Why We Don't Need Gigabit Networks (Yet) 359
AmyVernon writes "Most computers today can't support gigabit connections and current Wi-Fi networks can't offer those speeds either. The first trial of Sonic.Net's gigabit network was a speed test on a generic laptop that showed off 420 Mbps down; the laptop couldn't handle a full gig. Plus, few applications need those speeds. It's hard to justify such a huge investment in a network that will have few subscribers and few applications that need it. Of course, that can change, and then these networks will be vital. This story has a good analysis of where things stand and what has to change."
Re:Could Not Disagree More (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Time to build (Score:4, Informative)
Eh.. nothing wrong with the streaming model, as far as network bandwidth goes, and there are advantages for things that lots of people are trying to get: under the streaming model, you can use multicast a little better. For instance, if something just needs to be downloaded, you can multicast it in a continuous loop and clients can assemble the pieces in the right order at their end, waiting until they have enough to finish.
Or you can have multiple streams staggered (for say, video), so that people can join in at almost any time and get on a stream.
The other advantage of streaming is that if, say, a client is downloading video and the user decides halfway through to stop watching, you don't have to send any more bits.
Re:Follow the money... (Score:5, Informative)
Um, probably not. He's rolling out fiber in my town of 7000. But it's also his business to know whether it's really going to be saturated so they can do the right network on the backend. Sonic.net is a pretty kick-ass ISP. They instituted outbound SMTP blocking. But they noticed I'm running my own SMTP server and sent me an email saying they weren't blocking SMTP to/from me, but I could enable/disable it just by visiting my member account page. Also, they just rolled out free fax numbers (gateway to PDF/email) and outbound faxing for everyone.