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Will remote work and schooling break the internet?
COVID-19 pandemic forces millions online, placing stress on internet infrastructure.
Italy continues to see an increase of COVID-19 cases, presently at 27,980. But the country is showing another increase elsewhere. With a population of 60 million, Italy is increasing its internet use.
Under quarantine, Italy is turning to the internet to do things in isolation. From streaming movies to gaming, the surge has kicked into high gear. For Italy, they have seen a massive uptick in both Fortnite and Call of Duty, especially since the kids are home from school.
Telecom Italia’s Chief Executive Officer Luigi Gubitosi, in a conference call, said, “We reported an increase of more than 70% of Internet traffic over our landline network with a big contribution from online gaming such as Fortnite.”
When Italy formally locked down its nation, there was an increase in reports of lost internet connections by Telecom Italia customers. It would seem those complaints reduced later in the day.
According to Bloomberg:
“Telecom Italia’s network is working perfectly and with higher volumes compared with previous days,” the company wrote in an e-mailed statement. “The issues reported affected just some applications and the internet due to a failure of the international network.”
The United States is no different.
In Seattle, one of the major cities affected by the virus, internet traffic began spiking on January 30. This was just nine days after the first positive case of the infection hit the area. According to security company Cloudflare, the spike represented people accessing news sites and chat apps.
With the recent Trump Administration guidelines limiting groups of 10 people in one place, continued school closures, and discretionary social distancing, home internet usage is expected to increase 10-fold.
What is the reality here?
Home internet spikes are not uncommon. Regular online activity occurs between 5 pm and 8 pm. People coming home from work or school might be paying bills, checking the news, or, you…
