AT&T Claims Internet to Reach Capacity in 2010

An anonymous reader writes "CNET News has a piece in which AT&T claims that the Internet's bandwidth will be saturated by video-on-demand and such by 2010. Says the AT&T VP: 'In three years' time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire Internet today.' Similarly: 'He claimed that the "unprecedented new wave of broadband traffic" would increase 50-fold by 2015 and that AT&T is investing $19 billion to maintain its network and upgrade its backbone network.'"

life mirrors art

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh noes! The internet is going to dry up! Better start hording internet now, so that it can be used when it runs dry!

I think we are safe

[nurb432]

Since our end ISP's are throttling us now, i don't see things 'expanding' for most of us.

Fark's article summary...

[Anonymous Coward]

AT&T says the tubes of the intarwebs will be clogged with lolcats by 2010....

Re:I'm still waiting

[c0nsole]

It seems that they 'accidentally' ran it to my house instead... ;)

Re:I'm still waiting

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm still waiting on my ADSL, that was promised even before your fiber to the curb. Try reading Dilbert at 24k sometime and you'll be happy with what you have.

Re:That quote...

[colmore]

Oh no the massive profits the telecom industry has enjoyed with the explosion of the internet might at some point cause them to have to sink money into infrastructure? The horror!

three years time?

[Khashishi]

'In three years' time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire Internet today.' I don't know about the typical household, but personally I don't think I can watch that much porn.

Re:That quote...

[Anonymous Coward]

As for the internet "reaching capacity"... that's a pretty meaningless thing to say.

Amen to that! If there's one thing I've learned in my years of reading slashdot, it's that there ain't no such thing as too much traffic directed over a single internet link!

THANK YOU AT&T!!!

[__aailob1448]

Oh my God! This is the best news I've heard in a long time! AT&T's top lawyer has just promised us 20 TBps residential internet in 3 years.

I can hardly wait! Imagine how many BluRay porn discs we can download every second!

I love you AT&T!

Re:That quote...

[Romancer]

That is the sound of the smallest violin being transmitted in 6.1 ch dolby HD to every IP in america.

Seriously though, didn't we just get the report that we are in the top percentage of internet ready nations? Doesn't that mean that we "can do it" before it reaches the "I can't give it any more captn' she'll blow" stage?

Re:Which Stocks to Buy?

[Anonymous Coward]

Invest in feedstocks.

Neutrons, Protons, Electrons....that sort of shit. Also whatever radio waves are made out of. Buy a big bunch of that stuff too.

Re:I'm still waiting

[hey!]

Satan worshiper? You're out of date. After extensive market testing, the Devil has been rebranded as "Stan" [sm], beating out such alternatives as "Old Nick" (too old fogey) and "POD" (too urban). Hell, is now "Brimston Lake: A Gated Community".

Re:Which Stocks to Buy?

[Malekin]

Word in the smart circles is that all of that shit is made out of string anyway, so that's where the real smart money is.

Re:That quote...

[Idiomatick]

"top percentage of internet ready nations"

I suppose if you count ALL the nations. But you guys are realllllly far behind what the super power should be doing. I think you are in 15th place atm out of 200 countries... thats not bad i guess... But being the biggest economy in the world you could afford to do better.

Imminent death of the net predicted!

[nerdonamotorcycle]

Seriously, I've been hearing this as long as I've been on the 'net (early 1990s). It's been going around since Vint Cerf first hooked two computers together.

Re:That quote...

[DilutedImage]

How would their "massive profits" be a cause of them needing to invest in their infrastructure? ;)

I knew it would happen one day!

[TapeCutter]

"Word in the smart circles is that all of that shit is made out of string anyway, so that's where the real smart money is."

I can't wait to tell the wife. 30yrs ago she said I was an idiot using the spare room to house my string collection. After the children were born she demanded I get rid of my balls alltogether, said she "never wanted to see those hairy monstrosoties again".

I stood firm, I told her "I would rather leave her with my balls intact, than stay and suffer the pain of eternal seperation". Eventually we compromised, we built a shed so that I could keep my balls out of her face. It worked well, to this day I can still play with them (or simply stand and admire), them whenever I feel like it. Now that they are worth money I bet she will want to display them on the mantlepeice and pretend she always loved them.

Imminent Death of the Internet Predicted

[driftingwalrus]

Gents, we have been hearing this exact same line since 1990. It was wrong then, it's wrong now. I'm surprised they have the gaul to post this nonsense.