Experts predict that consumer demand, already growing at 60 percent a year, will start to exceed supply as early as 2010 because of more people working online and the soaring popularity of bandwidth-hungry Web sites such as YouTube and services such as the BBC's iPlayer.
The internet is software running on hardware, that hardware is constantly being upgraded and replaced. The internet will only run out of bandwidth when its replacement comes along and people stop investing.
I'd be more concerned about running out of IP addresses. Besides, as far as I'm concerned the British infrastructure is already failing to rise to the next generation of internet gubbinry. BT: Sticking their head in the sand* since 1980.
Dog Pants wrote:I'd be more concerned about running out of IP addresses. Besides, as far as I'm concerned the British infrastructure is already failing to rise to the next generation of internet gubbinry. BT: Sticking their head in the sand* since 1980.
*Or up their arse
More accurately: BT, Using corporate management to the full extent to live by the motto "We don't have to do anything yet, wait a bit longer" since they were privatised and lost the government money to spend on fun things.
BT are thinking about switching to fibre to the home. You know fibre - the thing Telewest/NTL/Virgin have been using for ten years, the 90s technology now superceded by gigabit.
i still cant believe BT's whole "21C" thing is just playing catch up to LLU services like Easynet and Be. THAT IS NOT A SOLUTION, it was a stopgap.
I dont know why they didnt just skip that step seeing as it is already out of date, and go straight to fibre-to-the-home (which NTL doesnt do, despite its advertising bollocks. Get your NTL cable, uncrew it. Look at the pretty lights! no wait, thats copper. I admit though, that their coax is better than ancient phone line)
FTTH is expensive yes, but at least it is reasonably future proof, at least for now. Its just a case of enough demand, and people willing to pay for it.
Unfortunately, i dont think there are enough rich geeks out there in the grand scheme of things.
Experts Warn Internet Is Running Out of Bandwidth
