With the arrival of COVID-19 and the quarantine, many were the habits that changed our lives, including the ways of surfing the Internet. The providers of this service quickly realized some changes that users had, things that they did not do before and that do not stop happening during and after the quarantine. This is due, in large part, to the fact that many companies have opted (and continue to do so) for teleworking. Also, students now spent more time with their families, which made the internet connection of millions of people permanent.

All this caused problems in many internet provider companies, since those who had been studying the behavior of Internet users and their browsing habits in a millimeter way, realized that everything had changed radically.

The increase in traffic also brought positive things, new studies and, above all, performance in terms of infrastructure and both public and private companies that manage the Internet.

But exactly what things have changed? Actually, there were several, but today we will mention some of the most important.

Quarantined Internet

Internet provider companies already had an idea of ​​the behavior of users on the web, that is, they already knew when the time of greatest use was, when and how Internet users connected.

Before COVID-19, the date with the most Internet traffic was the New Year’s Eve celebration , where family and friends greeted each other to welcome the new year and bid farewell to the old. However, the unexpected quarantine caused this high traffic to be in the background.

Likewise, it was estimated that the increase in traffic that occurred over a year would increase in just a matter of days during confinement. This was largely due to people seeking to consume entertaining content on the internet so as not to get bored at home.

Videos and streaming services increased by 100%

Another behavior that has not decreased is the use of platforms such as Netflix or HBO. These have not only doubled the number of users they have, but have even tripled it.

Netflix released its earnings for the first quarter of the year, where it was evident that it had obtained a 21% increase in these three months compared to the previous year. Of course, this also came hand in hand with other strategies such as reducing investment in advertising and marketing , because they did not need much promotion because everyone was at home watching them.

In this way, the increase in the consumption of video platforms and live channels brought with it another new factor that was benefited and is what we will talk about in the next point.

VPN popularity growth

By staying home longer than usual, we sought to entertain ourselves so that the quarantine was more bearable, so many people went to the internet to learn new things, watch movies and series that they had not seen before and even watch courses that they did not have before. time to do.

Among all these options, movies and series were the most popular, and there is no better way to pass the time than watching entertaining things. That is why, as we commented previously, many went to Netflix, the BBC or HBO to look for the content they wanted to see.

However, these streaming platforms often apply geographic restrictions, making it impossible for people to view content from other countries if they are not licensed in their home country. This segmentation is part of their sales strategies, but they limited people to see only what they wanted and not what people really wanted to see.

This is where the VPN (in English, virtual private network) comes into play, since many people learned and knew about this tool that prior to quarantine was used by specific people. This  allowed you to overcome location restrictions to enjoy movies and content that were not broadcast in your home country. Do you know what a VPN is? If you don’t know, enter here and learn its meaning. Lastly, it should be noted that cybersecurity is always an important element when we talk about internet browsing, whether it is with the use of applications such as VPN or other services that are not familiar to us.