According to experts, daily traffic usage is more similar to Sunday traffic: it rises in the morning, plateaus in the afternoon, and peaks in the evening. The increase in traffic is slightly above normal.
The quarantine due to the current coronavirus pandemic has increased internet consumption and caused changes in usage patterns. However, it's not difficult to understand why data traffic has increased since the pandemic was declared—especially in the most affected countries. Whether it's data used for video conferencing, streaming services (such as Netflix), news sites, or e-commerce,
Anatel recommended that providers increase the capacity provided to users precisely because of the disease. This included not charging data allowances for accessing official information from the Ministry of Health. The telephone operators, in a joint statement, said they "reinforced their commitment to ensuring connectivity."
Europe
In Europe, the region where the virus-triggered crisis is most widespread, Internet Exchange Points have seen bandwidth consumption increase from 10% to 20% in countries like Germany and the United Kingdom, and up to 40% in Italy, the country with the second-highest number of recorded cases of the disease.
At European universities, quarantine has made internet usage more similar to weekends, when these places have reduced access.
Network
Despite the slight increase and changes in consumption patterns, there's no need to worry about a permanent service interruption. While some apps and websites may be down or experience service issues, the core of the internet is much more robust.
According to Sirota, from IX.br, the internet is a very distributed and resilient network, quite immune to failures.
"The internet in Brazil is very robust. We shouldn't have any problems in that regard," he said.