Netflix on Xbox and The State of The Internet

[TheFlyingOrc]

Now, I'm a super amateur when it comes to internet topics (I took a course in networking in college, and that's about it), so I might have a totally unfounded concern.

However, is there any way that something like streaming HD on Xbox could have a noticeable impact on overall internet speed in different places around the country? I know that video is the scariest thing for ISPs - the bandwidth requirement if tons of people use it is incredibly high. Could several million people using an unlimited streaming HD service do bad things to the internet?

[TheFlyingOrc]

Not on a world wide scale. Each corporation has its own infrastructure it worries about and then they are each connected through some pretty hefty networking centers. Basically, the most it would effect is the immediate area you are connected to and even then the internet companies would cut you off before oversaturating their network so I wouldn't worry about about it.

Well, then there's the other side of the coin - could the service be rendered near useless by your local ISPs bandwidth caps?

[itchyeyes]

Well, then there's the other side of the coin - could the service be rendered near useless by your local ISPs bandwidth caps?
Depends on the cap and your usage. The most widely known bandwidth cap is Comcast's new 250GB/month cap. An hour of compressed HD video weighs in around 1.5GB. You'd have to watch quite a bit of video (about 5 hrs a day) before it became a problem. That said, I've heard of ISP's in Austrailia with caps as low as 40GB which would certainly be low enough to make a service like this impractical.

[TheFlyingOrc]

Depends on the cap and your usage. The most widely known bandwidth cap is Comcast's new 250GB/month cap. An hour of compressed HD video weighs in around 1.5GB. You'd have to watch quite a bit of video (about 5 hrs a day) before it became a problem. That said, I've heard of ISP's in Austrailia with caps as low as 40GB which would certainly be low enough to make a service like this impractical.

I guess I'm more worried that, with something like this becomng so easily accessible, they might start lowering caps. I'm hoping this pushes us toward better bandwidth instead, though.

[KingGorilla]

Contrary to the FUD that the US Telcos try to spread, the concept of us truly running out of bandwidth is ludicrous. We are nowhere near the cenceivable limit of current archetecture. But if you are finding that your highest prices in the world are not yielding adequite performance, shop around, look at smaller companies, Petition the city or state or county to supply fiber(hopefully the phone co will not sue the effort just to delay it). Petition your congresspeople and the FCC to keep white space open, free, and accessible to anyone.

The farce of limited speed needs to be dispelled.

[Raen]

Well, then there's the other side of the coin - could the service be rendered near useless by your local ISPs bandwidth caps?

This is actually a pretty big issue in the UK with the growth of the BBC iPlayer. For those of you who don't know the iPlayer is a flash player for streaming all of the content the BBC put out, for free, in SD or HD quality. There's a crazy amount of people who use it and there was originally an issue with fair usage limits, although that seems to have died down a little now.

[Jeffool]

Between dark fiber, Butters' Law of Photonics, and my impending Presidency (http://blog.jeffool.com/2008/06/05/bridges-to-the-future/)... We've got nothing to worry about.

Unless, of course, I'm not elected King... Then sadly I think the government will have to step in again, and pay for it a second time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996).

[Jackel]

Depends on the cap and your usage. The most widely known bandwidth cap is Comcast's new 250GB/month cap. An hour of compressed HD video weighs in around 1.5GB. You'd have to watch quite a bit of video (about 5 hrs a day) before it became a problem. That said, I've heard of ISP's in Austrailia with caps as low as 40GB which would certainly be low enough to make a service like this impractical.

I have a bandwidth cap of 13 gigs before I pay 10$ for each additional gig.