VIDEO DOWNLOADS will break the Interweb unless something is done to enable faster traffic speeds, a lobby group has warned.
Larry Irving, co-chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance, an
American industry group lobbying for universal improvements in the web's
network, said that YouTube and the BBC's Iplayer were putting the copper wires
under severe strain.
He said that unless billions of pounds are shelled out on web upgrades it could slow down or even collapse.
Irving, when interviewed by the The Telegraph, opted for the analogy of the Interweb as like a big city where the streets can only take so much traffic. He added that, while London does not shut down, everything slows down and the Internet is a lot like it.
Irving added that internet traffic in America was increasing at more than 50 per cent a year, while capacity was growing at only about 40 per cent. Over in Blighty we are in the same boat, particularly as demand for video websites has growed like topsy.
Basically Irving and his crew want ISPs to spend billions to replace the copper wires which provide the final web link to homes with high-speed fibre optics.
BT plans to spend £10 billion on upgrades. However, since it would not give me a phone without shelling out a £50 deposit because I once lived in in Bulgaria, I can safely say that it probably will not be enough to turn things around. µ
L'Inq
The
Torygraph
The Internet is a big truck after all?
The UK is like a 3rd world country when it comes to infrastructure. Its been obvious for ages that we simply don't have the capacity. The whole world is moving forward with virtualisation, apps on the internet, video on demand etc. Yet here in blighty we have to pay 20 quid a month for a 10 gig restricted, fair usage policy, traffic controlled, broadband connection cos the UK ISP's simply don't have the bandwidth available. Its going to take government funded backing using tax payers money before ISP's start pushing fibre optic cables through the sewers and out our toilets just to get us back up to speed with the rest of the civilized world. It makes me laugh when the likes of Monkeysoft talk about pushing HD movies into the home via their "games" consoles, I can only assume in the UK they intend to zip it up and send it bit by bit in monthly installments! what a joke...
Of course videos will slow down the interweb just like the continual 'updates' from Microsoft make it faster..Billy Bob Gates should be made to fork out, out of corporate funds, for it's use of the interweb to patch his shoddy software.
Think of Electrical wiring, One BIG Short & BAM, Blown Fuse. While Generator Being So Far Away, Turning on More Devices Than rated Amperage Usually Still Cooks With Gas, Additional Just Seems to Go Around Meter in Non Ferrous form of Electrical Energy Being drawn. HEY_It Works.

Next think of poor ole Jimmi Hendrix; Sir Williams Famly Friend from Seattle. When Traffic is Beyond Crosstown, Machine Breaks Data Down, From Wav that is Full to something thats Sounds Suspiciously Like MIDI. Midi is REED Based Sound Enviorment that Takes Little Data to Sound REAL.

Pop Ups Drop From Blocked Sites, Why Bother. Cats & Dogs Shut Up, errr....wibble,wibble, Sidebar ads go Simple.

Sure More Bandwidth is Essential, Yet When Ultie Demands it, Very Little People, Like Nerds, Want LESS? Come On, Bandwidth is FREE for Taking. ASK SuperMan.

You Wanna Crummy LightSabre'? Buy FIOS. Want Some HEAVY T, Try ComCast at 50 mb/s.
Believe ME, Fios Would Be Better Spelled, FUDOS.

Try Some Professional Time @ 4 AM, Then Try it at 4 PM(yeah, OK I Missed BM)hahaha. You'll See at 4 Xm that Semi Pro Leagues Eat All Bandwidth to Impress D' Boss. So You Figure it OUT. Remember, BANDWIDTH is FREE to PROS(They Have NO Money), Its Just, When CAN You Get IT.
Stewie Drashek
Um, how would replacing the "last mile" copper with fibre make things better? The Internet "congestion" doesn't occur there. In fact, making the on-ramps and off-ramps of the Internet bigger would lead to more congestion in the middle, would it not?
Instead of increasing the bandwidth, they could always do what is coming into effect here in Canada ... slowing things down and charging extra to those who violate file size restrictions.

Here's the story --> http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopStories/ContentPosting.aspx?feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V2&showbyline=True&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20080407%2fTelecom_companies_080407


...the bastards!!!
Unites States Monkey here,

So the way I see it, my exorbitantly large monthly bill for my internet connection (Comcast) "should" be paying for their future upgrades to their network. But if Comcast is using this money for something other than upgrading their network then I guess they are out of luck.

I have no sympathy for this situation. Greed is the only reason the US is stuck in (16th place worldwide) last I had read?

Where does my money go? Oh right... I forgot... it goes in upper managements pocket.
ISP's in the US (probably elsewhere) have been 'regulating' the P2P downloads under the claim that THAT was the problem, when we all know that the distribution of a 'particular kind' of video (of the unclothed kind) has clogged the 'net to a much greater extent. Everyone knows how to find THAT stuff, while barely 10% have any idea what P2P is (even if they've used it!).

However, the problem isn't the rising demand, is it? The demand is the result of increased interest to access the obvious benefits of all kinds of 'content' - even videos of people experimenting with Mentos and carbonated beverages (as well as white papers on the advances in fusion research, anthropology or tutorials on how to play the violin).

Limiting throughput to keep the system from crashing is only a short term solution. The evolution of connectivity is bound to exceed availability at several points along the continuum, but we DO need to think ahead and decide where we're going. A multi-channel Internet might be a solution (so those of us doing research and voyeurs don't get in each other's way). 

Demand is there and growing. If the telecoms would stop gripping about it and start serving it, they'd probably discover profit opportunities far exceeding the short sighted ideas they've come up with recently. Many of us are happy with sub 1Mbit connections and need cheap access, but for those who want to draw gigabytes of data for viewing pleasure at 10 Mbits or more already do and should be willing to pay for that. Can't enterprises learn how to make that profitable?

wow ... I do not have a clue what kind of monthly bandwith i use...why because I do not have a limit...its $30 bucks a month for 5Mbps of internet speed....sbc dsl yeah

have to say I do feel sorry for you fellows with limits...because every couple of months I will download 5Gb two days in a row linux iso's.
Wish I could do that at work they have a 40Mbps fiber line....the redhat iso's I have had to download there took 5 minutes.

looks like the UK and canada needs to make some more fiber lines :) and yes I think this pron problem is the main cause of congestion... not p2p....p2p are always slow and limited on speed even on my connection i get about 20kbps on a linux torrent vs 600+kbps on a direct download.

Didn't we see this same story 3-4 months ago?