iPad users crash cable TV system

Someone asked me just today if we really will need all the bandwidth that fiber offers, with the unspoken inference that DSL and cable modem service seems to be working just fine.

Uh-huh.

I came back to my hotel after dinner and found this article: TimeWarner rolled out its new "watch TV on your iPad" service and it's network was promptly overwhelmed by people who thought, "Hey, what a great idea...just what I have been waiting for." The cable giant had to cut back the number of channels available to just fifteen (cut 50% from the original 30). So anyone who thinks 1950s-based copper networks are just fine, the second biggest cable company in the country had its network crashed by a very small number of iPad owners. What happens when everyone tries to watch TV on a tablet device? And no, DOCSIS 3.0 is not the answer to that question. Symmetric, active Ethernet fiber networks are the answer.

Knowledge Democracy:

Comments

I know this is the wrong thread to post my comment, apologies for that... I work for a small consultancy firm in Germany which specializes in delivering FTTH projects to municipalities. I read your paper about the 'Third way' explaining the open access approach. I would like to ask, when you talk about open access, do you only consider Bitstream access? In the projects I provide planning for, I allow for over capacity of fibres and conduits, even floor space in POPs to be in line with open access requirements at the physical level.
Looking at Bitstream access, there are issues with BOSS integration and deciding whether an OLO manages his own network pipe to customers (controlled access to incumbent operator network elements) or managed by the incumbent (SLA controls}. Do you have any experience of how Bitstream access is implemented and managed State-side.

In your paper you make comments on symmetric bandwidth...in the context of providing business class tariffs I would agree but I still see the need for asymmetric tariffs due actual customer upstream traffic patterns and the fact that this bandwidth could be saved in the backbone of a network with respect to QoS guarantees and customer SLA conditions(i.e. burst bandwidth for extra VOD or IPTV channel).

The requirement for symmetric bandwidth does not preclude offering asymmetric bandwidth. For a typical residential package of Internet access, some customers will be very happy with a lower cost asymmetric offering.