Peak Hour Traffic Calculator

Work out peak hour traffic instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Peak Hour Traffic Calculator

Provisioning from a daily average understates requirements badly. Converting daily volume into a peak-hour rate uses the busy-hour share, then a burst factor accounts for the fact that even within the peak hour traffic is not smooth — 30-second bursts commonly run 1.5 to 2 times the hourly mean, and that is what fills interface queues.

Formula

Peak rate

peak hour GB = daily GB x busy-hour share; peak Mbps = peak GB x 8000 / 3600; provision = peak x burst factor

Worked example

With the default values below, Peak Hour Traffic Calculator returns Average rate in the peak hour of 373.33. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Daily traffic volumeminimum 0.001 GB: 1,200 GB
Share in the busiest houraccepts 0.1–100 %: 14 %
Sub-minute burst factoraccepts 1–10 x: 1.6 x

Results

Average rate in the peak hour: 373.33 Mbps
Rate to provision for bursts: 597.33 Mbps
Daily average rate: 111.11 Mbps
Peak to average ratio: 3.36 x

Step by step

1Values used
2Peak rate
3Average rate in the peak hour= 373.33 Mbps
4Rate to provision for bursts= 597.33 Mbps
5Daily average rate= 111.11 Mbps
6Peak to average ratio= 3.36 x

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 3 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What busy-hour share is typical?

Ten to fifteen percent of daily volume for consumer traffic, and higher for business networks where activity is confined to office hours.

Why does the burst factor matter?

Because interfaces drop packets when instantaneous rate exceeds capacity, even if the five-minute average looks fine. Most monitoring averages away the bursts that cause the loss.