Study says internet slows as people work at home

Service suffers while people shelter in place

With more people working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, internet speeds across America and in Central Florida have dipped to levels not seen since the holidays.

But if you see a glitch in your Internet while working from home, experts in Central Florida say it’s probably not because of an overtaxed network.

Ongoing upgrades to the existing Internet infrastructure, including dense fiber-optic cable downtown, could soften the adverse effects of the expected surge, they said.

According to the data-tracking website Ookla, download speeds over mobile and broadband connections have been on the decline since early March.

In Orange County, upload speeds are down 21% compared with January while download speeds have dipped 5% since the beginning of March.

During those same time periods, upload speeds in Seminole County have decreased 25.3% as download speeds have been off 5.6%.

Lake County, meanwhile, has seen increases in both: upload speeds are up 8.6% and download speeds are up 5.0% during that same time.

The pandemic has essentially forced the country’s non-essential workforce home in an effort to combat the virus’ spread through the community.

That has put stress on platforms like YouTube, which recently shifted to lower-definition videos to handle the increase in traffic. Netflix users can expect similar changes with the company announcing moves meant to preserve bandwidth as their network gets swamped.

But an upgrade of Internet in

frastructure during the past 10 years could minimize the number of glitches and hiccups consumers see, said Jay Bunner-Sorg, Full Sail University’s IT program director.

“From time to time, you’ll see some sluggishness,” said Bunner-Sorg, who said another challenge will come when schools across the country begin online-only classes starting next week. “But in the last 10 years, providers have been building it out to handle a lot more media

and high-fidelity downloads.”

Bunner-Sorg credits the push for 5G for some of that preparedness and capability, as Internet providers had already been upgrading infrastructure.

The enhancements have helped companies like Verizon, which has seen a 22% jump in Web traffic this week and twice as many phone calls than usual.

Spectrum, meanwhile, has seen periodic complaints online, but officials say there has not been a noticeable jump.

“So far, across our network, any increase in daytime activity has been modest and far below capacity and well below a typical evening,” spokesman Joe Durkin said. “We are prepared for this.”

In early March, Spectrum announced that it would offer free broadband and wifi access to nonSpectrum households to students in K-12 or college with no installation fees.

AT&T has also given free wireless data to school districts through May 22, while Spectrum has opened hotspots for public use.

“This crisis has shown what a critical role broadband plays in our everyday

lives,” Durkin said.

As quarantine orders spread across the U.S., the stress on Internet infrastructure is expected to increase, as well.

AT&T’s networks saw 21% more traffic on Wednesday compared with the same day last month.

But some experts say fears of work-from-home effects on networks could get overblown and have to be taken in context.

“When you do a speed test, that is the speed only of the current given time,” said Dan Rayburn, a streaming media consultant with the research firm Frost & Sullivan.

“Two minutes later, you might get a different result.”

“The biggest thing is, are people at home watching more than they usually do? Right now, there is not a huge impact because they are familiar with what the services offer and they had been using them before anyway.”

Rayburn said gaming is likely where traffic has surged, as more people stay home and play video games over streaming services.

Video conferencing also has likely increased, Rayburn said.

“This isn’t new technology or new services, but people haven’t seen them as crucial business platforms before now,” he said.

With more infrastructure depth, the networks can handle the surges better than they might have done if the pandemic had happened a decade ago, Bunner-Sorg said.

“Ten years ago, it would have been somewhat possible but not nearly as the scale that we are seeing today,” he said. Got a news tip? msantana@orlandosentinel .com or 407-420-5256; Twitter, @marcosantana.