Internet Usage Increased
Recent years have witnessed a certain surge in the number of people actively using the internet. This could be because people are relying on connected devices to study or work or even watch entertainment shows online. This has seen the internet traffic to unexpected levels. The broadband providers in the previous year witnessed a change in peak traffic as well as a change in peak hours. This has forced broadband providers to speed up the deployment of additional networks and the capacity of the server is increased to et up the increased demands.
People Consume over 1 Terabyte
The usage of the internet is touching new heights as individual households are opting for additional services with every passing month. And with this households using over 1terabyte per month will have to pay more in the US.
According to a report, numbers showed that there is a sudden increase of US internet subscribers using over 1 terabyte of data per month. The last quarter of 2020 alone witnessed 14% of users using over 1 terabyte of data which is almost double from the same quarter of 2019. These were the users having the data limit and as well as the ones having unlimited plans.
People with unlimited plans were witnessed to use over 2 terabytes of data per month. On average, consumers used 482.6 GB in Q4 2020 which is certainly higher than 344 GB of Q4 2019.
Lockdown Surge – Work From Home
This sudden spike was witnessed after months of first lockdowns in various counties and again settled for a moderate increase in Q2 & Q3 of 2020. During this time, internet service providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T chose to suspend data caps so that they could increase the prices of all data plans.
A data cap of one terabyte is provided by most internet service providers which could be insufficient for those having hand in streaming services and video conferencing apps. And the internet service providers charge $10 for every extra 50 GB consumed which could pile up pretty quickly.
And if the data caps are set so and not increased would affect users that don’t even touch their monthly limit as they will end up paying more than the usage.