The increased internet usage has pushed broadband providers to perform round-the-clock enhancements on their networks, in hopes of minimizing hiccups to connection and speed. Internet usage gradually slowed after the end of March, and fell more rapidly as some states began reopening in May, only to rise again in June as coronavirus infections rebounded. Heavily urbanized regions such as the New York City tri-state area and California were among the first to go into lockdown, during which their internet usage remained relatively stable. Executives and analysts have said the rapidly increasing broadband usage didn't come anywhere near the overall capacity, leaving plenty of bandwidth. An NCTA spokesman said it is hard to measure how much bandwidth remained despite the usage surge, which would vary with each provider.

Source: Wall Street Journal August 15, 2020 15:11 UTC