Verizon reported the following week-over-week comparisons of peak hour usage traffic over its residential fiber and wireless consumer networks:
- Gaming, up 75%
- VPN, up 34%
- Web traffic up close to 20%
- Video, up more than 12%
- Social media usage: 0%, flat
Verizon said usage is expected to fluctuate over time, especially as more people telecommute and more students are at home.
“As we see more and more individuals work from home and students engage in online learning, it is a natural byproduct that we would see an increase in web traffic and access to VPN. And as more entertainment options are cancelled in communities across the US, an increase in video traffic and online gaming is not surprising,” said Kyle Malady, Chief Technology Officer for Verizon. “We expect these peak hour percentages to fluctuate, so our engineers are continuing to closely monitor network usage patterns 24x7 and stand ready to adjust resources as changing demands arise.”
“We’re in an unprecedented situation,” said Malady. “We continually evaluate peak data usage times and build our networks to stay ahead of that demand. “While it is not clear yet how having millions of additional people working from home will impact usage patterns, we remain ready to address changes in demand, if needed.”
