The easing of lockdown measures has only a limited impact on rising levels of data consumption since the restrictions began, according to new figures from Virgin Media. Movement and activity restrictions mean many people use their home connections for work, education, entertainment, and communication with friends and family they cannot physically see. The cable provider claims that customers consume an average of 3.4 GB of additional data compared to pre-lock levels. During the lockdown period, this represents an additional 325 GB of data. Download traffic has also increased due to increased demand for productivity tools, online games and video calling software. The average Virgin Media subscriber now downloads an additional 3,7 GB of data every week. There are some regional variations. London saw its data consumption increase by a fifth, while Wales only increased by 10%. Northern Ireland experienced the biggest change in download traffic, with a data peak of 58%, while Wales saw the smallest increase. Overall, April was Virgin Media's network's busiest month, with May lagging slightly behind. Based on weekly consumption, the first week of foreclosure was the busiest, but there was no significant decline despite the government loosening social distancing guidelines and encouraging more industries to return to work, if possible. "Despite an increase in demand, with people relying on broadband more than ever before, our network has proven to be reliable and resilient, helping to keep people connected to loved ones, to work and leisure," said Jeanie York, Virgin Media CTIO. “This is a new dawn for broadband usage; The way people use their connectivity has irrevocably changed, and we believe that Covid-19 will have a lasting impact on data consumption patterns. Regulator Ofcom says networks have remained largely resilient despite additional demand from service providers who have taken steps to maintain and increase capacity. All was not smooth sailing for Virgin Media, however, as a major outage in April affected customers across the UK.