bandwidth usage

11 Stories

Netflix Seem Slower? You're Not Imagining Things

Site's bandwidth usage spurs disagreements with providers

(Newser) - If your Netflix account seems to be running slower than usual these days, that's because it very likely is slower. Traffic conflicts between the service and major broadband providers—especially Verizon FiOS—are resulting in a slowdown, Wall Street Journal reports. Netflix says its average primetime speeds for Verizon...

How Siri Could Hurt Everyone's Cell Service
 How Siri Could 
 Hurt Everyone's 
 Cell Service 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

How Siri Could Hurt Everyone's Cell Service

She's a giant 'bandwidth guzzler': Paul Farhi

(Newser) - Siri is knowledgeable, convenient, even funny—but she has a dark side. "Siri’s dirty little secret is that she’s a bandwidth guzzler, the digital equivalent of a 10-miles-per-gallon Hummer H1," writes Paul Farhi in the Washington Post . Indeed, the iPhone 4S, which brought us Siri,...

Netflix Streamers Are Hogging Bandwidth
 Netflix Streamers 
 Are Hogging Bandwidth 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Netflix Streamers Are Hogging Bandwidth

They eat up 20% in peak hours

(Newser) - People streaming movies from Netflix are eating up a ton of bandwidth, and it's only going to get worse, writes Farhad Manjoo in Slate . He notes the takeaway stat from from a new report : Netflix watching accounts for 20% of web traffic in North American homes during peak usage hours....

AT&T Looks to Rein In iPhone Data Hogs

Company may have to revamp how it bills customers

(Newser) - AT&T says it's working on ways to keep some iPhone customers from hogging everybody else's bandwidth. It will unveil a series of "incentives" early next year, which could include charging customers based on how much data they use rather than offering an "unlimited" plan, reports the Wall ...

Comcast Web Caps May Signal End of an Era
Comcast Web Caps May Signal End of an Era
analysis

Comcast Web Caps May Signal End of an Era

Though limits affect only 1% now, high-def video will change that

(Newser) - With Comcast setting a limit on Internet usage beginning next month, the end of the Internet as we know it may be at hand, as ISPs move toward usage-based models like public utilities. Comcast, the second-largest US Internet provider, was careful to say that the bandwidth limit is so high—...

Comcast to Put Brakes on Bandwidth Hogs

ISP decides to slow down users rather than P2P programs after FCC scolding

(Newser) - Comcast plans to reduce Internet connection speeds for heavy users, Bloomberg reports. The company's "FairShare" system will slow users down for 10 to 20 minutes during peak periods. Comcast was recently scolded by the FCC for improperly blocking file-sharing programs like BitTorrent in an effort to manage Web traffic.

Web's Growth Shows No Sign of Pause

Mobile volume will double every year through 2012, Cisco study says

(Newser) - Internet traffic continues to grow at an astonishing pace, GigaOm reports. A study by Cisco Systems has found that world network traffic will increase 46% from 2007 to 2012. By 2012, the annual bandwidth demand is estimated to become 522 exabytes—a billion gigabytes.

Comcast Bends Under Net Neutrality Pressure

Promises new system for managing network, probably by end of year

(Newser) - Comcast is changing the way it manages Internet traffic after an intense public and FCC outcry over its blocking traffic from BitTorrent users. To cut use during peak hours, the Internet provider will stop targeting specific applications and instead slow its highest-bandwidth users’ traffic, reports the New York Times. Still,...

The Broadband Police Are Coming
The Broadband Police Are Coming

The Broadband Police Are Coming

Analysts fear impending crackdown on high bandwidth users

(Newser) - Enjoy your broadband while you can, because it won’t be this way forever. Consumer advocates think ISPs will soon have claim to have no choice but to crack down on high-bandwidth users or applications, in order to keep their networks afloat. Already Comcast has drawn fire for slowing file...

AT&T Adds Speed to US Network
AT&T Adds Speed to
US Network

AT&T Adds Speed to US Network

Keeping up with 21st century consumers' broadband greed

(Newser) - AT&T has begun using a high-speed backbone network to move data faster across the US, the company said Monday. The network's capacity is 40 gigabits per second -- quadruple the previous capacity -- allowing users to more quickly access bandwidth-greedy files and videos. It is the first such network...

Critics Blast Claims of Net Outages by 2010

Lambaste industry group behind study predicting failures

(Newser) - Ominous warnings earlier this week of a looming Internet disaster are highly misleading, suggest critics. "As we've stated previously, most warnings of capacity armageddon come from traffic shaping companies looking to sell hardware," the industry web site Broadband Reports writes about a recent Nemertes Research study, which was...

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