https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/v74jy4/experts-say-the-internet-will-mostly-stay-online-during-coronavirus-pandemic

As millions of Americans hunker down to slow the spread of COVID-19, U.S. broadband networks are seeing a significant spike in usage. While industry insiders say that the U.S. internet should be able to handle the strain overall, broadband availability, affordability, and slow speeds could still pose a serious problem for many housebound U.S. residents. In a blog post, Cloudflare noted that Seattle, ground zero for the U.S. coronavirus spread, has seen internet usage spike by some 40 percent. Key internet exchanges in cities like Amsterdam, London, and Frankfurt have seen a 10 to 20 percent spike in traffic since around March 9.

ISPs use a number of modern network technologies to handle congestion in real time, often letting them intelligently and automatically “deprioritize” the traffic of heavy users in overloaded areas. Even then, the massive surge in usage will likely impact U.S. broadband speeds in the weeks and months to come, industry trackers say. Broadband Now, a company that tracks U.S. broadband availability and speed, told Motherboard that six of the biggest U.S. cities by population have seen little to no change in median speed test results from the past 11 weeks. But four cities—Houston, New York City, San Diego, and San Jose — have started to see slower average speeds overall. “It stands to reason that we may not yet be seeing the ‘peak’ of network demand, and that many more businesses, schools and universities may end up closing or shifting workers and students to remote situations in the coming weeks,” Broadband Now Editor and Chief Tyler Cooper told Motherboard. U.S. wireless broadband provider Starry told Motherboard the company has seen traffic increase steadily over the last two weeks, nearly tripling during work hours. They’ve also seen a 15 to 20 percent bump in traffic during peak usage hours. But Starry SVP Virginia Lam Abrams claimed the surge isn’t anything the company’s network can’t handle. “Because we are a broadband-only provider, our customers are one-hundred percent cord-cutters, so we’re accustomed to seeing heavy data usage,” Lam Abrams said. “Our subscribers skew towards heavy video streaming and gaming, and many were already accustomed to working from home for at least part of the week, so the increase in traffic was not unexpected and is in line with what we were anticipating.” Other residential ISPs may not be so lucky. U.S. phone companies, for example, have neglected their networks for the better part of the last decade, refusing to upgrade or even repair slow and aging DSL lines in many areas despite billions in taxpayer subsidies. As a result, many of these lines may buckle under the demand of a full family’s internet usage. ISPs like Verizon that have upgraded to fiber say they expect no major disruptions due to the additional load. Many major ISPs have suspended usage caps and overage fees in response to COVID-19, after critics complained that such restrictions don’t actually help manage congestion—and are little more than glorified price hikes on uncompetitive markets. Starry’s claim to fame has long been the avoidance of such caps, something the company says shouldn’t be a problem in the days and weeks to come.