2010: D-day for the Internet as it hits "full capacity"?
Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:19PM EDT
See Comments (682)
Doom-filled warnings arrive from AT&T this week. The company says that without substantial investment in network infrastructure, the Internet will essentially run out of bandwidth in just two short years.
Blame broadband, says AT&T. Decades of dealing with the trickle of bandwidth consumed by voice and dialup modems left AT&T twiddling its thumbs. The massive rise of DSL and cable modem service in the 2000s has had AT&T facing a monstrous increase in the volume of data transmissions. And that's set to increase another 50 times between now and 2015. That's enough, says AT&T, to all but crash the system.
In response, AT&T says it's investing $19 billion to upgrade the backbone of the Internet, the routers, servers, and connections where the bulk of traffic is processed.
Of course, AT&T is using this breathlessness in part to point fingers beyond simple broadband use. Web video (especially high-definition video) is the most commonly mentioned bandwidth hog. AT&T says video alone will eat up 80 percent of traffic in two years vs. just 30 percent now. One wonders how YouTube doesn't collapse under the pressure. Hmmm.
Meanwhile, many are wondering whether this is prelude to AT&T announcing (or not announcing, but doing anyway) a traffic prioritization/shaping system like Comcast has been tinkering with... and which has earned it nothing but scorn. Net neutrality (which would forbid premium pricing for certain Internet applications and destinations) is a topic that continues to be hotly debated on Capitol Hill, and telcos are anxious to kill the idea since they'd love to be able to charge additional money for different kinds of web traffic. If the whole Internet is about to crash, well, that makes AT&T's argument all the more compelling, doesn't it?
Top 5 Posts
More About Wi-Fi & Networking
Comments on 2010: D-day for the Internet as it hits "full capacity"?
Post a Comment
Join in the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.
-
667 Posted by donnie126_2002 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:46PM EDT Report Abuse
I say: Here's to dial-up! I am trapped in an area where broadband Internet is practically nonexistent, but now that I have found out that broadband is most likely responsible for what may well be the demise of the Internet, I am actually proud to live in a no-broadband zone. Actually, I just want to say, it was so much simpler when all we could view were text and pictures, and even some not-too-complicated Flash. Now I do not intend to attack advocates of broadband (of whom there are undoubtedly many!) -- I am just saying that the Internet was so much simpler with dial-up. Brandon Taylor
-
668 Posted by wtfjushappened24 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:51PM EDT Report Abuse
Were Just going to switch to Tcp/IPv6 when the time comes.
-
669 Posted by web_weavr on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:42PM EDT Report Abuse
You mean like gas prices, kojak? HAHAHA
-
670 Posted by ggnewton2002 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:08PM EDT Report Abuse
Aybody remember Y2K ??? The bigest non-event in tech history.
-
671 Posted by jamenjaw5 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:27PM EDT Report Abuse
ok people from what i have seen on the posts most of you do not know what your talking about. frist off the internet BACKBONE that conects all of the servers routers and switches is getting close maxing out. shure you might get lucky and it not happen but if you take into consideration the amount of SPAM that is being pushed thure the net (it acounts for about 40% of all internet trafic) youtube and other streaming video sites. (about 20%) there not a lot of room left over. if you could cut the SPAM down to even 30% of total trafic you would add 4 to 6 years for the businesses that own the backbone time to expand it and be ready for all of the HD this and HD that. AT&T SPRINT and Time Warner own a big chunk of the BACKBONE and to get all of them to agree how and when to upgrade there networks is the same as trying to get bush to admit he was wrong to start a war with Iraq. Anyway as soon as one starts to build up the backbone the others will folow them or be cut out of the loop. shure hosting comps can add more bandwidth as they need but if what they conect to is getting close to maxing out its just adding to the porblem. now just remember this is a possablty not fact it is going to happen as some have said video size and other compreshion(SP?) systems will help for a long hall. but if nothing is done eather tech wise or expanding the BACKBONE it will cra----- s just a matter of time. None will be able to truly tell when it will happen or even if. have fun we now return to the regalure internet harvy back to you.
-
672 Posted by texastop01 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:01PM EDT Report Abuse
Typical corporate greed: a corp.knows the problem has existed ,then comes up with a "solution",just in the nick of time.But the catch is it'll cost the consumer more $...Just like oil: the major oil companies have squelched new alternative forms of energy for 30+ years,and now the world has $127 per barrel oil. If the oil companies,the federal government and the research universities would have worked on developing new forms of energy: solar,geothermal,wind,tide /ocean ,biomass(forget ethanol-its a disaster and is causing food prices to increase),synthetic cleaner burning oil form coal(the US have 25% of the worlds coal deposits) and more fuel efficient ,higher MPG cars/trucks/vehicles,buses/trains/planes,ships,etc., and more energy efficient buildings,houses; and a less wasteful power grid-which wastes 30% of power,the US and the world would less dependent on oil/gas...There are untapped oil/gas deposits off the U.S. East and West coasts and elsewhere in the world-which will eventually be drilled,because over population -especially in India and China is increasing energy demands . The increasing cost of oil is also being driven by the worthless dollar: when OPEC and the international energy markets start pricing oil using a basket of currencies,the price may stabilize ...In conclusion,corporations control all aspects of our lives.They control governments and by extension people...
-
673 Posted by elyrearthlinknet on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:54PM EDT Report Abuse
yeah and they said gas would go to 4 dollars a gallon...oh wait.
-
674 Posted by jeversol@swbell.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:34PM EDT Report Abuse
Sounds good but .. but.... I live in the fastest growing county in the state of Arkansas.. "Benton County" and the 34th fastest county in the United States. and I'm only able to get the LOWEST speed ATT offers. I live in the city with all kinds of new motels, hotels, shopping centers, homes etc etc.... The above makes a nice read but I can't see it helping me at all. Thanks for letting me voice my opinion.
-
675 Posted by terryjcarter@att.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:01PM EDT Report Abuse
Well, could this be a Y2K type scare where nothing really happened. I am sure they will have it up to par so the system doesn't crash. The Gov't uses the internet too and I am sure they will make sure everything will be up to par. It is a wait and see type thing.
-
676 Posted by keir_faulkner on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:48PM EDT Report Abuse
Oh yes OH GOD Let it happen YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
-
677 Posted by jonnyredsox on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:40PM EDT Report Abuse
Do not believe any isp if they say that they will run out of bandwidth by such and such time. at&t and the likes are trying win congress over by implementing the idea of a 2 tier system. One slow connection for anyone who doesn't want to pay for faster service to their websites. Right now China has 100Mbps internet connections with plenty of ISPs to choose from. Telco's in the US simply just don't want to spend the money.
-
678 Posted by enorton44 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:55PM EDT Report Abuse
This is SO NOT TRUE! It is merely a lame attempt to try and get public support for a TIER SYSTEM, meaning different levels of pricing for different levels of internet access. Example: $39 for basic internet & email .. $59 for internet with music downloads etcetera & $79 for streaming video. The general public has been insisting that their government leaders pass Net Neutrality which will make this type of pricing illegal and rightly so. Tell your congressmen and senators to make net neutrality a reality and STOP these companies from digging deeper in your pockets in order to fill theirs!
-
679 Posted by hecaeta on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:17PM EDT Report Abuse
I smell a tax break for them comming as incentive to invest and keep rates down.
-
680 Posted by oahutiger on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:43PM EDT Report Abuse
Wow. This could be as bad as Y2K.
-
681 Posted by stuffliquidation on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:46PM EDT Report Abuse
This is bull! another scam to get money somehow. Remember Y2K? Whoever believes this garbage, is very naive. Do you not think with the global importance of the internet that this has already been looked at? What a scam, typical in this money hungry day and age. People wake up to stupidities like this.
-
682 Posted by heyamberrae on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:18PM EDT Report Abuse
Oh my god people have to leave their house again and act like normal humans again!!! Oh god no!!!
Sponsored Links
My Tech
Please enable your browser's cookies to activate the My Tech column.
Also on Yahoo! Tech
| Computers | Home Office | Wi-Fi & Networking | Phones & PDAs | Cameras & Camcorders | TV & Home Theater | Portable Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
666 Posted by aedwardsone on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:46PM EDT Report Abuse
The internet is going to crash? Obviously whoever believes this doesn't understand the internet. It is not like it is being run on a single server somewhere. It also demonstrates a completely lack of understanding for how the free market works. Even if a few servers crashed other companies will step in and put up their own servers to compensate for the loss of server space. All for the sake of making money. To prove the point read the article again. AT&T recognize a problem so they invested $19 billion into fixing the problem. Do you really think they would spend that much money if they didn't expect a return on their investment? The prime motivator of every business is to make money. So if AT&T sees a potential for a huge return other businesses are going to also. They will invest huge amounts into fixing this problem. What really concerns me is that AT&T is making these remarks at all. Using the same supply and demand logic as I've been using up until this point I can't help but think that AT&T want the government to step in and regulate the internet. The government would make it impossible for new companies to enter the market giving AT&T a huge amount of control over the internet it otherwise wouldn't have. They would turn into a government sponsored monopoly. Prices would skyrocket and the government would say it was for our own good.