As tens of millions of people transitioned to working and learning from home in March and April of last year, the internet traffic saw an exceptional growth. Network operators have now gathered data from over a year of the pandemic and interesting analyses are being made.

Both OpenVault and Comcast reports indicate a surge in upstream traffic due to videoconferencing and in downstream traffic due to increased media consumption, especially video streaming. Interestingly, despite the growth in upstream traffic, traffic patterns remained highly asymmetrical, being dominated by downstream traffic.

Comcast indicate, that in the span of 4 months in the wake of pandemic lockdowns, their network experienced almost 2 years-worth of traffic growth. It is expected, that many services will remain online even after the pandemic, so the internet traffic will continue increasing.

Further reading:

https://venturebeat.com/2021/03/02/comcast-peak-internet-traffic-rose-32-in-pandemic-in-2020/

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210302005979/en/Comcast-Releases-2020-Network-Data-Highlighting-COVID-19-Impact-as-World-Approaches-First-Anniversary-of-Pandemic

https://www.fiercetelecom.com/telecom/pandemic-drove-upstream-broadband-traffic-boom-openvault

https://www.telecompetitor.com/report-confirms-historic-growth-in-pandemic-upstream-internet-traffic/