UK's Christmas internet traffic peaks at 6.4Tbps

UK's Christmas internet traffic peaks at 6.4Tbps
We're pretty net obsessed

Virgin Media estimates that the UK's internet peak over Christmas was a staggering 6.4 terabits per second, with peak time between 8 and 11PM on Christmas Day.

The estimates from Virgin Media (which were calculated before the day itself so could be utterly wrong), suggest that the late peak is due to million of us getting new devices and downloading those pesky updates and wonderful apps.

Plus, of course, there's a spike of people using catchup and streaming services to make sure that the various cynical deaths, disasters and doom across British TV can be experienced in all their glory.

Snowman buffering

Virgin's own network apparently experienced peaks of around 1.6Tbps, up by 55% on last year and, apparently, equivalent to half a million of us streaming The Snowman HD at the same time.

The figures, although estimates, give a fascinating glimpse into the rise and rise of our connected lives.

The vast majority of people will use the internet at some point over the Christmas period, but what we are doing has evolved greatly, with simple surfing for Boxing Day deals joined by streaming video and social media as our favourite activities.

And to think we used to talk to the in-laws...

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.