The COVID-19 wave has affected pretty much everything, and the effects are mostly negative. A lot of businesses experienced some kind of hit that made their processes bumpy. The services that we need in our households were also affected in various ways. For instance, internet connectivity also experienced change. A lot of high-speed internet users witnessed serious fluctuations in internet speed. Let’s understand other impacts too.
Increased Use of the Internet
The dramatic change in consumption patterns, which has strained networks big and small across the country, has come as Canadians have shifted en masse to working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The internet connection has experienced a significant increase in usage over these last several months. People are streaming more and more media each day, and a lot of people are on seemingly endless hours of video conferences for work and for school. While all of that streaming media consumes downstream capacity, those video conferences can generate a significant amount of upstream traffic.
Downgrade of Online Streamed Videos
The overall surge in traffic has led major streaming services such as Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video to a reduced quality of their videos in some countries to take up less bandwidth. YouTube will be lowering the default resolution for videos worldwide, although users can still switch to higher resolution if they want. Lawrence Surtees, an industry analyst, focused on telecom and communication for IDC Canada, said that the reason Canada hasn’t needed to do that kind of downgrading is that network operators have installed a lot of fibre optic cable, which has significantly increased bandwidth.
Efforts Taken by Internet Service Providers
People in rural, remote and low-income communities often don’t have or can’t afford access to high-speed internet, leaving them with little access to employment or education opportunities at the best of times. The crisis is now threatening their access to critical health information and basic connection to their community. The problem will only worsen as more people are laid off and unable to pay all their bills in the coming months. This is why a lot of internet service providers took basic steps that were beneficial for both the parties.
Whenever such a fundamental shift in the way people live and work happens, the impact is felt by all service and utility providers. At Alberta Communication Cable Services, we will try our best to provide seamless internet services to homes and business sites.
If you are looking for high-speed internet plans, then get in touch with us today.