Coronavirus Lockdown: Indians facing a hard time working from home due to heavy internet traffic

Last updated on February 9th, 2023 at 12:58 pm

During the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown. Till the lockdown continues, all government and private offices, malls, factories, shops, and malls will remain close.

The sudden heavy traffic on home and mobile broadband services has impacted the network speed. Many companies have asked their employees to work from home. Employees are facing a hard time reaching targets or completing urgent projects from home. Due to the 30 percent surge in consumption, downloading large files, videos, and videotelephony is next to impossible.

Under lockdown, many families in urban areas are using the internet for communication, entertainment, and streaming movies online. Amazon Prime, Disney’s Hotstar, YouTube Channels, Netflix, HBO movies, Sony LIV are few of the OTT players that are providing online entertainment.

According to Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index report, the average download speeds on fixed broadband have declined from 39.65 Mbps in Feb to 35.98 Mbps in Mar, Deccan Herald reported.

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The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has requested many OTT players to reduce their bandwidth due to overburden on telecom companies.

Many companies have moved from high definition to standard definition instead. According to industry experts, the internet speed is going to slow down more due to the sudden surge in demand.

Article Credit: Economic Times/Business-Standard/Deccan Herald