NZ broadband traffic spikes to an all-time high - and it's not because of Covid

Image / 123rf

Chorus says data traffic on its network reached a new peak of 3.15 terabits per second on Thursday night.

Previous peaks have been hit during the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the first week of Level 4 lookdown - but Thursday's spike coincided with the global release of chapter two, season four, of popular online game, Fortnite.

The Fortnite frenzy passed the network's previous peak of 3.07Tbps recorded on Saturday 15 August, also coinciding with an update to the online game, Call of Duty.

Chorus - which operates the lion's share of UFB fibre - says there was no congestion. Its network ceiling is around 3.5Tbps.

Meanwhile, daytime broadband traffic has been above normal with Auckland in level 3 lockdown and the rest of the country in level 2 - but hasn't reached the levels we say during the Zoom-athon of level 4.

Chorus reports midday downstream traffic on its network reached 1.49Tbps on Friday, an increase of 39 per cent on Monday 10 August before Auckland entered alert level 3 and the rest of the country alert level 2.

That is, we use about half the data on work during the day as we expend on streaming movies and playing games at night.

Source / Chorus

The Auckland region saw a 69 per cent uplift in traffic, while the rest of New Zealand increased 8 per cent.

Source / Chorus

Upstream traffic, which increases with higher use of applications such as video conferencing, across the country increased by 30 per cent.

The Auckland region saw a 53 per cent uplift in traffic, while the rest of the country increased 3 per cent.