Internet speeds slightly decrease in the US and Europe amids COVID-19 lockdown

Due to the current virus-related lockdown in many states in the US and in many European countries, some people are getting concerned whether the networks can withstand the higher demand from people stuck at home. A study by Speedtest was published in regards to the matter.

The company is analysing the impact on networks caused by COVID-19 and the resulting lockdown. The report provides data about mobile or fixed broadband networks (any non-mobile networks, such as Wi-Fi). Speedtest is acknowledging a slight decrease in internet speeds over the last week.

How is the US doing? The data from Speedtest’s report shows that both the fixed and mobile network’s download speeds have slightly decreased last week, compared to the second week of the month, as you can see on the following graph:




It’s important to note that, according to Speedtest's data, network speeds are not lower than what they were during the Holidays last December.

The situation in Europe is pretty much the same, with one interesting fact - mobile network speeds in the Netherlands have increased instead of slightly decreasing like in the other countries.




However, the situation is different in some Asian countries, for example China, as it is now recovering from the coronavirus outbreak, has its network speeds increasing again after having decreased back in January.

Nevertheless, US carriers are still confident they can handle the increased demand for the internet as people are self-isolating in their homes. Most US carriers, such as Verizon and AT&T, have received additional network spectrum in order to increase the capability of their networks in the current situation. It is clear that carriers are doing their best to assure the network is available for everyone, and given the fact that we are talking about only a slight decrease of speeds on the graphs, nothing drastic, it may be safe to assume that the network is doing great.

Additionally, in Europe, some streaming services such as Apple TV+, Disney+ ,YouTube and Netflix have decreased their video quality to further make sure that network speeds remain fairly unaffected.

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