The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a "massive uptick" in demand for smart home services, a new study has found, with the services in demand showing why an upgrade of the NBN initially built by the government was urgently required.
With Australians spending more time at home than ever due to COVID-19-related restrictions, demand has surged for internet of things (IoT) devices such as home security cameras, video doorbells and smart locks, according to the report, the Telsyte Australian IoT.
That surge has led to a dramatic increase in demand for broadband connections that have not just the fast download speeds the NBN has focused on, but also the fast upload speeds required by IoT devices that have video cameras built in, the study found.
Online awakening
Telsyte's study found that 67 per cent of Australians consider having a fast internet connection important when buying or renting a new home, which is a big increase from the 9 per cent who said the same just two years ago.
"There is a massive uptick in people looking for fast internet for their smart home. That's what people are looking for when they're buying or moving to a new home," Mr Fadaghi said.
Better, more symmetrical internet connections are not the only thing people are looking for in their increasingly smart homes. The humble power supply is in hot demand, too, as people buy more IoT devices and need somewhere to plug them in.
Having enough power supplies is now the second-most-important technology requirement in a new home, with 64 per cent of Australians describing it as an important consideration, the study found.
Similarly, the ability to get Wi-Fi to all those IoT devices was an important consideration when choosing a new home for 45 per cent of respondents, Telsyte found.
Similarly, the ability to get Wi-Fi to all those IoT devices was an important consideration when choosing a new home for 45 per cent of respondents, Telsyte found.
Almost all of that growth has come from IoT devices, Mr Fadaghi said, because other home internet devices such as PCs and gaming consoles are not growing at all.
The research company predicts that, by 2024 when the NBN fibre upgrade is scheduled to be completed, there will be 371 million internet-connected devices in Australian households, at an average of 35.6 per household – an increase of 81 per cent on this year's figure."We're starting to see a lot more mainstream acceptance of things like smart doorbells and locks. It's not unusual for people to consider the smart version of curtains, and all kinds of things of the home," Mr Fadaghi said.
Australia's love affair with smart speakers has continued through the pandemic, with 2.6 million households now having some sort of voice-controlled speaker, up from 2.5 million last year and 1.6 million in 2018. "Hey Google" continues to be the dominant way people control their smart speakers, with 61 per cent of households opting for Google's assistant, and only 17 per cent choosing Amazon's Alexa system.
One aspect of smart homes is not growing as fast as might be expected, however: smart lighting. This was one of the first things many tried out as they dipped their toe into IoT devices, but it has lost momentum because people have struggled to get the technology to work properly.
"The consequence of [smart lights not working] is that people disconnect them or don't use them or don't replace them when they die out. The data shows that. The penetration of smart lighting solutions has come down," Mr Fadaghi said.
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