These statistics follow Easynet Connect’s warnings to businesses that their web connections could be brought to a crawl by workers watching the games online.
Key stats:
• An increase of 226% compared to the day’s average data download rates
• A 114% boost in traffic following kick-off compared to pre-match traffic levels (between 09:00 and 14:00)
• 73% boost in download traffic on its network compared with maximum downloading traffic during the same period the previous week
Chris Stening, MD of Easynet Connect, explains: "As the first England game to take place during work hours, this afternoon’s match between England and Slovenia was the biggest test for businesses’ internet connections so far. The data from our own network shows that streaming the game at work was a popular choice this afternoon, pushing many business connections to their limits.
With 81% of UK small businesses saying they are unable to cope for longer than a day without the Internet, such a surge in activity has to be closely managed – not only must a business’s connection be reliable but it must also be 100% secure, with firewalls and web filtering if needed. We don’t expect our customers to experience any major impact on their connectivity, but any business not on full business-grade internet connectivity is likely to experience
significant disruptions.”
“While the World Cup may be over in a few weeks, the challenge that video streaming services, particularly of major sporting events pose to UK businesses won’t go away. With Wimbledon just ramping up, the summer of sport has only just begun. Businesses need to ensure that non-work related video streaming does not interfere with their ability to deliver their core services. We urge businesses to seek out the tools necessary to manage their Internet connections more closely.”