There are certain calendar events that are guaranteed to impact broadband traffic levels.  In some cases, such as the “Ramadan Effect” identified on page 3 of our recent 2009 Global Broadband Phenomena, Internet traffic drops as a result of religious or cultural observance.  However, in a manner not unlike how post offices experience massive increases before Christmas and Mother’s Day, there are scheduled calendar events that lead to increases in over-all Internet traffic.  Sometimes, the increase is due to millions of people worldwide trying to stream sporting events like the World Cup or March Madness.  Other times, the increase is the result of millions of people unwrapping iPods and iTunes gift cards on Christmas Day. 

While the exact increase varies, network operators servicing regions where iTunes is available can count on seeing an increase in Internet traffic on Christmas Day due to swarms of people putting their gift cards to immediate use.  Generally, iTunes accounts for about 1% of total Internet traffic, so a massive surge isn’t a negligible amount of bandwidth.  A brief survey of networks we serve showed that our customers saw anywhere from a 20 percent to 200 percent increase in iTunes traffic on Christmas Day, and it took about a week for the level to return to normal.

Of course, surges aren’t limited to music.  Many lucky people (who weren’t naughty) got to unwrap a shiny new game console, leading to a sudden rise in the amount of gaming traffic and console-based downloads (like firmware updates, movie-trailers, and game add-ons).  This observation shouldn’t be a surprise – it is expected that major game releases (most recently Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which just crossed $1 billion in revenue) cause dramatic increases in online gaming traffic.

Thankfully, it’s not all about commercialism – many network operators also spotted bumps in VoIP traffic (particularly Skype) as well-wishers called loved ones on New Year’s Day, mirroring a similar phenomenon that repeats itself every Mother’s Day.