Americans can access the Internet just about anywhere and waiting in line for coffee is one. Many coffee shop establishments have installed Wi-Fi in their stores, and Dunkin' Donuts customers can access the Internet faster than Starbucks.
A new study by wefi, an analytics company, found Dunkin' Donuts has faster downloading speeds than Starbucks. Dunkin's download rate was 6.09 Mbps (Megabits per second), compared to Starbucks' 4.11 Mbps. Another Seattle-based coffee chain, Tully's, ranked third with a rate of 3.14 Mbps, and Panera brought up the rear with 2.23 Mbps.
"Coffee, and by extension, coffee shops are increasingly seen as an indispensable part of Americans' morning ritual," said Zur Feldman, chairman and CEO of wefi. "With many franchisees looking to provide additional services and grow their businesses, the availability of a fast, reliable Wi-Fi offering has become an important consideration."
Starbucks customers did consume more data than Dunkin' Donuts' patrons. The gourmet coffee chain had a total data consumption of 24.26 Mbps per device, compared to Dunkin's 12.35 Mbps. Tully's customers downloaded the most with 27.75 MB. Panera again came up short again with 6.88 MB for its customers.
More than 61 percent of Americans drink coffee on a daily basis, and 34 percent consume gourmet coffee beverages every day, according to the National Coffee Association.
The coffee shop customers accessed Google Chrome, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. Google Chrome users spent an average of 18 minutes with the app open and active. Facebook followed at 16.78 minutes and YouTube at 14.8 minutes.
The data collected by wefi shows a monthly average, taking place between Aug. 1 and Aug. 31. It collected information from more than 45 million hotspots.
