PlusNet reports that the continued success of Great Britain’s 2008 Olympic team has caused broadband usage to increase by 140%. The Sheffield-based ISP first reported seeing rising demand for streaming traffic (200%) during China's opening ceremony on 8th August (original news):


The company’s findings reveal that lunchtime is the most popular time for people to log on to see the coverage, while the 9am – 5pm period has also seen “marked increases”.

This struck new heights on Tuesday when customers tuned in to watch Britain’s stars pick up another three gold medals. Plusnet saw their average daily usage more than treble.


However we suspect that some ISPs, especially those with less flexible economic models, will be viewing this kind of usage as more of a problem than a benefit. Customers must also be careful not to spend too much time downloading video content lest they come into conflict with their providers Fair Usage Policies (FUP) and or data caps.

Doing so could cause the service to degrade because many ISPs are known to throttle (slow) connections that show heavy usage over a protracted period of time.