Joost
Hey ISP — Joost give me more bits
Steve O’Hear — who also writes for ZDNet on social media — has a great post up at Last100 about how bandwidth-stingy Internet Service Providers threaten to stall many online-video apps such as Joost by throttling the download speeds that their users get. He looks at how some ISPs cut back your bandwidth after you’ve downloaded a certain amount per month, which with video isn’t difficult to exceed, and how some put a cap on downloads period. Many ISPs also use “bandwidth shaping” to restrict the flow of peer-to-peer apps such as Joost and Skype.
This is an issue that is going to become more and more important as Joost and Babelgum and other peer-to-peer video apps become widespread. One thing Steve doesn’t mention is that many ISPs also have ridiculously tiny upload speeds, and this is just as much of a threat to peer-to-peer apps. It’s no good to have a big fat download pipe if the upload is a tiny drinking straw.
Update:
Of course, if you live in an area where Verizon’s FiOS is available, you can get 30 megabits download (no details on uploads or whether they use bandwidth throttling). As Cynthia Brumfield notes at IPDemocracy, there’s no such thing as too much bandwidth.
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grazr
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busted tees
Interesting - but P2P may be an essential distribution strategy in light of ISP traffic - um - “management”.
If you do not like the speeds your ISP offers you than you are always free to purchase a T1 or other faster connection to the Internet.
A lot of this talk complaining about bandwidth is a waste of time and energy. Faster options are available.
Do you go out and buy a 100HP car and then complain because it will not do a constant 150MPH on the highway? If you want that sort of performance buy a better car! Same goes for Internet access.
Saw this possible ISP broadband imposed limitation coming 10+ yrs ago when we developed P2P in the mid-1990’s and received our patent in 1999, though then few had broadband when invented. But as the speed to and from the home gets faster, and cheaper, any limitation on uploading to kill P2P would then take the appearance of a predatory business practice and an interference of a going business. The ISP Red Herring defense may be the “too technologically taxing & costly use of our limited resources that will affect all subscribers to our service in the aggregate.”
Of course, one ISP answer will be to take the competitive advantage, i.e., buy out the larger P2P broadcasters, and the patents. ;-)
There is no limitation on upload speeds.
If you are willing to pay for a higher tiered service you will get it! The only limitation is that you are looking at a consumer-level product (DSL) and expecting it to work as a business-level product (T1).
You get what you pay for. I choose to pay for DSL (not a T1) because DSL is “good enough” for me and my needs. If DSL is not “good-enough” for your needs than you need to spend the money for something better suited to your needs.
It’s not as if the Telcos are not willing to sell you a better data product.