How Fast an Internet?How Fast an Internet?

When I read an article about increasing Internet access 1,000-fold, I wondered how many of us would want this speed and could afford the connection charge.

Nearly every Internet user wants faster access. The richness of the information now available requires faster speed. The advent of HD programming and Internet-ready televisions do warrant faster speeds. Will faster Internet speed make me more productive or just make more entertainment available? What will it cost? Will my computer be able to support the increased speed?

I have migrated from DSL at 700Kbps to FiOS business class operating at 25Mbps for Internet access. My Internet downloads, especially videos, are far faster but the response times from nearly all the sites I access appear nearly as slow as with the DSL service. This slowness definitely affects my productivity. It doesn't matter whether I am reading an e-mail or making travel reservations. So when I read an article about increasing Internet access 1,000-fold, I wondered how many of us would want this speed and could afford the connection charge.

The Scientific American article, "Need Blazing Fast Internet? Gig.U Is Now in Session, A consortium of more than 30 universities plans to invest in the infrastructure to improve Internet speeds 1,000-fold", posted August 8, 2011, discusses the efforts to increase Internet access speeds.

College and university communities have Internet-savvy users close at hand. Most live on or near the campus. Extending Gbps speeds over the last mile on or near the campus may not be cost-prohibitive. Extending the 1Gbps further presents implementation and cost issues. The concept behind the increased Internet speed is that it will foster the development of new applications by universities and research institutions.

One of the inspirations for this effort is the Google Community Fiber Initiative announced in February 2010. Google is looking for trial locations to set up and experiment with high-speed access. So far over 1,100 applications have been submitted. Some see this as demand. I am not so sure. If I were submitting an application, my goal would be to attract high technology businesses and tax dollars from these businesses, not necessarily using the high speed access for everyday operation. It is not clear what the communities that gain the Gbps access speed will do with it.

Another impetus was the issuing of the FCC's "Measuring Broadband America, A Report on Consumer Wireline Broadband Performance in the U.S.". The study found that 13 providers account for 86% of the wireline broadband services in the U.S. The study found that most providers offer advertised speeds that were in some cases higher and in some cases lower than what was delivered. As may be expected, cable and fiber services dominated the high speed list. The report found most users had access to 35Mbps service or slower. Since the report was issued, 1Gbps service has been implemented in the U.S. in limited release. Some international locations, like Hong Kong, offer 1Gbps service. The study mainly focused on what is in existence, not what the U.S. should be offering. The study did point out that speeds above 35Mbps were not in existence here when the study was performed.

I see several issues that will influence the deployment of 1Gbps service:

* The Internet backbone transmission facilities will need a major bandwidth boost.
* The switching systems in the network will also need to be improved. This is a major capital investment that has to be recovered in Internet access fees.
* The last mile will be the biggest impairment to deployment. This will probably have to be fiber, not cable.
* The cost of access will be hundreds of dollars per month, out of the reach of most consumer users. High speed service will be affordable to the enterprise but their data center Internet access speeds will have to be boosted well beyond 1Gbps to support the 1Gbps last mile.
* Net Neutrality should be easy to deliver with this bandwidth, something many providers do not want to happen.
* If movie downloads take only a minute or two, what will be the bandwidth that companies like Netflix will have support at their server sites?
* What will be the cost of endpoint devices that can support streaming 1Gbps?

I recommend that you read the comments attached to the Scientific American article. Here is part of the comment by jtdwyer:

Who will pay for it? Where is the demand? Aside from full movie downloads, is there any real reqiurement for such high transfer rates?

The issue is primarily that communications is only as fast as its slowest link--the entire nationwide communications infrastructure would require nearly a complete replacement to ensure that point-to-point transfers could meet the Gigabit target rate.

If only a subset of Internet communications customers demand the ability to download movies at gigabit rates, that could be achieved by their paying sufficient rates to finance gigabit links between themselves and local or regional movie file servers. Who will pay for it? Where is the demand? Aside from full movie downloads, is there any real requirement for such high transfer rates?

The issue is primarily that communications is only as fast as its slowest link--the entire nationwide communications infrastructure would require nearly a complete replacement to ensure that point-to-point transfers could meet the Gigabit target rate.

If only a subset of Internet communications customers demand the ability to download movies at gigabit rates, that could be achieved by their paying sufficient rates to finance gigabit links between themselves and local or regional movie file servers. Who will pay for it? Where is the demand? Aside from full movie downloads, is there any real requirement for such high transfer rates?