The new coronavirus is definitely changing our lives. We spend more time at home than ever and honestly, at this point, it’s the best we do. However, this is raising some concerns. In fact, many people do not know whether existing networks will be able to support so much traffic. That said, we may soon have some problems. For example, a slower internet.
Get ready to slow your Internet!
The Speedtest, well known for speed tests that can sometimes make, published a study on this subject.
This company sought to analyze the impact on networks caused by COVID-19 and the blockages it is giving rise to. The study provides data on mobile or fixed broadband networks and has already seen a slight decrease in Internet speeds in the last week. In this study, we were able to see the American case and the European case, which is interesting for us to be able to establish some comparisons.
Let’s start with the American case.
Data from the Speedtest study reveal that download speeds for the fixed and mobile network decreased slightly last week, compared to the second week of the month, as we can see in the graph below.
An interesting aspect is that according to Speedtest, the speeds are in fact slower but they are not worse than they were on the Christmas holidays.
The situation in Europe is practically the same, with an interesting detail – the speeds of mobile networks in the Netherlands have increased rather than decreased, contrary to what happened in other countries.
However, the situation is different in some Asian countries. For example, in China, which is now recovering from the coronavirus outbreak and the network speed has increased after it slowed in January.
American operators are confident that they will be able to handle the increased use of the Internet, now that people are isolated at home.
In Europe, we can feel a slight decrease in speeds but several streaming services are already taking steps to improve this situation. Disney, Apple, and Amazon have joined Netflix and YouTube to reduce the video quality of their streaming services in Europe.
The idea is to reduce the load on the Internet across the continent. Something that the European Union authorities specifically requested to keep digital traffic flowing smoothly. Have you seen what it was like to be quarantined without these streaming services and without the Internet?
