When Apple released the iPhone 4S and revealed the new Siri feature for the device, it led to a number of knockoffs on rival platforms. We now have news that the Siri feature is causing network strain with the data usage spike.
The new feature has been well received from most iPhone 4S users, but Siri has resulted in many of those users to use almost double the amount of data compared to the iPhone 4. Bloomberg are reporting that network company Arieso has said this is putting carriers under greater pressure.
Arieso are based in Atlanta and advises companies such as Telefonica and the Vodafone group about managing wireless networks. Apple released the new feature back in October and allows users to schedule appointments and write SMS messages among other things.
Over one million subscribers were measured on a single unknown European network, which centered on both rural and urban areas. The increase in data usage could easily put extra strain on networks as carriers look to expand faster networks. Verizon in the US only recently announced that it doubled the amount of iPhones it had sold during the fourth quarter.
Previously AT&T has come under fire for dropped calls and network coverage in heavily populated areas such as New York and San Francisco. The iPhone 4S regularly connects to Apple’s servers to synchronize various applications, which can add to the data load according to Michael Flanagan of Arieso.
Carriers have moved to limit their data tariffs to stop heavy use as more customers browse the internet and download HD content. Vodafone has moved toward a usage based billing to try and protect its network capacity. Research by Arieso found that a small number of users accounted for fifty percent of downloaded data.
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