Restaurants, movie theaters, gyms, and other recreational activities have all been shut down. This is causing the world to spend more time online. Whether it be social media, shopping, YouTube, or one of the many streaming services, we are all spending a little more time using the internet.

The increase in internet usage has caused some stress on internet speeds and connectivity. According to a report from Broadband Now, out of the 200 most populated cities in the US, 88 cities are dealing with some degree of degradation. Collected data for download speeds for the 10 most populated cities show connection and download speeds have slowed down. Four out of the 10 most populated cities experienced a drop in speeds. These cities include New York City, Houston, San Diego, and San Jose. These cities haven’t seen an enormous drop in download speeds, but it is apparent. New York’s pre-quarantine download speed clocked in at 73Mbps and dropping to 62Mbps during. To put this into perspective, only 25Mbps is needed to stream Netflix in 4K resolution.

While some have cities that have seen a drop in download speeds, the other cities with large populations are doing just fine. Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, and Phoenix have been able to keep their download speeds steady during the social distancing internet surge.

Internet connectivity has been important for many years now, but now being forced to stay home, we are depending on it even more so. The Internet is how many people are continuing their work, how many people are continuing to go to school, and of course, it’s many people’s primary source of entertainment. Although major cities in the US are seeing a slowdown in download speeds due to a strain from an increase in usage. This lockdown is also proving the resiliency of the Internet and making it even stronger

Now due to the current pandemic, many data center companies are upgrading traffic capacity to meet the demand. Netflix is increasing its infrastructure as well. The company is planning to install hundreds of extra servers in the most popular regions. Cable companies are also adapting to the new normal. One of the biggest cable companies, Comcast, is waiving data caps for its users. As we continue to deal with the lockdown, it’s obvious that the internet not collapsing. And because of the precautions Internet companies are taking—the Internet will be stronger than it has ever been. Not only will the Internet survive and flourish during this current pandemic—it could be stronger than ever before.