Good Friday was New Zealand's busiest ever day online

Good Friday was the busiest day ever on the Chorus network with users, on average, chewing through the equivalent data of two high-definition movies. Photo/File

Good Friday was the busiest day ever on the Chorus network with the average user chewing through the equivalent data of two high-definition movies.

The six gigabytes of data used on average was more than 30 per cent higher than the average daily usage in March and, for the first time, the peak traffic on the network exceeded 1 terabit per second.

In addition, the "rush-hour" traffic, network traffic in the busiest 60-minute period of the day, grew by almost 50 per cent in the past year.

Across March, the rush-hour traffic across the Chorus home and small business broadband network peaked at 973 gigabits of data per second, a 49 per cent bump on 2016.

Chorus network strategy manager Kurt Rodgers said the data showed why New Zealanders should adopt fibre or VDSL fixed line broadband connections which offer dedicated capacity and the option of an unlimited data plan.

"Broadband is analogous to our road network in that it too experiences a rush-hour. This is exacerbated by changes in the way people are using the internet, in particular watching online TV," he said.

The rush-hour peaks between 8.30pm and 9.30pm each day, Kurt said.

"To ensure a superb experience on the Chorus network, whatever the time of day, we manage capacity to keep the network congestion-free. It's like being able to add another lane to a motorway before it starts to congest."