Andy Murray sends network traffic figures flying

First we had Top Gear's reveal of The Stig, then the breaking news of Michael Jackson's death and now it's the turn of a British sports star to send broadband traffic figures soaring.

Internet service provider PlusNet has posted statistics showing BBC iPlayer traffic figures peaking to an impressive high as the British public relied on broadband to watch Andy Murray beat Juan Carlos Ferrero in the Wimbledon quarter finals on Wednesday.

At its highest, PlusNet reported a 1.81Gb peak in iPlayer traffic making up over 25 per cent of the provider's overall network capacity. This was an increase on Murray's fourth round game which appeared to pull in a maximum of 1.66Gb worth of traffic.

Although this is a good example of the British public's reliance on broadband, a surge iPlayer traffic probably won't do much to keep the BBC in UK internet service provider's good books. Last month the BBC came at heads with BT after one of its reporters revealed the provider was limiting the speeds of all video streaming to 896Kb on its Option 1 product during peak times. If other broadband providers are forced to follow suit because they can't keep up with demands this could have a significant effect on the quality or reliability of live stream content from the likes of iPlayer.

PlusNet has reported it will be eagerly watching iPlayer Traffic statistics this afternoon when Andy Murray faces Andy Roddick in the Gentleman's Singles semi-finals. It has hinted streaming traffic could top 2Gb. As it's more likely viewers may be able to bunk off work early on a Friday afternoon PlusNet's traffic graph will be an insightful way of checking whether customers are ditching their TVs in favour of laptops, even when they're at home.

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