Internet to run out of bandwidth in two years says AT&T

[RTO]

Doom-filled warnings arrive from AT&T this week. The company says that without substantial investment in network infrastructure, the Internet will essentially run out of bandwidth in just two short years.

Blame broadband, says AT&T. Decades of dealing with the trickle of bandwidth consumed by voice and dialup modems left AT&T twiddling its thumbs. The massive rise of DSL and cable modem service in the 2000s has had AT&T facing a monstrous increase in the volume of data transmissions. And that's set to increase another 50 times between now and 2015. That's enough, says AT&T, to all but crash the system.

In response, AT&T says it's investing $19 billion to upgrade the backbone of the Internet, the routers, servers, and connections where the bulk of traffic is processed.

Of course, AT&T is using this breathlessness in part to point fingers beyond simple broadband use. Web video (especially high-definition video) is the most commonly mentioned bandwidth hog. AT&T says video alone will eat up 80 percent of traffic in two years vs. just 30 percent now. One wonders how YouTube doesn't collapse under the pressure. Hmmm.

Story follows....

[EvilCouch]

What the fuck ever. There are miles and miles of fiber optic cable that have never been lit up. This is a plea for cash.

"Oh! We've had a bad quarter, someone please take pity on us!"

Gimme a fucking break.

[BruteForce]

What the fuck ever. There are miles and miles of fiber optic cable that have never been lit up. This is a plea for cash.

"Oh! We've had a bad quarter, someone please take pity on us!"

Gimme a fucking break.

Concur. Here in Utah, they're running fiber to homes in an effort dubbed as the "Utopia Project". You can now get 100mb+ bandwidth for the same price as DSL/Cable.

Bandwidth my ass. We'll run out of IPv4 addresses before bandwidth.

My ISP claims to have 12 x DS3 (45mb per DS3) Tier2 connectivity. If AT&T/Verizon, etc.. are balking, then it's because they're not investing enough in their own infrastructure.

Hell, I have 2 x DS3's to my office and half that fiber is dark.

[The Holmchicken]

If what you guys say is right, how much internet porn are we NOT seeing?

[RTO]

If what you guys say is right, how much internet porn are we NOT seeing?

I think AT&T is saying internet porn is the problem....

[The Holmchicken]

If what you guys say is right, how much internet porn are we NOT seeing?

I think AT&T is saying internet porn is the problem....

The internet was invented for porn. Everything else is an add on.

[Parabellum]

Hopefully My Space will be the first thing to go.

[The Holmchicken]

Hopefully My Space will be the first thing to go.

Ford will probably commit suicide.

[rgrpuck]

Hopefully My Space will be the first thing to go.

Ford will probably commit suicide.

[Parabellum]

Hopefully My Space will be the first thing to go.

Ford will probably commit suicide.

Roger that, no way for him to keep in contact with his gay lovers.

[Flesh Thorn]

Man Bear Pig will save the net !

[ANGRYCivilian]

The internet was invented for porn. Everything else is an add on.

This is true.

[CloakAndDagger]

Doom-filled warnings arrive from AT&T this week. The company says that without substantial investment in network infrastructure, the Internet will essentially run out of bandwidth in just two short years.

Isn't it every two years that one of the big ISPs claims that bandwidth will run out in two years?

[EvilCouch]

Doom-filled warnings arrive from AT&T this week. The company says that without substantial investment in network infrastructure, the Internet will essentially run out of bandwidth in just two short years.

Isn't it every two years that one of the big ISPs claims that bandwidth will run out in two years?

I remember seeing it posted to Slashdot more frequently than that. Of course, with Slashdot, half of them are probably dupes, which equals it out.