Those jumping online in Oregon and Southwest Washington since the pandemic landed did so with the same amount of gusto as those in the rest of the nation.
So reported Comcast, which took a look at activity over at least three distinct periods: 2019, 2020 and the beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020, to about March 2021.
Some of the overall figures uncovered nationally are stunning. For instance, Comcast customers for the first time ever generated more than 1 trillion internet requests, as measured by domain name system lookups, each day. That means, in simplest terms, "Comcast customers surfed, streamed and emailed more than ever before," the company said.
Plus, nationally, Comcast’s network experienced almost two years' worth of traffic growth within the first four months of the pandemic lockdown.
Area customers did their part, with peak downstream traffic in 2020 jumping by approximately 38% over 2019 levels. Peak upstream traffic increased approximately 56% over 2019 levels. These are the same figures as those logged nationally, according to the company.
The term "upstream web traffic" refers to data sent from computers or networks while "downstream" traffic means data that is received by computers or networks. The latter includes receiving emails, downloading files or clicking on web pages.
Oddly, while videoconferencing has received much attention as office workers scrambled to do their jobs amid Covid, videoconferencing traffic still only accounted for less than 5% of all overall network usage Video streaming, as TV shows and movies sought to entertain more online users, comprised 71% of all downstream traffic. That's a 70% jump over 2019 levels.
Here's a look at a few key numbers that Comcast's data team generated over the past several months.
56%
The amount by which upstream web traffic — or data sent from computers or networks — increased between 2019 and 2020 in Oregon and Southwest Washington
38%
The amount by which downstream web traffic in Oregon and Southwest Washington — meaning, data such as email or files, or the visiting of web pages — increased between 2019 and 2020
50%
The amount by which Comcast said its overall network traffic jumped between March 2020 to March 2021, compared to the same period a year earlier
71%
The amount of network traffic comprised by video streaming in 2020, a 70% increase over 2019 levels
<5%
The percentage of traffic that videoconferencing accounts for in terms of Comcast’s overall network usage