Dealing with the Growing Appetite for Bandwidth

Courtesy: K-Tel

Once upon a time I worked with some guys who created a faux K-Tel offer, “…call now, and you’ll get a copy of every song ever recorded.  That’s right.  Every song, every recording.  So you don’t forget, call before midnight tonight…”

In a related (I’ll tie them together eventually) incident, last week, an IT tech made an interesting, if not superficial recommendation that we start paying by the byte for bandwidth.  "That'll make you think twice before watching 'The Beaver' for the fourth time in a day."  OK, I'll tell you that I'm a firm believer in having skin in the game.  Give stuff away for free or on an all-you-can-eat basis and watch the waste.  Prime example:  go to an event with an open bar!

But, back to K-Tel.  Think about it.  If you were able to get a copy of every song, every video and similar content and keep it with you, that’d definitely cut down on your bandwidth usage, wouldn’t it?

You may not know it, but forms of that are happening all the time.  Various arrangements of store/forward are employed by content suppliers regularly.  For example, if you are on telco copper, some systems, when a particular VOD movie is ordered for the first time, the content is downloaded to the server at your local CO.  It stays on that server – for a specific period of time or, in some cases, in perpetuity – and is as close as that CO for the next person…or you, if you’re watching that episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle again.

It’s coming to home in a number of ways.  You know about SlingBox and RoKu and similar devices.  They have some of the store/forward capabilities.  Of course, if you use SlingBox for its main purpose, you’re going to need bandwidth between the box and your location.  But, the idea is, shorten the distance that data must travel to get to you.  One way or another, that’ll reduce overall bandwidth.

Then, a variety of PC and Mac devices like Time Capsule and some combination of media server/distribution system will allow you to store a lot of content locally, reducing bandwidth needed to the outside world.  It will mean higher capabilities in the home, like –n enabled WiFi but if that K-Tel offer put everything on your local machine, what a difference.

And what’s left?  Well, the hundreds of terabytes of content created every day have to get to you.  How else will you see the latest Mentos/Coke attempt?  But again, store/forward can put the materials a lot closer to you than they currently are. Yes.  Another cut in required bandwidth.  Don’t forget current movie releases.  As theaters go digital, they could easily install servers that allow store/forward.  It flies in the face of protecting digital rights since, somehow, theaters seem to be content leaks, but the technology’s right.

Here’s a question.  If you had to pay per byte from your broadband supplier, would you agree to “share” with others?  The scenario goes like this:  This morning I watched a 3 minute clip of Black Eyed Peas.  Heck, make it on sharpening lawn mower blades if that makes you feel better.  Because I’m enrolled as a “sharer”, it stays on my PDA/phone/tablet for a period of time.  I’m sitting on the porch and my next door neighbor wants to watch the same clip.  (Poor guy.  His mower is a mess.  And his lawn...)  He hits “download” and the return data says, “Hey! It’s right there next to you,” and it steers his tablet to your phone to get it.  Does that work for you?  Are you willing to do that?  Makes sense.  It’s right there.  Your neighbor wants it.  If you can pay a reduced rate for your download and he gets to do the same, too, does that make sense?

Don’t read any bias into the question. Ignore security issues which can be dealt with. And look at the grand scheme.  Even digital broadcast could be accessed from your neighbor's device.  In fact, just about anything that more than one person would want to watch/listen to/investigate fits the idea.  I really want to know:  would you do it? 

If not, and demands keep up, bandwidth can’t.  I’ve written about it before but as legislators continue to pass regulations against the laws of physics, we’re headed for a mess where bits leaving a server will look like the bridge scene from Godzilla.