Chorus : Good Friday the busiest day ever on the Chorus network

Published 19/04/2017

Good Friday was the busiest day ever on the Chorus network with an average usage on its fibre and copper broadband network of nearly 6 gigabytes (GB) of data per connection, the equivalent of two high definition movies. This was more than 30 percent higher than the average daily usage in March and, for the first time, the peak traffic on the network exceeded 1 terabit per second (Tbps).

In addition, new figures released by Chorus show that the 'rush-hour' traffic (or network traffic in the busiest 60-minute period of the day) grew by almost 50 per cent over the last year.

In March, the busy-hour traffic across Chorus' home and small business broadband network peaked at 973 gigabits of data per second (Gbps), a 49 percent increase from a year earlier when it was 653Gbps. This is the equivalent of 200,000 HD video streams being watched simultaneously.

Kurt Rodgers, network strategy manager at Chorus, says the data shows why Kiwis should take up a fibre or VDSL fixed line broadband connection which offer dedicated capacity and the option of an unlimited data plan.

'Broadband is analogous to our road network in that it too experiences a 'rush-hour'. This is exacerbated by changes in the way people are using the internet, in particular watching online TV. The Chorus network rush-hour peaks between 8.30pm and 9.30pm each day when our seemingly insatiable appetite services such as Netflix, TVNZ OnDemand or YouTube, creates an internet data tsunami,' says Kurt.

'To ensure a superb experience on the Chorus network, whatever the time of day, we manage capacity to keep the network congestion free. It's like being able to add another lane to a motorway before it starts to congest.

'While there are a number of factors beyond the Chorus network that may impact on your broadband's performance and speed, a fixed line connection is by far the best option for getting consistent performance. Alternatives, such as mobile, use shared capacity which independent testing has shown to slow down at peak times.

'It's likely the impact of online TV will continue to be felt in peak network traffic growth. As more content becomes available online, new devices are released to watch it on and higher video resolutions such as 4K (and eventually 8K) see increasing pressure on the bandwidth required at peak times,' Kurt says.

Ends

Further information contact:

Steve Pettigrew

Stakeholder Communications Manager

Phone: 027 258 6257

Email: steve.pettigrew@chorus.co.nz