Covid 19 coronavirus: Why broadband is spiking every half hour under lockdown

Broadband usage was still way higher than usual today.

But, as with the first day of the current lockdown, it was still way below the frenzy when the nation went into level 4 in March last year.

Chorus - which operates the lion's share of the UFB fibre network - reports midday downstream traffic on its network reached 1.62 terabits per second today, an increase of 43 per cent on the same day last week.

Chorus downstream network traffic, terabits per second. Source / Chorus

Yesterday, traffic peaked at 1.75 Tbps - a big surge over a normal Monday, but still nowhere near day two of the first lockdown, which saw the deluge of fast internet data hit a record 3.03 terabits, which Chorus said was the equivalent to 600,000 movies being streamed at once - and close to the maximum capacity of its network of around 3.5 Tbps.

Before various records were set during lockdown 1, the previous high was 2.6Tbps during the Rugby World Cup 2019.

Overall, the Auckland region saw a 75 per cent uplift in traffic overall as of midday today, while the rest of New Zealand increased 11 per cent.

Upstream traffic, which increases with higher use of applications such as video conferencing, across the country increased by 41 per cent to 0.2 Tbps. The Auckland region saw a 62 per cent uplift in traffic, while the rest of the country increased 18 per cent.

Spikes on the half-hour

Mini-surges occurring every half-hour, Chorus says, seemingly coinciding with online video conferences starting.

Overall, however, there seems to be less Zooming and calling about remote work setup than lockdown 1- presumably, because the Kiwi population is now well-drilled in working from home.

On the mobile side of things, Spark saw a 62 per cent increase in traffic over its mobile network (which includes wireless broadband) compared to a normal Monday.

Vodafone NZ technology chief Tony Baird said his company say a big spike in landline and mobile calls - in the region of 300 per cent - when the new lockdown was first announced at 7pm on Sunday.

Things cooled off on Monday, relatively speaking with mobile calling around 14 per cent higher than usual and landline calling up 27 per cent.

Hardship measures back

While the retail telcos had calling congestion issues during the first lockdown, there have been no problems reported this week.

With usage not spiking so high, and most customers now on unlimited plans, there has been no repeat of the March 2020 moves to remove broadband caps.

But Spark says it has brought back a hardship allowance, "which provides a number of repayment options," a spokeswoman says.

"And for households who find that cost is a barrier to having an internet connection at home, we also have our not-for-profit wireless broadband service – Skinny Jump, which is available through a network of community partners around NZ. There are no credit checks or contracts and costs just $5 for 30GB of data. Last week we launched our Ciena Jump for Students Fund, which provides Jump free to eligible students at decile 1 high schools around the country."

Telcos' retail stores open, with restrictions

On the retail front, Spark, 2degrees and Vodafone have kept stores open as an essential service, but with contact restrictions. Vodafone is asking customers to book an appointment online to minimise contact.