UK Internet usage peaks at 9pm on Wednesdays!

[Martin-O2]

Hey everyone, 

Using publicly available data from one of Britain's largest Internet exchanges The Office for National Statistics has started monitoring the UK's Internet traffic recently and has already come up with some interesting observations. 

According to the ONS Internet use peaks at 9pm on Wednesdays and is most quiet between 4 and 5 am during the week. Some other interesting findings were: 

• Traffic falls between 16:00 and 18:00 with its lowest point at 18:00 on weekdays (not weekends
  
  
• Traffic peaks at 21:00 on weekdays, particularly midweek
  
  
• Traffic is generally quieter at weekends and bank holidays
  
  
• Traffic peaks at 13:00 during weekends

Most of these observations make sense such as the dip in traffic during the time most people are travelling home from work. 

Interestingly we also see a rise in traffic on the community during Wednesday evenings! 

Do you follow the UK trends for Internet usage and did you find anything surprising or usual about the ONS findings? 

[Mi-Amigo]

Begs the question - How much did the ONS survey cost and was it necessary when the findings are blindingly obvious:

According to the ONS Internet use peaks at 9pm on Wednesdays

Reason - there is nothing worth watching on the telly 

and is most quiet between 4 and 5 am during the week

Reason - most folk are in bed [OK a few exceptions with the nighthawks on the Community] 

Traffic falls between 16:00 and 18:00 with its lowest point at 18:00 on weekdays (not weekends)
Reason - school runs, journeys home from work, preparing evening meal...

[JAZZ-trad]

Well I second all the points made by @Mi-Amigo
Exact same thoughts.
Tea time 16.00 to 18.00 ...then 21.00 most settled down and bored with TV . 13.00 lunch time break and a catch up. Quiet at weekends lots to do catching up with home works or outings. Most sensible people sleeping 4/5am😇
Wednesday must be terrible on TV.
Finally hope that the survey didn't cost too much. Next time just ask o2 community forum 😁😁😁😊😊😎😎

[jonsie]

My own usage seems to follow the trends. Friday night and weekend nights on the community sees a drastic reduction in the number of posts and it's only off topic that mostly generates what traffic there is. In fact every evening on here, it's only the usual suspects having mostly banal social intercourse that keeps the community ticking over.

The survey was obviously commissioned by the Office of the Bleedin' Obvious!

[Cleoriff]

^^^^^^^ So true..

[Anonymous]

I’d have thought usage would increase around 4pm as the kids get home from school and get on their phones / consoles.
I’d also assumed that usage would increase at weekends when more people are at home than at work.
So the results are a surprise for me!

[liggerz87]

Also I'm on this at night aswel and also I play Xbox at stupid o clock in morning

[Anonymous]

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@jonsie wrote:

My own usage seems to follow the trends. Friday night and weekend nights on the community sees a drastic reduction in the number of posts and it's only off topic that mostly generates what traffic there is. In fact every evening on here, it's only the usual suspects having mostly banal social intercourse that keeps the community ticking over.

The survey was obviously commissioned by the Office of the Bleedin' Obvious!

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Well then ... I must be one of the usual suspects having mostly banal social intercourse that keeps the community ticking over then ... ... ... *Am I Bovvered* ... ... ... *Whatever*

My x-husband once shouted at me that ... ... ... 'You Could Get A Degree In Stating The Bleepy Obvious'

We weren't very well matched ... ... ... methinks ... ... ... 

[Anonymous]

I'd guess they are using the data from the London Internet Exchange (you can take a look too if you are so inclined here https://portal.linx.net/)

It's not really suprising as the soaps end at 9 so people are looking for something to either watch or do.

The weekend drop either shows people are doing other stuff or going out.

This could also be explained by people carrying a specific activity. watching stuff on demand.

The traffic involved can be shifted to private interconnects with the Content Delivery Networks involved or, in Netflix's case, they may embed a cache appliance in an ISP network, this frees up bandwidth on Internet facing links.

Peering and transit is a whole subject in itself but not relevant here.

As 5G takes off and car manufacturers take advantage, I suspect you'll see less of a dip between 16.00 and 18.00 in the coming years unless, as mentioned above, the content is gets cached locally by service providers.

[Mi-Amigo]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'd guess they are using the data from the London Internet Exchange

Says a lot. I wouldn`t trust data from someone/something with acronym L.I.E.