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Sandvine: 'Cord Cutters' Use Seven Times the Bandwidth

A new report by network gear maker Sandvine found, among other things, that cord cutters (or at least heavy streaming video users, since Sandvine can't confirm they've actually cut the cord) use seven times the bandwidth as more casual streamers. Sandvine claims the the top 15 percent of streaming video users go through 212 gigabytes of data month, compared to the average broadband user -- who consumes around 29 gigabytes a month.

"If converting that usage to actual hours of video, and assuming approximately 1.5GB of data for each hour viewed (Using Netflix’s usage levels and assuming relatively equal HD and SD viewing), subscribers with “cord cutting behavior” could be consuming on average roughly 100 hours of video each month," notes Sandvine.

Except again, given Sandvine can't technically tell if these users cut the traditional TV cord, all Sandvine's really saying is that people who use more bandwidth-intensive apps use more bandwidth, which really shouldn't surprise anybody. Surely ISP (Sandvine's clients) talking points will soon include the argument that if "cord cutters use 7X the bandwidth," surely bandwidth caps on usage only make sense, right?

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I stopped reading at this point

quote:
A new report by network gear maker Sandvine found, among other things, that cord cutters (or at least heavy streaming video users, since Sandvine can't confirm they've actually cut the cord) use seven times the bandwidth as more casual streamers.

If Sandvine doesn't know, why are they saying that "Cord Cutters" are using 7x the bandwidth? My parents are heavy users of Netflix, and yet they subscribe to Comcast Digital Preferred with HBO and Showtime. Does that mean they are cord cutters too?

So this report as a whole is very misleading.