphones would seem to imply they’d move out of a hotspot rather quickly. WeFi conceded that this might have more to do with the Wi-Fi configuration of the Android OS, which leaves a Wi-Fi session open until the application specifically closes it.

WeFi didn’t track how other smartphone platforms fared over Wi-Fi, namely because the data wasn’t available to it. WeFi depends on customers downloading its Wi-Fi-scanning software to track data. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) banned Wi-Fi scanning apps from its app store in February, so WeFi’s info on one of the most popular smartphones in the market is limited. The iPhone’s exclusive operator in the U.S., AT&T (NYSE:T), has indicated that Wi-Fi is becoming a significant offload venue for its iPhone user base. That also means that WeFi data comes from Android customers who have specifically downloaded its application, making them naturally more inclined to seek out Wi-Fi options.

WeFi, however, did track Symbian Wi-Fi usage, finding it much lower than that of Android. Nearly 80% of Wi-Fi-enabled Symbian phones consumed less than a 100 MB per month over Wi-Fi networks, and cellular remained the dominant connection type for Symbian users, even as they consumed upwards of 100 MB of data. For cellular-connected laptops and netbooks, the trend was the opposite. According to WeFi the less data consumed each month the more the connection burden fell on the cellular network, but as the consumption surpassed 500 MB, Wi-Fi took over most of the heavy lifting from the 3G network.