16
February
2021
|
14:44
Europe/Amsterdam

Up to 50% more "uploads" on KPN mobile network due to Dutch winter

Summary

 

 

Masses of photos and videos of snow and natural ice shared in the Netherlands via 4G & 5G

Last weekend, large numbers of people in the Netherlands went outside to enjoy the natural ice. The effect of this could be seen on KPN’s mobile network, which handled a lot more data traffic. Masses of photos and videos of skating on natural ice were shared via 4G and 5G. On Saturday and Sunday, the upload traffic was at a peak throughout almost the entire day, with up to 50% more upload traffic than on 'normal' weekends.Upload mobielnetwerk

Comparison between upload traffic on mobile network on Sunday, February 7 and Sunday, 14 February and on Sunday, 31 January and Sunday, 6 December 2020. Saturday, February 13 shows a similar trend.

Not only last weekend was it especially busy; there was also a lot more data traffic than normal on the previous Sunday, February 7, when the Netherlands was covered in a thick layer of snow. No time for a lie-in; we went outside earlier than usual to enjoy the winter weather of yesteryear. And on that day too, people in the Netherlands recorded all those moments in the snow and shared them with family and friends or on social media via the KPN network. And while for a long time many roads in the Netherlands were difficult to drive on, the digital highways had no problem coping with the many terabytes of Dutch winter.

On KPN’s fixed network it was actually slightly quieter in the working week of February 8 to 12 than in the previous week. The winter weather probably played a part in that too. The assumption is that because of the snow and the fine weather, more people took time off to enjoy the snow and natural ice. Massive numbers of people went skating on Thursday, February 11 and especially on Friday, February 12, spending less time on the computer and watching TV. That was also noticeable on the mobile network: fewer calls were made on Friday afternoon and less data was consumed than on a normal Friday afternoon.

Stand van het Netwerk
In 'Stand van het Netwerk', KPN publishes information on trends and topical issues that are reflected in the volume of internet traffic on the network of the Netherlands. See also earlier publications about public holidays and homeworking during lockdown and the impact of COVID-19 and homeworking on the network.