Christmas Day Pushes Sky Broadband UK ISP Network Traffic to 5Tbps

The amount of data crossing Sky Broadband’s network peaked at a staggering 5Tbps (Terabits per second) over the Christmas weekend (equivalent to 5242880Mbps) as many of the ISPs 6 million subscribers went online to stream video, activate new devices and post updates on social media etc.

According to Sky, usage across their network initially rose through Christmas Eve to peak at 9pm. By comparison Christmas Day saw a rapid increase from 6am (early risers) to 12noon as families went online and some attempted to get some early sales shopping done.

The Sky Broadband network then saw Christmas Day traffic drop between 1pm and 6pm as families across Britain settled into lunches, the Queen’s Speech and afternoon naps. After that traffic increased again before reaching a peak at midnight.

A spokesperson for Sky told ISPreview.co.uk that network traffic is expected to increase further over the next few days as families make more use of streaming services like Sky Box Sets and NOW TV. “That’s why having a totally unlimited fibre package has become even more important to families, allowing them to surf and stream to their hearts’ content with the reassurance of a Sky network that offers 99.9% reliability,” said Sky.

The peak of 5Tbps reflects a huge increase on the same time two years ago (Christmas 2014), when Sky’s peak network traffic reached 2Tbps.