From Christmas movies to video-calling relatives and new games consoles being unwrapped, much of what we do at this time of year depends on our internet connections.
And with so many people online, in households up and down the country, it’s easy to imagine everyone competing for bandwidth. But does all that activity actually make the internet slower over Christmas?
Is Christmas really the busiest time for the internet?
Surprisingly, the answer is not necessarily.
That peak was 22% higher than the previous year’s record. And across 2025, average traffic increased by 21%, with demand staying high even during traditionally quieter periods.
So while Christmas can certainly be busy, high demand isn’t unique to the festive season. A big Tuesday night football match or the latest blockbuster game release can create significant surges in traffic too.
And there’s another important distinction we should make. More traffic doesn’t automatically mean slower broadband. Our networks are built to handle large amounts of data, and just because there’s a large amount being carried along our pipes, that doesn’t necessarily affect the speed you’re getting at home.
So what else might affect your connection over Christmas?
A houseful of people means a houseful of devices
When family and friends visit, they’re likely to bring their phones, tablets and other gadgets with them.
But simply having lots of devices connected shouldn’t noticeably slow things down. What those devices are doing is more important.
When there’s movie and TV streaming going on and when the kids are downloading the latest game to their console, all those activities are taking a chunk out of your available bandwidth.
Every connected device in your home needs to share from the same pool of available bandwidth. The higher your broadband speed – whether that’s 100, 500 or 900Mbps – the more capacity you generally have for things to happen online at once. But if a few bandwidth-hungry activities are happening at the same time, that might not leave much for everything else you want to do online.
That doesn’t mean everyone needs to take turns using the internet. But if things seem slower during a large download or movie stream, pausing other activity till later could help.
Sometimes it’s the WiFi, not the broadband
Christmas can also mean people are more likely to want to get online in parts of the house that don’t normally see much activity.
That could be watching a film in the spare bedroom or trying to make a video call from upstairs. Perhaps you have a spare TV that’s suddenly become home for your Christmas gaming hub.
The broadband reaching your router may be perfectly fine, but the WiFi signal has to travel through walls, floors and other obstacles. And the further away you’re trying to connect, the weaker that signal can become.
If you’re able to move the same device closer to the router, this is easy to check. If speeds improve noticeably, WiFi coverage is likely to be the issue.
If you’re continually struggling with weak spots, mesh WiFi can help by using multiple devices to provide more consistent coverage. Our EveryRoom and eero mesh WiFi options are designed to help with exactly that.
Why your game downloads might be taking forever
It’s a familiar scene. Christmas morning, and a new games console has been unwrapped, plugged in and switched on.
Then comes the dreaded realisation: a huge download is needed before the game can start.
But surely a fast broadband can make light work of that? Not always.
When you download a game, the data has to come from somewhere. Gaming platforms have their own servers and systems for delivering downloads, and imagine what might happen to those servers when thousands of customers are trying to access exactly the same files at exactly the same time.
When demand is heavy, even a very fast broadband connection can’t guarantee the maximum possible speed from every service.
If one particular download is slow but other websites and streaming services are working normally, that’s a good indicator that the problem lies with the game’s servers.
Where possible, getting new devices set up and updated ahead of Christmas Day could help you avoid this rush and save some frustrating waiting.
What else can you do?
If several devices and services are struggling over Christmas, even when connected close to the router, it’s worth investigating whether there’s something else going on with your broadband connection.
The best place to start is our broadband troubleshooting guide, where you’ll find some straightforward checks and self-help resources.
And if you need to get in touch, our Live Chat service will get you connected to someone who can help.
