Broadband Use ‘Levels Off,’ Down 6% Last Week

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After spiking as much as 98% at the beginning of the social distancing period, residential internet use has begun to taper down a bit says consultancy OpenVault

(Image credit: Future Media)

After a huge spike in March in response to COVID-19 home sequestering measures, residential internet use has “leveled off,” according to broadband research and consultancy firm OpenVault.

According to the Hoboken, N.J.-based company, which measures use of hundreds of thousands of ISP customers in North America, total downstream data consumption fell 5.8% for the week of March 30 to April 3. Upstream usage, meanwhile, showed only a modest week-over-week gain of 2.3%.

Also read: Residential Internet Usage Surges 98% Amid COVID-19-related Social Distancing

In mid-March, when states and cities began issuing shelter-in-place orders and guidelines, OpenVault measured downstream usage spikes during peak periods of up to 98% in certain markets. 

For the most recent measured week, overall data usage was still up 33.1% over January benchmarks. Average daily downstream consumption during business hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) last week was 6.35 gigabytes, up 42.46% over January levels. Upstream usage rose 82.5% from January to 0.392 GB on average.

“It’s too early to say that the industry has weathered the storm of additional usage, but signs point to the greatest surge of growth by far as being behind us,” said Mark Trudeau, CEO and founder of OpenVault, in a statement. “Operators will need to keep close eyes on any incremental increases — particularly during peak hours and in the upstream – as well as the impact of new quarantines in additional markets, but their networks seem in the meantime to be well-prepared to handle this increased data consumption.”

Daniel Frankel
Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!