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María Camila Parra Aldana FACULTAD DE INGENIERÍA By Samara Lynn and

CC: 1000986373 PROGRAMA DE ING. ELECTRÓNICA Catherine Thorbecke
VIERNES 27 DE MARZO
26 March 2020,

Will coronavirus break the Internet? Here's what the experts say.

As the novel coronavirus makes its insidious way around the world, many businesses have mandated
that employees whose work does not require their physical presence to work from home -- a real-time
stress test of America's internet infrastructure. Experts are seeing traffic surges in both home
broadband Internet and, in some instances, cellular traffic -- specifically, an increase in video
conferencing on phones.

Network operators have confirmed the surge. As of this week, AT&T reported, "Wireless voice
minutes of use was up 39% compared to an average Monday. Wi-Fi Calling minutes of use was 78%
higher than an average Monday. Consumer home voice calling minutes of use were up 45% from an
average Monday." The company said its core network traffic, including "business, home broadband
and wireless usage," was up 27% on Monday compared with the same day last month.

Charter Communications shared with ABC News that it has seen "some increased daytime network
activity -- especially in areas with larger COVID-19 impacts."

And in a posting on its website, Verizon said that the company's "wireless and broadband networks
handled more than 218,000 terabytes of data this past Monday alone." The company also saw a surge
in Virtual Private Network traffic. VPNs allow people to create a secure connection over a public
network, such as like the internet, to reach a private network. VPN traffic was up 52% over a typical
day on Verizon's network. Internet broadband and cellular networks have limitations. How sustainable
are these networks, especially when no one knows how long coronavirus lockdowns will continue?

Doug Suttles, CEO and co-founder of Ookla, creator of the popular internet speed benchmark
application, Speedtest.net said that Internet broadband, mostly, is in good shape. "There is the core of
the internet, which I think is fine," Suttles told ABC News. But his company's data shows problems
are popping up in residential communities because "the internet built around them is not built for this
usage." "Everyone's working from home, there's lots of video consumption, video conferencing," he
added. "We've seen, in select areas, a much larger degradation in performance, specifically in
residential areas -- dense, residential communities. The commuters are all at home."

ISPs prepare for peak consumption in evening, when everyone's typically home, not such an all-day
"overdrive," he said.
What's causing that increase in demand? Suttles said it's video conferencing, which "has a much
greater impact on upload [speed]," he said. Paul Carter, CEO of Global Wireless Solutions, said his
company has also been keeping track of usage patterns, in particular cellular networks. He likened the
current demand for connectivity to Super Bowl Sunday. "When it's time for the Super Bowl, operators
spend millions of dollars [to meet demand]. Now, it's like the whole country is kind of like the Super
Bowl," Carter said to ABC News.

He said COVID-19 has placed unique demands on carriers.