Use of the internet has jumped dramatically
As we wade deeper and deeper into the enhanced community quarantine enacted by the government to stop COVID-19 in its tracks, the Philippine Chamber of Telecommunications Operators is reminding the public to use the internet responsibly as an unprecedented number of workers in the country are now working from home.
Because of the exponential increase in network traffic from home users, ISPs are asking customers to be conscientious with using connected apps and services.
“We expect internet usage to grow exponentially given the government directive to work from home. Presently, we have enough capacity with the investments we’ve made into our network in the past years but since the internet is a shared resource, we encourage our customers to still use the internet responsibly and refrain from using torrents that hog bandwidth and negatively impact others,” said PCTO Chairman Enrico Delos Reyes.
The PCTO is asking customers to adhere to best practices listed below to minimize the strain on the network, and ensure quality customer experience:
- Use landline as much as possible to decongest call traffic from mobile networks
- Download urgent documents only. Other documents should be downloaded during off-peak hours
- Heavy files should be transferred via sharing services and attached as links instead of as attachments to emails
- Use of entertainment apps such as video streaming and gaming is encouraged during off-peak hours