That’s without a doubt being considered. I don’t think anyone that’s truly tech savvy expected this to last though. When I first read that streaming had broken the threshold and accounted for more than half of internet traffic, I saw the writing on the wall. When I learned just how small a percentage (at the time less than 25%) of users it took to consume that much bandwidth, it removed all debate from my mind.
The FReepers on this thread that think that this can go on and that the free market is going to provide this bandwidth at current rates is dreaming. As it gets worse, someone will offer unlimited data, but it won’t be for $50 a month.
That’s really the bottom line. Bandwidth is going to become more precious, and it’s going to cost more. There won’t be any getting around that.
Supply lags an increasing demand; that’s typically what’s seen in capitalism. But I’d been hearing about all this unlit transnational fiber for years. I think it’s great that something is finding a way to light it up. All manner of business will be fed from it, if liberals don’t bollix it up with demands for cheap streaming video to all, now.
And in the meantime, video streaming services will probably find a way of doing localized mirrors coordinated with network traffic data.