Over the festive period, we generally notice a spike in internet usage.
This is often due to new devices ( phones, tablets, laptops, games consoles etc), which may need updating before you can use them correctly. That is just one example.
Video games for Playstations, Xboxes etc are now generally a download and some of these can be huge (in some cases up to 40-50 Gb and more).
For customers on an unlimited fibre package, this won’t affect them at all. However for customers with a daily fair usage package on their connection, it is something you need to be aware of.
Some wireless packages, will have a daily fair usage policy of 4GB per day! Downloading a 40GB game on this package will exceed usage quickly and result in reduced speeds until midnight.
Streaming services such as Netflix, Apple TV, Sky on Demand, Amazon Prime can also generate very high traffic and this can result in customers exceeding their daily fair usage policy. Many people are not aware that video streaming requires a good deal of speed and uses a lot of data, particularly for HD (High Definition) Services.
You should also note that the maximum speed of your connection, is not maximum speed available to the house. This does not mean that this will be available to every device. It is shared between all users in the home, and not always equally between devices.
For more information, please see the below articles :
What does Fair Usage Mean?
Streaming Video on your internet connection
Why am I maxing out my connection?
Why is my internet slow?
