Smart Working, continuous calls, streaming services pushed to the max: in the difficult days we are living, forced at home for our own good and that of our community, even our internet connections are called to a not indifferent effort to support the shock wave of the Coronavirus.
Working or studying at home, having fun with our favorite streaming services, seeing our friends through video calls will lead to an exponential increase in connected people and a continuous use of Internet network fixed and mobile with peaks that we have probably never experienced so far. Will operators be ready to face all this?
New habits
They seem minor deviations, but the change of habits that has overwhelmed us and that will continue to do so in the coming weeks will also change the way we approach the internet connection and the services we usually use. The time that most of us usually spend at work will be spent at home and services or programs that we used only at certain times will be used more frequently and with a much higher number of simultaneous accesses. Let's think about services streaming, now fundamental for our entertainment, or ai social networks, not to mention video conferencing services or video call management.
To all this will be added people connected to their home to work, with an increased use of home networks, be they fixed or mobile. If on the one hand some companies are offering their platforms or subscription services for free, on the other the operators are giving away extra jig in almost the whole country. A shock wave that will certainly make users' weeks easier but that will put a strain on our already claudicating internet network.
Digital solidarity
Digital solidarity is leading companies to make special offers to users across Italy. Commendable initiatives for citizens, forced to stay at home and eager to be able to make the most of their connections and to have as many possibilities as "to pass the time". Everyone will have many more gigabytes available for their rate plans: Tim he is even making unlimited gigs available to all Italians; WindTre will give 100 giga in seven days for its users; Fastweb is ready to put 1 million gigs on the plate for its subscribers; iliad it will give its subscribers only 10 gigabytes of internet voice.
The mobile network will therefore be used without too many limits, but home fiber optic and ADSL networks will be put under even greater stress. Will the already limping and not always avant-garde Italian connection technology be able to manage a general volume of data much higher than normal?
Peak usage
According to a recent research by Il Sole 24 Ore, the first data speak of a 50% increase in the use of the internet in Piedmont, with a further increase in the 45% across the North West of Google searches and the 42% access to Facebook. If for now the system holds, a peak of 1.1 TB / s of data has been recorded in the Mix (Milan Internet Exchange) in Milan, a record never reached before, which underlines how much the traffic on the network has essentially doubled : the home fixed network, according to Tim, recorded a 100% increase in use compared to the normal situation.
The mobile network, on the other hand, recorded a 20% increase but with a rather significant increase in voice traffic. Telephone operators are already running for cover, trying to intervene on several fronts to avoid congestion and allow networks to move normally even with significant growth in connections.
Work from home
Numerous experts believe that this is only the beginning of a growth that will become quite important in the coming weeks. To create the biggest problems could be above all it smart working, a practice that will transfer operations that usually weighed on the local connections of companies to home connections. In its normal use, the Internet is not programmed to withstand excessive doses of new traffic, all the more so in a country like ours where some fundamental infrastructures for the correct use of the network are missing. Especially at the point of intersection of the various network connections, where the infrastructures of the various operators intersect, there could be significant blockages. To weigh even more on the situation is also a structural defect of our network, designed to manage above all data flows or downloads and much weaker to move data out or upload.
Smart working, given its constant and interactive flow of data exchange, needs equal power in both download and upload. Only recent connections in fiber all the way home they guarantee a good compromise in this sense, all the others, due to their asymmetrical structure, could create several problems if overloaded.
The first problems
For now, given the speedy work of the operators, the problems seem to be rather contained but many are certifying the first albeit limited malfunctions on our network. The first disservices mainly affected the home networks of Tim and Fastweb, with a growing percentage of reports from users. Last March 11thFurthermore, Tim's mobile and fixed network has experienced several problems throughout northern Italy, with an overload that has only been touched and has so far been avoided thanks to timely interventions that have expanded the available reserves.
This, despite the speedy resolution, has however led to marked slowdowns in the home connection speed and to a total absence of connection in some cases, especially in the north and in the central area of Sardinia. In the last few days the problems seem to have been solved, but it is the endemic structure of our gang that has raised the most concerns.
What can be done
Operators will not be able to improve infrastructure in these weeks. The intrinsic characteristics of our connections, especially domestic ones, will remain those we have always had. Providers have so far held up well to the impact, increasing their ability to accommodate simultaneous connections and proving to be quick in trying to solve problems in the bud.
For now, in this early period of emergency, things seem to fall within the tolerable limits: the excellent and widespread presence in many areas of good infrastructures for mobile connections could lighten the system in general.
Smartphone connections seem to be the ones capable of absorbing these novelties more, because they have already been studied to manage a greater number of connections. It will be the fixed networksprobably to have the greatest number of problems in the long run, given the massive presence of more and more people in their homes.
A period to learn from
It will be a test of fire for all of us. The Internet is now a deep-rooted habit, an open window on the world which in cases like this becomes vital to get out, at least virtually, of this forced isolation. The operators involved know this and the fact that they immediately worked to give something more to all of us is certainly commendable. The hope is that problems and malfunctions will be reduced to a minimum and will not cause further trouble in an already delicate situation. A hope that, when all this is over, will lead all professionals to a serious reflection on the state of our connections which, especially in the south and in the smaller municipalities, are not suitable for use of the network even in normal conditions, let alone in an emergency like this.
The Coronavirus it only confirmed how fundamental the internet is for all of us, especially for communicating and managing a health emergency like this. Also for this reason it will be necessary to equip oneself with infrastructure first level, to avoid creating further problems in delicate situations. We hope that this situation will lead in the future to a further accelerated implementation of infrastructures that guarantee throughout Italy a level of connection worthy of the name, which guarantees the whole country free and total access to the network for all its needs, in firstly in normal living conditions and, even more so, when normality ceases.
