The Internet Innovation Alliance is a broad-based coalition of business and non-profit organizations that aim to ensure every American, regardless of race, income or geography, has access to the critical tool that is broadband Internet. The IIA seeks to promote public policies that support equal opportunity for universal broadband availability and adoption so that everyone, everywhere can seize the benefits of the Internet - from education to health care, employment to community building, civic engagement and beyond.
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Blog posts tagged with 'Bandwidth'
Tuesday, February 02
A single YouTube viewing consumes nearly 100 times as much cellular bandwidth as a voice call.
Holman Jenkins, “The Coming Mobile Meltdown,” Wall Street Journal. October 13, 2009.
Friday, November 20
So-called “bandwidth hogs”—people who use an inordinate amount of bandwidth each month—have a history of giving Internet service providers headaches. But as Todd Spangler of Multichannel News points out, thanks to the popularity of online video, it’s not just the hogs who are creating a bandwidth crunch:
[A]ccording to recent analysis of Internet usage patterns, there’s a “primetime” for broadband consumption, which a huge monthly cap won’t do anything to address. A monthly 250 GB cap only filters out the bit junkies who are literally sharing terabytes of stuff; granted, they unequivocally use more than their fair share but capping them doesn’t solve long-term congestion issues.
Network-management equipment vendor Sandvine says that between 7 and 10 p.m. in any given region around the world, the usage profile among all users was roughly equivalent, mainly thanks to the explosive popularity of Internet TV and online video. That means in that primetime window, you and I use the same amount of bandwidth as the overall heaviest users (”bandwidth hogs”) who use their connections 24 hours per day.
Friday, November 13
The arrival of the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 wasn’t just a boon for retailers (and the game’s publisher). Microsoft has announced that just after the popular online shooter’s release, the company’s Xbox Live service—which connects players around the world so they can shoot at each other virtually (among other things)—immediately broke its previous record of two million connected users all at once.
That’s a lot of fragging hitting networks all at once.
Speaking of data hitting networks hard, online video giant YouTube has just revealed that starting next week, videos will be available for streaming in 1080p HD. Previously, only a “paltry” 720p was supported. Hopefully, the tubes will be able to keep up with the sudden surge in data.
Wednesday, October 28
How would America’s Internet infrastructure fare in the wake of a flu pandemic? According to the Government Accountability Office, not well. From the Washington Post:
The Government Accountability Office reported earlier this week that if the flu reaches a pandemic, a surge in telecommuting and children accessing video files and games at home could bog down local networks.
And if that were to happen, it is not clear whether the federal government is prepared to deal with the problem, the GAO said.
During a national emergency, keeping America’s communications networks running is the job of the Department of Homeland Security. Unfortunately, the DHS doesn’t currently have a strategy to deal with the pandemic scenario. That means keeping America’s Internet running during a crisis could fall to Internet Service Providers. But as the Post reports:
Network operators such as Comcast, AT&T, Cox and Verizon are limited in their options. They could add bandwidth capacity and lay down private lines for essential workers, but that is expensive and would take too long. Shutting down certain Web sites or prioritizing traffic could run into technical and regulatory hurdles, the report said.
The GAO report was commissioned by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Friday, October 02
As with music and journalism, the multi-billion dollar video games industry is facing changes due to the spread of high-speed Internet. Already, Sony has started making the shift to download-only games with its new handheld device the PSP Go, and now OnLive, a new service that kicks traditional game discs to the curb in favor of “cloud gaming” has received a jolt in funding from the likes of Warner Bros. entertainment and AT&T. Reports the Wall Street Journal:
OnLive has developed technology that it says will allow consumers to play graphically rich videogames without owning high-end PCs or consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 that are normally required for such titles. Instead OnLive plans to run games on powerful remote servers in data centers and pipe high-definition game graphics over the Internet to consumers, who can play them on low-end PCs and Macs or through an inexpensive OnLive device connected to their televisions.
Questions remain about whether OnLive will be crippled by bandwidth issues—certainly a concern, given the amount of data-intensive services already challenging Internet providers. But traditional video game stores such as Gamestop, which count on the used games industry for a substantial amount of their revenue, are surely paying close attention to OnLive’s progress.
Thursday, September 10
Via Multichannel News comes an estimation of how much YouTube will spend on bandwidth costs this year alone. The number: $300 million.
Thursday, September 03
Spectrum is one of our country’s most vital natural resources — and right now, we’re running out of it.
With the popularity of mobile broadband rising, the major carriers are warning that unless more spectrum is freed up, they won’t be able to keep up with demand. And as Fierce Wireless reports, their carriers’ concerns have gotten the attention of the FCC.
Wednesday, August 26
GigaOm looks at a promotion by online retail giant Amazon for small and cheap digital camcorders and wonders whether an explosion in their popularity will lead to headaches for Internet Service Providers. Since footage from the camcorders is meant to be downloaded to computers and shared with others—over email, through social networking sites, etc.—the more popular (and cheaper) they get, the more data could potentially be traveling through the “tubes.”
What’s interesting about this is that it casts a light on a major challenge both for ISPs and America’s digital infrastructure. Expanding and beefing up networks is expensive and time consuming, and while digital camcorders won’t likely grind the web to a halt, they are just one of the many ways data-intensive video is now making its way online. Because of this, investment in capacity should not only be made, but heavily encouraged. Otherwise, we risk the Internet backbone not being able to keep up with innovation.
Wednesday, August 19
Streaming video sites like Hulu are growing in popularity—especially among the younger generations. And as Investors Daily Business reports, traditional cable companies have taken note and are experimenting with streaming services of their own.
That’s good news for consumers. But rarely addressed is the question of whether America’s digital infrastructure will be able to keep up with the amount of bandwidth heavy content. Good ol’ TV still rules when it comes to viewers and ad dollars, but with even the cable companies preparing for the market to shift, now is the time to start planning and investing for the flood of bandwidth heavy content that’s obviously just around the corner.
Monday, June 29
Bret Swanson of Entropy Economics (he’s also an IIA Broadband Ambassador) has released a new report on America’s communications capacity, specifically the rise of bandwidth between 2000 and 2008. And despite the doom and gloom often accompanying reports on our country’s rank in worldwide broadband penetration, Swanson finds that we’ve actually experienced a boom. From the report:
Moore’s law, combined with smarter regulatory policies and big infrastructure investments, yielded dramatic gains in consumer bandwidth over the last decade. Over the eight-year period:
• Total residential bandwidth grew 54x.
• Total wireless bandwidth grew 542x.
• Total consumer bandwidth grew 91x.
• Residential bandwidth per capita grew 50x.
• Wireless bandwidth per capita grew 499x.
• Total consumer bandwidth per capita grew 84x, for a compound annual growth rate of 74%.
The report credits heavy investment in America’s digital infrastructure as key to this explosion in bandwidth. In 2008 alone, $455 billion was poured into communications and technology investments, and between 2000 and 2008 the number totals over $3.5 trillion.
Still, while the number are impressive, Swanson’s report cautions that investment must continue in order to keep up with demand:
[B]andwith must grow if we (1) merely want to accommodate the bandwidth-hungry applications already in the pipeline; and, crucially, (2) want new generations of unpredictable innovations in software, services, applications, and devices that all use bandwidth as a key resource.
Given the effect new innovations such as the iPhone are already having on overall Internet traffic, it’s hard to argue against Swanson’s point.
Check out Swanson’s full report, “Bandwidth Boom: Measuring U.S. Communications Capacity from 2000 to 2008 (pdf).
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