Here’s my take since I’ve moved from a reliable wireless 10Mbps system to a 1000Mbps system.
It relieved the congestion problem, which I think was the major issue. Most of it was for viewing video. Some people are buying Gigabit just because their Comcast 100Mbps was that price or more, so “why not”? No one uses 1000Mbps yet on my system, just doesn’t happen. What I think will drive usage is still video. But video for EVERYTHING. As in, processing and OS duties shift to the cloud and everything we carry around is just a video processor. A very smart, optimized video processor, but still, just reduced to a set of common algorithms and network chips and a 4k screen and battery. Almost like going back to analog where the refresh rate and screen resolution will depend more on your bandwidth than ever. Doing emails, reading content? No problem, screen doesn’t need to refresh much, very low bandwidth just like RDP. Playing video games at 120 frames per second in compressed 4k? Need a really good decoder and faster bandwidth. Have 10 of those going on at a time in a home? Need 1000Mbps. From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of CBB - Jay Fuller Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2016 11:09 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Lack of broadband - impact on economy and decision making From Ken: As far as economic growth, gigabit Internet isn't going to magically bring economic growth. But if you don't have access to basic broadband, you definitely are shut out of part of the economy. One thing I've seen a lot in my area is the impact of the efficiency requirements of the Affordable Healthcare Act. Insurance and healthcare companies are moving buildings full of office workers to work from home, in order to cut their overhead costs. Customers who used to commute 30 miles to the suburbs now need broadband to work from home, and 1M/384K DSL isn't good enough, if they can even get that. But if they can get reliable 3/1 from a WISP, they still have a job, plus other people out here in the country can get those jobs. And now they have a couple hours they used to spend commuting to spend with their families. I think this is a real life example of economic impact of broadband, or the flip side, the impact of lack of broadband if you're on the wrong side of the digital divide. I would be very interested to see some kind of report of employment data and what projects have succeeded in "gigabit" markets vs. standard internet markets. Is there really that much of a difference... Yes, like many of you, I know most people use the internet for netflix (among other things). What else is out there and more importantly, what does gigabit enable?
