Could High-Def Choke Internet?

[mystic]

As a rough estimate, an always-on, 1 megabit-per-second tap into the internet backbone in downtown Atlanta, bought wholesale, costs an ISP $10 to $20 a month, according to the research firm TeleGeography.

BellSouth's chief architect, Henry Kafka, uses the assumption that the cost of providing a month's worth of data to the average user, about 2 gigabytes, costs the company $1.

http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/0,70895-0.html?tw=wn_index_6

 

[Darth Garth]

The internet and all the routing protocols were never really intended to reliably stream time sensitive content like video but just to sent relatively small pieces of info from A to B using the most effective available means.

Whatever happened to Multicast ???

 

[RichardP]

The internet and all the routing protocols were never really intended to reliably stream time sensitive content like video but just to sent relatively small pieces of info from A to B using the most effective available means.

Whatever happened to Multicast ???

Multicast is alive and kicking... but it needs to be activated by the ISP's .. and what cash motivation to they get for enabling it?

 

[saintm]

If people knew how archaic the technology is they're being charge enormous fees for they would be furious.

Had the fees ISPs charge dropped with their equipment costs they couldn't charge more than $10 a month for their fastest service. And if they did charge $10 right now they woould still have better margins than most companies out there.

You're right. Pipelines do cost money. When i pay for a 1.5mps internet pipeline to my home, that is what i expect. If they need to charge me more, then do so. But don't treating data packets from one web site any differently then data from another. That will create internet haves and have nots, and will ruin the internet as we know it.

I enjoyed reading the comments on the article! Puts an entirely new light on port-shaping, costs and so on. Essentially - I am paying for a service, so why can't I get the service!? Who cares what I use it for? If I want to use it for VOIP or bittorrent or IRC or HTTP or FTP or whatever, what should they care? If they have oversubscribed, it should not be my problem - it should be THEIRS!

And while I am still dreaming, a few extra million in the bank would be nice too :-D