Unlike New York City, the Internet does indeed sleep.
Researchers from the University of Southern California have discovered that the Internet is up and down around the world at different times depending on how wealthy the country is.
The findings were compiled into the following GIF which shows how Internet access was far more steady in first world countries such as the United States versus poorer countries in Africa, said John Heidemann, research professor at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Information Sciences Institute (ISI).
“This data helps us establish a baseline for the Internet—to understand how it functions, so that we have a better idea of how resilient it is as a whole, and can spot problems quicker,” Heidemann said.
Heidemann added that he hopes this information will be used to improve broadband infrastructure and prevent Internet outages.
H/T universityofsoutherncalifornia | Photo by Nathan/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) | Remix by Jason Reed