Kiwis’ broadband habits revealed

It seems Kiwis like to break for dinner before diving head first into the screens, with new data from Chorus shedding some light on New Zealanders' broadband habits.

According to the figures, data usage on the Chorus network is at its lowest at 5am and begins to rise between 6am and 8:30am. Usage remains consistent during the day and jumps sharply from 3:30pm, spiking again after a lull at dinner time.

Chorus network strategy manager Kurt Rodgers says its unlikely a coincidence that the 3.30pm jump is around the same time certain 'data-hungry' family members wander in from school.

"We slow down again over dinner time, and from 7:30pm we climb to our highest usage period of the day – between 8pm and 10:30pm – as we get through one or two Netflix shows, upload the homework or plan our next tropical holiday," Rodgers adds.

Rodgers says daily usage is higher in the weekends, but Kiwis are online slightly less at night on weekends.

"But if you look at the numbers we're generally following the same routine every day," he explains.

 Rodgers says New Zealanders' online patterns change during the summer holidays.

"A lot of us may have been doing some Christmas shopping on 14 December at 9:30pm as that was the busiest 15-minute period on our network during 2016," he says.

Average consumption dropped 30% on Christmas Day and more than 40% on New Years' Eve.

According to the figures, data consumption in Chorus' Auckland Central exchange dropped by 25% over the Christmas/New Year break.

However, Rodgers says it is likely Aucklanders were not giving up their binge watching, just relocating it, as data use in the Coromandel increased by 44% over the same period.

"Here at Chorus our analysts collect and interpret national and regional data consumption figures to help us plan for and manage traffic flow through our network in the future," Rodgers explains.

"We need to do that to make sure our national network has the capacity to get everyone's favourite show to them; whether they're watching it on the couch at home, or from their favourite holiday spot," he says.

"Interesting trends aside, what these numbers are overwhelmingly telling us is that as a nation our average data use is growing fast," adds Rodgers.

"As a country we chewed through 1.5 exabytes (or 1,500,000,000 gigabytes) of data last year," he explains.

"That's a lot of information, emails, movies, music, and more being bundled and carried all over the country.

Despite the growing role of broadband in our lives, about 60% of homes and businesses on the Chorus network could have a better broadband connection and a more enjoyable online experience, often at no extra cost, Rodgers says.