Covid 19 coronavirus: Whanganui fibre usage drops from first week of lockdown

Fibre usage in the Whanganui has levelled off after record numbers were recorded during the first week of the alert level 4 lockdown.

Whanganui hit record usage figures in late March with a 36 per cent increase in internet traffic above a typical Friday night on March 27.

Another peak was experienced on a rainy Easter Monday, with most people likely staying inside on their devices.

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Usage dropped slightly on during week two with a similar pattern during week three.

Ultrafast Fibre chief executive John Hanna said the drop in usage was probably due to people settling into the lockdown and a recent Netflix change.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

"It's likely people settled into more of a routine of how they spent their days as the lockdown progressed, and started to do more offline activity around the house. Also, during that first week, Netflix reduced their bit rate (the amount of data it sends over New Zealand's broadband networks) - by 25 per cent."

A slight increase was noticed this past Wednesday with school holidays ending and online schooling starting.

"When kids went back to school this week, many were still online, but they'll likely be spending fewer hours during school time using high definition streaming video apps like
Netflix and interactive games, which consume a lot of data," Hanna said.

As more businesses look at how they will operate as the country moves out of level 4, UltraFast Fibre is preparing for a surge in demand for new fibre connections.

Hanna is urging customers to talk to their providers and place their orders now.

"We know that fibre broadband is essential to keeping communities, businesses, health and education sectors connected."