Kiwis have once again put their mobile devices through their paces this festive season, hitting record highs for data usage across Vodafone's networks.

Nationally Kiwis consumed 573 TB- (Tera Bytes) of data on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, compared to 411 TB of data across the country during the same period last year, an astounding 39 per cent increase.

That's equivalent to Kiwis streaming approximately 255k hours of video in just two days.

The most popular times to video-call family and friends far and wide or check out the latest online content was between 8-10pm on both Christmas and Boxing Day, with data traffic hitting peak use levels of 18.1TB and 19.5TB respectively.

And on a technology level, 4G data volume increased by a massive 60.25 per cent year on year.

Vodafone Technology director Tony Baird says the high use showed exactly why the investment in New Zealand's holiday hotspots in the lead-up to Christmas was so important.

"We've invested heavily, upgrading cellsites from 3G to 4G and adding additional capacity like our cell sites on wheels (COWS), to bring faster speeds to support the growing number of holiday makers.

"Some of these areas may go to triple the usual data consumption in a single day as people head over to the beach or favourite picnic spot when there's great weather. We know how important it is to stay connected with family and friends, and that's why having a robust network like Vodafone is vital," Tony says.

Kiwis keen to send a short message of Christmas cheer (and possibly a note of thanks for their new Christmas goodies) also sent nearly 1.24 million SMS or TXTs per hour at a peak time of 9am on Christmas Day, compared to 1.27 million SMS's at last year's Christmas peak.

Overall a total of 15.57 million SMS or TXTS were sent on Christmas day this year, compared to 16.8 million last year, a 7.55 per cent decrease.

"Smartphones, tablets and laptops are at the heart of how Kiwis are staying in touch now. Our technology team has been hard at work to make sure they get the same seamless experience on our network at holiday destinations, as they would at home," Tony says.