Internet Traffic is Up – and That’s Okay

If you’re one of the fortunate people who are working at home during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, you’ve likely wondered: will my internet connection be able to handle this?

It’s a common question being asked by millions of professionals all over the world today. As the viral outbreak continues to spread, workforces that are able to absorb the shift from face-to-face business to telecommuting are sending their people to work from home.

This has raised internet usage by a mile on a global scale; almost every major city in the United States has reported increased web traffic, and telecommuting softwares like Zoom and Skype are seeing higher usage and bigger account registration numbers. This is all good and well for productivity softwares – but what does this mean for internet connectivity and stability?

Logicbase Interactive takes a quick dive into the topic in today’s article.

TELECOMMUTING: A MUCH OLDER PRACTICE THAN YOU THINK

The internet was, at its core, originally designed for this purpose – connecting workspaces with a shared base of information to improve computing and processing, thus increasing productivity. Somewhere along the line, people discovered ways to make the internet fun, and so it brought on the advent of online gaming, video and photo sharing, and the development of the social media landscape as we know it.

Now, with millions telecommuting by necessity, many are wondering if the internet can handle the traffic.

The truth is that the internet is more than capable of handling the heavier traffic; it’s been designed to adapt to sudden rushes in traffic like we’re presently experiencing. It’s the software and technologies being used to access and telecommute the internet that are untested.

THE INTERNET USAGE PATTERN

Before the pandemic, internet traffic could be reliably tracked in waves – low usage in the early morning hours, a minor spike during breakfast, then a steady plateau all the way until late afternoon, during which traffic is elevated for a few hours before tapering down as people tuck into bed for rest. On the whole, this has been the pattern of internet usage for at least the past decade.

During the COVID-19 viral outbreak, however, these waves have been elevated, even staying steady in some places, like in big cities where workforces are better equipped for work-from-home situations.

In the United States alone, internet usage from residences is up by 18-25%, according to internet performance and security company Cloudflare. While this in and of itself isn’t new – seasonal spikes in traffic are expected – the increased traffic sustaining its peaks for days definitely is. Similar sustained surges in internet traffic are becoming the norm in other countries as well, as telecommuting continues.

IT’S CONNECTING, BUT SLOWLY

However, while internet traffic can be sustained, speed and connectivity may be in trouble. In Italy, for example, internet speeds have sharply decreased as entire communities are forced into self-quarantine to slow the viral outbreak’s spread.

Many European and Southeast Asian countries, where internet infrastructures aren’t as dependable as their North American counterparts, are experiencing similarly spotty connections. It’s become so pronounced that popular streaming services Netflix and Youtube have imposed video stream quality reduction to minimize their services’ impact on user bandwidths in the aforementioned regions.

THE GOOD NEWS

Overall, the good news is this: you don’t really have to worry about your internet connection dying. At least, not for very long: the internet itself is handling the increased traffic just fine, and it’s your software or ISP’s infrastructure that’s lagging behind.

The situation is also bound to improve on the whole. The pandemic has revealed the weaknesses and issues present in ISP infrastructure and software development; providers and developers are learning from and adapting to the situation, and any improvements made during this period is bound to stick around after the pandemic has passed.

To sum it up: while internet speeds may be slowing down, on the whole it will stabilize eventually after providers and developers adjust or adapt their infrastructures and software to handle the increased traffic. Internet connectivity is scalable, even if the tools we use to connect may not be, and with internet service providers and software developers facing the new dilemmas brought on by the pandemic-related traffic increase, there’s only one way for things to go: up.

So rest assured. Internet traffic up, and that’s okay. Like people, the internet will endure.