TalkTalk reveals surge in traffic for Felix Baumgartner skydive

TalkTalk has reported a surge in broadband traffic as customers flocked to their computer screens to watch Felix Baumgartner's 'edge of space' skydiving stunt.

The Austrian jumped from a helium balloon at a height of 24 miles, with TalkTalk hailing the global event as the first to be primarily watched online rather than on television.

During the build-up to the stunt on Sunday evening (October 14th 2012), the internet service provider saw its servers peak at 460Gbps - significantly more than it traditionally generates at this time.

When Baumgartner began his 844 mph plummet, network activity dropped off somewhat as conventional television channels started broadcasting the event.

An estimated eight million people watched the dive via YouTube, representing the highest number of simultaneous streams in the history of the website.

Although the skydive set a new world record, TalkTalk Technology's managing director Clive Dorsman noted the event was far from creating the highest level of Sunday traffic its servers have ever seen.

TalkTalk's busiest Sunday came in September, when version six of Apple's iOS operating system was released, causing traffic to hit a peak of 525Gbps.