Posted on 05/03/2015 10:19:43 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
* Internet speeds have increased by 50-fold in the last decade alone
* Optical fibres have reached capacity and cannot transfer any more light
* Laying down more cables may solve problem but this will increase costs
* 'It is harder and harder to keep ahead,' said Professor Andrew Ellis
The internet is heading towards a 'capacity crunch' as it fails to keep up with our demand for ever faster data, scientists have warned.
Leading engineers, physicists and telecoms firms have been summoned to a meeting at London's Royal Society later this month, to discuss what can be done to avert a web crisis.
The boom of internet television, streaming services and ever-more powerful computers has increased the strain on our communications infrastructure.
In just 20 years, if usage rates continue, all of Britain's power supply could be consumed by internet use.
The cables and fibre optics that send information to our laptops, smartphones and tablets will have reached their limit to send data within eight years, experts warn.
So far, engineers have managed to keep ahead of demand, increasing internet speeds 50-fold in the last decade alone....
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Guy is an idiot.
Hey, this peon wants 4K streaming...
IPTV will be the mainstream way of getting TV in 5 years or so.
I suspect your right and only hope that progress is not impeded by Government! They always seem to have too much say in these things...
Ah, the bad side of the internet! Well, somebody had to say it. Right of course but unrealistic.
I am certainly no expert and don’t have any statistics immediately at hand. I can observe one salient fact. Corning, a major manufacturer of fiber for transmission cables, started to build a brand new manufacturing facility about a mile from where I lived in the early 2000s. It became so abundantly obvious that there was a huge amount of unused fiber and cable orders fell like a stone. Construction on the new plant was immediately halted and that location today is still just a steel structure standing forlornly on an overgrown site.
The author’s reporting and observations may be UK-centric with no application to the US or world. My observation is clearly just anecdotal. It all is still saying, to me anyway, that this article appears over the top in its gloom and doom.
Guy is some kind of tool.
There is a glut of fiber sitting in the ground.
Rights of way already exist to pull more.
We currently transmit around 50% of capacity currently lit up.
Thr theoretical limit doesnt exist on fiber with LAMDA’s, DWDM, CWDM, etc.
All that is needed to increase capacity is changing headend equipment to support advances in utilizing existing infrastructure.
For instance, the first fiber strand installed could only transmit 1Gig. That same strand can Currently transmit 100 petabit, theoretical and will likely exceed that number over the next few years, realistic.
Further, research could lead to improvement of multimode like fiber, reducing the amount of equipment needed every 2500-3000 feet, increasing its ability to transmit to almost 2/3rds of single mode capacity/ability.
There’s a bunch more stuff but, fiber is amazing and the only current tech could replace it or augment is laser but, unlike fiber it needs direct line of sight to transmit and that is limited to, under ideal conditions, the curvature of the earth. So, the maximum possible for laser would be limited by Pythagorean theorem taking into account distance, height of transmission platform, etc.
Still, it is subject to things like wave attenuation from environmental conditions of heat, particulates, weather, etc.
Not to mention interruption of transmission from even a bird, flock of birds, airplanes, etc.
Heh—4K. That’s huge. ;-)
It goes down to 40K to 60K here for several of the more busy hours each day, but I’m in the middle of nowhere and can’t really complain (no lines nearby). Mostly use it for tech. and other educational stuff anyway. Early morning hours, around 500K.
Witing for 4K video streaming...and it’s already here on some sites as long as you have the download capability. Now I have to get a 4k TV...geez, never ending upgrades I guess.
Huge, no...it will be better in a few short years.
A more likely threat to Internet access and bandwidth for those of us in out-of-the-way places may be the economy.
Just in case your not up to date on TV technology...and not just making a fun statement...
4K Technology
To understand 4K, consider first current HDTV, which offers 1,920-twenty pixels, the tiny dots that make up the picture across the width of the screen. The more pixels, the sharper the image. Now, imagine a TV that doubles the number of pixels across, to 3,840, which is
approximately four thousand, or “4K.” Vertical scanning lines are double as well, from 1080p to 2160p.
Streaming that requires much more speed and bandwidth.
4K? I’m guessing 4KB (4 kilobyte). Do you mean 4M? 4 megabit would work out to roughly about 400K (400 kilobytes per second). I’m getting a nominal 5 megabit, but it only yields 500 kilobyte (500K) per second downloads during the quietest hours. Most of the time, much slower because of congestion.
Yes, I agree and it seems to be stalemated. If you look at the future prospects (education, workers, etc.) it looks even worse. Unless something like apprentice jobs become available, we will continue with this very slow or no growth.
Sorry, don’t understand those speeds - ha. I have a 50mbps cable connection and have not problems with uploading or downloading as you might expect...
Maybe that is why your are confused by my 4K comment. That was video pixels not internet speed but you probably know that at this point.
Oh! No, I’m not up on that technology at all. Nearly 4K pixels! I see! Thanks.
Really, that would be huge from my perspective! Nothing but radio or satellite here, and repeaters are far away. It would be nice to get consistent 360p streaming.
Nothing but PV solar for electrical power, with the nearest usable power lines too far away. That’s another challenge. Granted, some of the equipment here will probably be replaced with newer stuff that uses less power—good for maybe 720p or 1080p. No streaming for that, though.
On the positive side, that’s motivation for learning more and getting more work done outdoors. The peace and quiet are nice, too. :-)
You got it...Technology keeps moving along much to our dismay and pocketbooks..heh. Don’t count out upgraded internet speeds even if it requires satellites, things are advancing quickly. The problem of course is that is requires money from us (!) to upgrade our equipment but when we can eventually afford it, it will be great!
I expect that the 4K TV’s will be very affordable in the next couple of years. Even now, they are under 600 dollars so it will not be long...
That leaves the required download speeds for 4K tranmissions and at this point, Amazon and Netflix are offering movies at that resolution for free (Just need the speed to get all those pixels downloaded).
Now for a quality and reasonably priced 4K TV...ha.
Such is life!
During his keynote speech at the sixth International World Wide Web Conference in 1997, he took a printed copy of his column that predicted the collapse, put it in a blender with some liquid and then consumed the pulpy mass. This was after he tried to eat his words in the form of a very large cake, but the audience strongly protested.
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