A Finder survey of 2142 respondents found increase in network traffic has led to a "surge in buffering issues."
The company had not previously asked a question about buffering issues. It had inferred a "surge" because of an increase in traffic to its service.
A spokeswoman for the Telecommunications Forum (TCF) which represents the major broadband providers, said, "This survey appears to have been undertaken by a website comparison company and has found that for some people, at some times, they may experience buffering – something that can be caused by a range of factors. Our members who run the networks are reporting that the additional load from Covid-19 is currently being well managed, and the networks are actively managed to alleviate congestion if it occurs."
The TCF recently released a guide to sprucing up your home network - often a source of performance issues.
Finder extrapolates its results to say 68 per cent of Kiwis are experiencing dropouts when watching video content, while a third (32 per cent) face the buffering wheel at least once per week when streaming.
It says 15 per cent are experiencing video streaming problems daily.
A spokeswoman for Finder said the survey was demographically-weighted, and carried out by global research house Qualtrics during March.
Kevin McHugh, Finder's publisher in New Zealand, said that demand for high-speed internet is set to increase over the coming weeks as Kiwis remain cooped up at home.
"The network is going to see a strain, not only from those working remotely, but also from people looking for other entertainment options after the cancellation of sports and other regular viewing events.
"Schools and universities will also transition to online learning later this month after an early holiday period. This will place even more pressure on the network," he said.
In fact, a number of universities, including the largest, Auckland, began online courses last week, while schools have been split, with some starting online learning as soon as the lockdown began and some opting to take their Term 1 holidays early.
Network operator Chorus reported that Internet usage peaked at a record-breaking 3.03 terabytes per second on March 27, equivalent to 600,000 movies being streamed simultaneously. Overall, the peak has increased 34% from the normal baseline, even as Netflix and others lowered their bitrate, sacrificing picture quality to help ease network traffic.
The previous record was 2.6Tbps, set during the Rugby World Cup 2019. Chorus says its peak network capacity is 3.5Tbps.
Telcos also suffered congestion on (separately-operated) voice networks during the first week of the lockdown, while Vodafone suffered two half-hour outages.
But after hitting the record 3.03Tbps peak on March 27, traffic eased as remote-workers settled into the new normal.
On Thursday, April 2, Chorus reported an evening peak of 2.64Tbps, and a daytime peak of1.72Tbps.
However, with Chorus providing the wholesale service to most ISPs in most areas, any strain on your home or business broadband will not necessarily be eased by hopping between ISPs.
Check out the non-profit InternetNZ's NZ Broadband Map to see the fastest interent technologies available in your area.
Making sure there are no issues with your home network can also be a good place to start. See the Herald's guide here.
