Smartphones, which are constantly syncing email, contacts and calendar information to the cloud, are an increasing burden on wireless networks, even in comparison to connected laptops, according to a new survey released today. In fact, a smartphone may generate up to eight times as much load as a laptop with a data card (even when delivering the same amount of data), reports Reuters, which quotes a study by Airvana, a technology firm. “They are always on ... in a chatty way,” said David Nowicki, Airvana’s VP of marketing and product management.

This will only get worse as smartphone shipments increase from nearly 200 million in 2009 to 450 million in 2013, according to market research firm iSuppli. At CTIA last week, the surge in data was a big theme. Carriers asked the FCC to release more spectrum to handle the increases and the FCC laid out its priorities for keeping the wireless networks open. In comparison to Airvana’s figures, Openwave’s Anurag Patnaik told mocoNews that one smartphone equals 30 feature phones and one data card equals 450 feature phones.