How will the Internet be affected by coronavirus?

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As more people are staying home during the coronavirus pandemic, more people are logging on the internet (Photo source: REUTERS/Adam Oliver)

From school physical education lessons to doctors’ appointments, more aspects of our daily lives have moved online due to the coronavirus.

Across the developed world, millions of us are now connecting to the internet from our kitchens, living rooms and home offices every day – causing some internet service providers (ISPs) to see demand skyrocket.

Peaks and troughs

The majority of people now logging on from home are the same people no longer doing so from the office. Vodafone may be experiencing an uptick in demand of 50%, but there aren’t suddenly 50% more people trying to access the internet.

That’s why some ISPs and tech firms are confidently saying there is plenty of capacity in the network.

The problem isn’t the lack of capacity, but the fact it can be overwhelmed by a sudden spike in demand. Mobile internet services are often the most affected by a rush of people online.

Mobile broadband download speeds declined in many Asian countries in January, although fixed broadband fared much better.

Download speeds took a hit in many Asian countries. (Photo source: Ookla)

Rising to the challenge

The European Commission has taken the unprecedented step of asking everyone to help.

“Streaming platforms, telecom operators and users, we all have a joint responsibility to take steps to ensure the smooth functioning of the Internet during the battle against the virus propagation,” the Commission’s Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton, said.

This isn’t the case in all parts of the world. In many developing countries, there isn't the infrastructure to handle a significant increase in demand. Many mobile networks are still running on decades-old 2G, while wired and wireless internet connections are far from ubiquitous – all of which makes the possibility of home-working a remote one.

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