Communication: A Growing Concern for Bandwidth [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

UNCLASSIFIED

Time magazine has an interesting article worth reading about the expected shortages in bandwidth. The article is called

"Bandwidth Is The new Black Gold"

"In time, the mere slowdowns we see today may be eclipsed by full-scale information traffic jams. But beyond that, the deeper problems will be with high prices and possible profiteering. As demand for bandwidth goes up, suppliers will logically be able to charge more, as happens in energy markets."

Under the Obama Administration, the FCC regards bandwidth supply as an issue meriting national attention, and it has been formulating a plan to encourage home bandwidth. But there's reason to think that the most serious problems — the real bandwidth shortages — will be in wireless, where demand is growing and supply is weak. The industry cannot keep up with wireless demand, and we're already seeing more dropped calls and slow connections as well as those enormous bills for data plans. In a nightmare scenario, jams become the norm instead of the exception, just as they are for our cars. Wireless carriers could use the scarcity to profit, setting aside net neutrality and charging obscene rates for priority calls and guaranteed bandwidth.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1971133_1971110_1971125,00.html#ixzz0lUr7XkV0

The article goes on to speak about a conflict of interests in expecting market forces to build the new infrastructure when they have so much money invested in copper cable and older technology.

http://www.newamerica.net/node/29005

 

 

AT&T: Internet to hit full capacity by 2010

 

U.S. telecommunications giant AT&T has claimed that, without investment, the Internet's current network architecture will reach the limits of its capacity by 2010.

Speaking at a Westminster eForum on Web 2.0 this week in London, Jim Cicconi, vice president of legislative affairs for AT&T, warned that the current systems that constitute the Internet will not be able to cope with the increasing amounts of video and user-generated content being uploaded.

"The surge in online content is at the center of the most dramatic changes affecting the Internet today," he said. "In three years' time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire Internet today."

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1034_3-6237715.html

 

 

Other Interesting Related Articles

HowStuffWorks Videos "Video Streaming Without Bandwidth Problems"

http://www.isoc.org/isoc/conferences/bwpanel/docs/bp-growingp-201003-en.pdf  Growing Pains: Bandwidth on the Internet, Briefing Paper

 

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