[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Internet is hefty

Fri Mar 20 14:10:56 PDT 2020

To All: 

WIRED just posted a similar article:
https://www.wired.com/story/stream-all-want-internet-fine-now 

_"Go Ahead, Stream All You Want. The Internet Is Fine--for Now"_ 

ISPs normally need to plan for about a 50% annual increase in network
traffic anyway. Some highly affected coronvirus areas since January
already may have experienced higher peaks of this magnitude. 

In addition to video compression (encoding algorithms, reducing
fidelity, etc.), there is a lot of aggressive content caching for
delivering static video. For example, Netflix used to consume 30% of US
total network capacity nightly during consumer prime time (8PM-11PM).
Netflix provides free caching appliances for bigger ISPs to localize
content delivery and to reduce more global loading:
https://openconnect.netflix.com/en/ 

Voice grade connections typically sample at 8 kHz using 8-bit pulse code
modulation for a raw rate of 64 kbit/sec before compression. This is a
lot less than video. 

Both video and voice are somewhat dependent upon real-time delivery
because delays degrade intelligibility. Buffering helps maintain
continuity for video streams assuming that the average available
sustained bandwidth is sufficient. 

-- Mitch 

On 2020-03-20 11:34, Stephen Quatrano wrote:

> "Amazon is cutting Prime Video streaming bitrates in Europe"
> "Netflix and YouTube have made similar decisions in the last 24 hours."
> 
> https://www.engadget.com/2020/03/20/amazon-prime-video-streaming-bitrate-europe/?utm_medium=techboard.fri.20200320&utm_source=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=campaign 
> 
> One of my friend in the business claimed that Netflix has actually asked NBC to stop broadcasting in HD.  I have not looked into that so I cannot confirm it. 
> 
> These are examples of feedback that will dynamically alleviate congestion.  Very interesting. 
> 
> SQ 
> 
> On Mar 19, 2020, at 2:44 PM, Stephen Quatrano <stefanoq at gmail.com> wrote: 
> 
> Very good point!  The best services figure out ways of failing gracefully.  For example, loosing a couple of frames of video are just not as serious as loosing voice.   
> 
> Unlike movies, though, conference endpoints cannot buffer as much to accommodate congestion in the datacenter or at the edge because of latency.  We are very used to low latency phone calls... and users unable to interrupt are often unhappy with buffered solutions.  We often chose to drop packets, sometimes a LOT of them, to preserve the call session and avoid buffering. 
> 
> SQ
> 
> On Mar 19, 2020, at 12:39 PM, Carl Lazarus <carllazarus at comcast.net> wrote: 
> 
> Video conferencing might not be such a bandwidth hog.  The algorithms it uses send changes rather than constantly sending the whole picture.  Unlike a movie, the participants in a video conference are not moving around much. 
> -- Carl 
> 
> FROM: LCTG [mailto:lctg-bounces+carllazarus=comcast.net at lists.toku.us] ON BEHALF OF Stephen Quatrano
> SENT: Thursday, March 19, 2020 12:02 PM
> TO: <jjrudy1 at comcast.net> <jjrudy1 at comcast.net>
> CC: Lex Computer Group <LCTG at lists.toku.us>; lexington at groups.io
> SUBJECT: Re: [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Internet is hefty 
> 
> It'll be a problem if "working from home" means "watching Netflix".  It might also be a problem if "working from home" means "endless meetings" and "always-on video conferencing."  On the other hand, if people are actually doing work, well, not so much. 
> 
> You get my point.  It's about bandwidth.  I believe that about 80% of all Internet traffic is already video.   Texting, email, web, and even FB is essentially noise with respect to these volumes... 
> 
> SQ 
> 
> On Mar 19, 2020, at 11:52 AM, <jjrudy1 at comcast.net> <jjrudy1 at comcast.net> wrote: 
> 
> A number of folks have asked whether the internet can handle the surge in volume seen during the last week or two.  Consensus appears to be maybe/probably.  Here are a few recent articles 
> 
> https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/uptime/will-coronavirus-break-internet-highly-unlikely-says-cloudflare [1] 
> 
> https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-broadband-internet-work-from-home.html?auth=login-facebook [2] 
> 
> https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alexkantrowitz/the-internet-was-built-to-withstand-a-nuclear-bomb-it-will [3] 
> 
> https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/17/tech/internet-infrastructure-coronavirus/index.html [4] 
> 
> The bottom line in my view is that the experts are not sure, but think it can.   And of course this is somewhat geography-dependent 
> 
> On Monday I tried to get onto the Met Opera to watch Carmen and could not.  THEIR server was apparently flooded.  Later on it was fine. 
> 
> John 
> 
> John Rudy 
> 
> 781-861-0402 
> 
> 781-718-8334 (cell) 
> 
> 20 Heritage Drive 
> 
> Lexington, MA  02420 
> 
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Links:
------
[1]
https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/uptime/will-coronavirus-break-internet-highly-unlikely-says-cloudflare
[2]
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-broadband-internet-work-from-home.html?auth=login-facebook
[3]
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alexkantrowitz/the-internet-was-built-to-withstand-a-nuclear-bomb-it-will
[4]
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/17/tech/internet-infrastructure-coronavirus/index.html
[5] http://lists.toku.us/private.cgi/lctg-toku.us
[6] http://lctg.toku.us/
[7] http://lists.toku.us/options.cgi/lctg-toku.us/stefanoq@gmail.com
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