A group of expert analysts and researchers at DecisionData.org, who scrub public sources or proprietary surveys to help guide long-term commitment purchases for clients, released some data this week.
While tracking the growth of home internet usage, researchers found that the average broadband-connected U.S. household will surpass the current 1TB ISP data caps before 2024.
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Additionally, researchers indicated that the escalation in data usage in recent months due to quarantine efforts has caused a spike that might decline in the near future, but home internet usage will remain notably higher than pre-outbreak usage for “the foreseeable future.”
While this data is focused on the U.S., similar trends can be seen in the Canadian market.
Since March 16, Telus reported that home internet usage has gone up by 25 per cent. During major events like government news conferences, its mobile data has seen periodic peaks of 40 per cent. General text messages have increased by 30 per cent, while video picture text messages rose by 50 per cent. In its network traffic analysis during the pandemic, Nokia reported a 20 to 40 per cent increase in peak traffic globally in just four weeks. Teleconferencing apps saw a 300 per cent growth in usage.
In March, as the COVID-19 virus forced more of the workforce home, major Canadian internet service providers began removing the monthly data cap on their internet subscriptions.