Our broadband network usage hit a new high yesterday as Andy Murray wallopped Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets at Wimbledon.  The peak remained at a constant high between 4 and 5pm, at which point presumably everyone left the office and watched it at home because the network traffic dropped right off.

My understanding is that whilst an ISP’s network might well have been able to cope with the added traffic levels some problems were caused at  local exchange level where virtual paths were seeing congestion. The virtual path is the backhaul from exchange into the BT network and on to the internet, and in this case to the BBC website.

BT’s new 21CN network should be better placed to withstand this sort of traffic burst.

Expect another peak when “our Andy” plays in the semi final.  I feel as if I have known him all my life :-).