The last bank holiday of the year, Monday 28th December 2020, saw the greatest home broadband usage over the Sure network in Jersey in December, with 276TB of data used across the island (22GB per household).
This was on average 22% more data than any other day in December.
Despite a huge increase in home broadband demand, Sure’s network met the increased demand and continues to have spare capacity. Sure’s Chief Executive in Jersey, Graham Hughes, suspects the high data usage on the 28th was a result of islanders earmarking the day as one to relax by trying out new technology gifts, streaming movies or watching Jersey’s new reality show.
Graham said: “Streaming services such as Amazon’s Prime Video which was showcasing two Premier League matches, and ITV Hub which premiered The Real Housewives of Jersey, would have been contributing factors to the spike on the 28th .
“As well as usage from customers on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, which would have made great presents this Christmas. I expect many gamers used Christmas week to download large update files to get their new consoles set up”.
When the new PlayStation5 launched in November, many UK telecoms providers reported large spikes in broadband activity with a peak of 18TB per second as users downloaded sizeable system updates. Sure has played a critical role in providing connectivity for the community this festive season. The telecoms provider hosted a 48% increase in home broadband traffic this December in comparison to 2019 and an increase throughout 2020 when thousands of islanders needed to work and learn from home.
“The ongoing pandemic has caused a challenge for our broadband network and I’m pleased to say that it continues to keep islanders connected. We make a significant investment every year so that residents have the best networks available to them and that’s proven to have benefited Jersey once again over the festive season,” said Graham.
