Households across the UK are using the internet more than ever now that millions have been forced to work from home during the lockdown period.
The increase has been so great that some customers are now using enough extra data to watch three and a half hours more Netflix every single day, new research from Virgin Media has revealed, with April its busiest month on record.
It said its customers have downloaded an extra 325GB on average during lockdown so far whilst BT revealed it hadn’t just seen a surge in internet usage but also calls made.
The provider saw a 90 per cent increase in landline chats lasting over five minutes in March compared to February.
The return of the Premier League to empty stadiums has seen fans flock to watch matches online, as star strike Mohamed Salah helped Liverpool win the title
TalkTalk reports that use of its network has increased by 30 per cent over lockdown, driven by increased demand for video calls, online gaming and streaming television shows.
But given how quickly the UK went into lockdown, providers have had to adjust fast.
This is Money spoke to Virgin, BT and TalkTalk to find out how customer usage has changed since lockdown and what they have done to maintain their service over the past few months.
TalkTalk
One of the biggest differences TalkTalk has noticed since lockdown is the demand on its network is now spread more evenly throughout the day.
Whilst there is usually a peak in the evenings at around 9pm, since the lockdown started, there has been an increase in overall usage across the whole day.
The network said it expects there will be a lasting increase in home data usage, particularly during the day, as more businesses encourage homeworking.
As such, the demand for fast, reliable and, crucially, affordable broadband has never been greater. Some 78 per cent of new consumers took on a fibre contract in the past year compared to 58 per cent last year.
During the coronavirus, demand for faster broadband rose further with as many as 88 per cent of new customers taking up fibre deals from Talk Talk in one week.
TalkTalk expects there will be a lasting increase in home data usage particularly during the day
To keep up with demand, TalkTalk said it constantly monitors customer usage data to identify changes in internet traffic and ensure there is more than enough capacity.
The Premier League, alongside gaming, was responsible for the biggest peak in TalkTalk’s network traffic – on Tuesday 30 June – with Brighton taking on Manchester United, resulting in a traffic peak of 6.71 terabytes per second.
That’s the equivalent of delivering 4,472 hours of HD video per second.
The network also saw a 30 per cent drop in traffic at 8pm on Thursdays during the weekly ‘clap for carers’ initiative.
Sian Doyle, TalkTalk’s newly appointed consumer managing director, said: ‘It’s amazing when you look back and it was only three months ago that lockdown started but it feels like a lifetime. At TalkTalk, we’ve become more aware of how important the internet is – it is a lifeline for customers.’
To adjust to the change in circumstances, and to help customers get through to its helpline quickly, TalkTalk set up dedicated lines for its vulnerable customers.
Households in the UK are using the internet more than ever now many are working from home
It also accelerated its customer and digital service so if a customer cannot get through, they will now be able to speak to someone online virtually instead.
For those struggling with their bills, TalkTalk has created payment plans to help them manage their payments.
Doyle added: ‘In the future, the importance of the internet will not change. It is a critical service and it has never been more so. It is going to be fascinating to see what happens when the weather is not so good anymore as even more people will be using the internet.’
In April, BT’s Barefoot platform supported parents and teachers with home-schooling
BT
BT data showed that most of the nation reached for the phone to keep in touch with loved ones, with over half of the UK dialling to stay connected and a 90 per cent increase in calls lasting over five minutes in March compared to February.
Those not dialling were typing, with text messaging the second preferred communication method followed by video calling.
In April, BT’s Barefoot platform supported parents and teachers with home-schooling.
The programme reached nearly 70,000 primary school teachers and two million pupils across UK primary schools, with the ‘Learn at Home’ page seeing a massive 1,100 per cent spike in traffic during lockdown.
During May, for singletons and couples living apart, dating also went virtual as 16 to 24-year olds were the most willing to try their hand at virtual dating, with one in 10 using video calls for dating in lockdown.
With the majority of schools not set to re-open until September, BT has said it will provide in-need families with six months free access to their network, which extends to 5.5million Wi-Fi hotspots around the country to help keep children learning.
Marc Allera, chief executive of BT’s consumer division, said: ‘The past 100 days have completely changed how we live and interact with each other.
‘We’ve all had to adapt how we go about our daily lives, from the ways we learn, work, shop, keep active to how we connect with each other. Technology has been key to navigating this new world and as a nation we’ve been embracing its potential with over a third of us developing new skills.’
More customers are gaming from home during lockdown, needing faster internet speeds
Virgin Media
Since lockdown started, every Virgin Media broadband customer has downloaded an extra 3.4GB of data per day on average when compared with download levels in February – the month before lockdown measures began.
That’s enough additional usage for every customer to watch two films – or around three and a half hours of Netflix video – every day, in addition to how they used their broadband before the emergency period.
Usage has only accelerated, with April becoming the busiest month on record for Virgin Media’s network. Usage in May was only just behind that.
The first week of lockdown was the busiest as customers stayed at home and streamed and downloaded content. Virgin Media customers were downloading a third more data than before, burning through an extra 32.5GB compared to February.
With that much additional broadband use, an average consumer would be able to stream more than 40 hours of standard definition video, receive more than 5,000 emails and listen to than 700 hours of music.
This extra activity means that in total, the average user has downloaded an extra 325GB of data since lockdown started on top of what they’d normally use.
Virgin Media customers also spent 17million more hours per week – 25 minutes on average per customer each day – watching the news in early lockdown compared to pre-lockdown.
With millions more people working from home, music and radio channels experienced a 50 per cent increase in demand as customers tuned in to their favourite hits to stay entertained.
The following week, at the end of March and start of April – was the busiest in terms of uploaded data as customers embraced video calls and remote working.
These increases come as 99 per cent of Virgin Media customers are now taking speeds of 100Mbps or more, resulting in an average network speed that is more than double the UK average.
Regionally, there have also been changes, with consumers in London making the biggest shift to consuming content online, downloading 20 per cent more throughout the emergency period.
Meanwhile, Wales has seen the smallest change with just 10 per cent growth in download traffic.
Virgin Media’s customers in Northern Ireland top the table for overall peak use while Scottish customers download the least of all the UK regions during the busiest 8pm to 10pm period.
David Bouchier, chief digital entertainment officer at Virgin Media, said: ‘Lockdown has certainly seen a leap in TV viewing across the nation. Whether tuning in to the latest news or catching up on favourite movie or TV series, our customers have been glued to their television sets throughout lockdown to stay informed and entertained.
‘We’ve supported customers through these difficult months by making more than 50 channels available at no extra cost and launching new, fully-integrated apps so it’s even easier for customers to find, watch and enjoy TV and movies whenever they want.’
Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.