Minutes of Use (MOU): 2.321 trillion; June 2011: 2.251 trillion (3 percent increase)

[snooper2]

Data on existing wireless traffic (no landlines, business facilities, TDM or VoIP services included in stats)



Consumer Data Traffic Increased 104 Percent According to CTIA-The Wireless Association® Semi-Annual Survey

October 11, 2012

1.1 trillion MB of data were used from July 2011-June 2012

Prepaid subscribers represented 74.9 million out of the almost 322 million wireless subscriber connections
Average monthly bill, that includes voice, data and text usage, was $47.16

San Diego – Americans used more than 1.1 trillion megabytes (MB) of data from July 2011-June 2012, which was an increase of 104 percent over the previous 12 months according to CTIA-The Wireless Association® semi-annual survey released today at MobileCON™. The survey also revealed that smartphone adoption continues to grow impressively. As of June 2012, smartphones made up 131 million (or 41 percent) of the almost 322 million wireless subscriber connections. The number of tablets increased to 22 million, which is almost 17 percent of all wireless connections. In addition, there was an almost 10 percent increase in prepaid subscribers, from 68.4 to 74.9 million or 23.3 percent of U.S. wireless subscribers, from the previous year. Even though many consumers are using more voice, data and text than ever before, the average monthly bill went down $0.07 to $47.16 per month. These figures illustrate Americans’ growing appetite for more mobile data and the wireless industry’s need for more spectrum to meet their demands.

As of June 2012, the semi-annual survey results are:
Wireless subscriber connections: 321.7 million (101 percent penetration); June 2011: 306 million (5 percent increase).

Active smartphones and wireless-enabled PDAs: 130.8 million; June 2011: 95.8 million (37 percent increase).

Number of active data-capable devices: 300.4 million; June 2011: 278.3 million (8 percent increase).

Wireless-enabled tablets, laptops and modems: 21.6 million; June 2011: 15.2 million (42 percent increase).



The 12-month survey results from July 2011-June 2012 compared to the previous July 2010-June 2011 figures are:

Wireless network data traffic: 1.16 trillion megabytes; June 2011: 568 billion megabytes (104 percent increase).

Minutes of Use (MOU): 2.321 trillion; June 2011: 2.251 trillion (3 percent increase).

SMS sent and received: 2.273 trillion; June 2011: 2.206 trillion (3 percent increase).

MMS sent and received: 58.3 billion; June 2011: 52.7 billion (10.6 percent increase).

Average local monthly wireless bill (includes voice, data and text): $47.16; June 2011: $47.23 (0.2 percent decrease).



Thanks to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) 2009 shot clock ruling on tower siting, the number of cell sites continues to grow, which are key to providing wireless service in a geographic area. According to the semi-annual survey, there were 28,641 cell sites added this year for a total of 285,561 nationwide. While more cell sites are important to expanding reach and improving coverage for wireless users, spectrum is the true answer to meet demand. Wireless providers continued their substantial commitment to improve mobile services for their customers, investing more than $25 million in capital expenditures in the last 12 months to do everything from add more towers to upgrade their networks from 3G to 4G. Since 2002, wireless providers have invested more than $230 billion in capital expenditures, a figure which doesn’t include the billions spent to acquire spectrum from the U.S. government.


http://www.ctia.org/media/press/body.cfm/prid/2216

[NYC_SKP]

1. "We're gonna need a bigger boat."

[snooper2]

2. Nah, I can tap all of that and keep it on a dongle

I read it on this thing called the Internet that is just a series of tubes, like 8 big ones. Schedule 40

[NYC_SKP]

3. I recommend schedule 80, this sucker's gonna blow!

[krispos42]

4. 2.251 trillion cellular minutes used

Assuming 8 minutes of voice can be recorded on 1 megabyte of hard-drive space, this means that
281,375,000,000 (about 281 billion) MB are needed to record all those calls. Doing the conversion, that makes it 281 petabytes, give or take.

The data center in Utah is estimated to have a capacity of 5 zetabytes, or 5,000,000 petabytes.

5,000,000 ÷ 281 = 17,794 years.

So they'd run out of storage sometime in the year 20,000 A.D. or so.





But of course, they wouldn't do that.

[snooper2]

7. "Assuming 8 minutes of voice can be recorded on 1 megabyte of hard-drive space"

You can assume that on average across wireless services a voice call is 32Kbps (rough average across CDMA, 3G, 4G)

I'm not a wireless guru but I'm sure SOMEONE here is. I thinking you should at least use a multiplier of 4 with your calculations-


Then you can add in the 2 trillion MOU of business PSTN traffic at 64kbps (.54M file size of each minute of voice traffic)



and then of course they have to "tap" all the data which is just a couple tubes right LOL

[krispos42]

11. Well, here's how I figured

Not only is the bitrate lower, but it's also in mono, not stereo.

If a decent-quality music MP3 is 1 MB/min, then switching over to mono and cutting the sampling rate to ¼th that would give 8x the storage.



I could be wrong, but if you double it, you still get 9,000 years worth. If you quadruple it, you get 4,500 years worth.

And of course, we need to consider traditional landline and VoIP calls as well.

Still, it's a fuck of a lot of storage, so a permanent record of all phone calls in the US is not out of the realm of possibility.

[Monkie]

13. so how many 1000's of years of data do they have space for?

i'm confused, and mr snooper stopped responding..

[krispos42]

14. More than enough.

*shrug*


Data storage is becoming cheaper and more concentrated. they can add storage far faster than we can add content.


By content I mean phone calls and emails and texts and such.


It is effectively limitless. We passed the tipping point a few years ago. From now on we cannot create content faster then it can be permanently stored. The NSA can add storage much faster than the world's telecommunication user can fill it.

nothing ever needs to be erased. ever.

[pscot]

9. The library of Babel

We're going collectively nuts.

[Pholus]

5. So an exabyte a year? That's about right... nt

[Pholus]

6. Also to add, compared to Seagate's advertised annual manufacturing in FY 2011

it is only 0.3%...

[BainsBane]

8. Is this going to be on the test?

[pscot]

10. No sweat. You have 17,000 years to study for it

[GeorgeGist]

12. Eureka!

need I say more?

[whatthehey]

15. Everyone concerned with privacy is focusing on the wrong math

So we know, and have for some time, that they can store calls if they wish; what do they do with them? Privacy is not violated by hard drives. A server cannot intrude on you personally any more than your toaster can blackmail you. So let's look at those 2.3T minutes and turn them into staffing needs to listen and analyze.

38.7B hours give or take means that at 40 hrs/week no breaks no vacations no other tasks just listning you would need 18,597,000 full time Agent Mikes. I know the black budget is large but it ain't that large and unemployment would be a crapload lower if the NSA had that payroll. How many listeners do they have? Divide your guess into that number and that's the very exaggerated topside risk you have of actually suffering a loss of privacy.

Now imagine yourself an NSA boss and decide what tiny fraction of voice traffic you are going to focus on. Would it be DUers or people with suspicious travel to Pakistan and a sudden urge to learn civil engineering say?