symmetric vs. asymmetric [was: Verizon Policy Statement on Net Neutrality]

Ray Soucy rps at maine.edu
Thu Apr 23 14:17:51 UTC 2015


Sorry, I know I get long-winded.  That's why I don't post as much as I used
to. ;-)

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 10:09 AM, Jay Ashworth <jra at baylink.com> wrote:

> There's an op-ed piece in this posting, Ray. Do you want to write it, or
> should I?
>
> :-)
>
>
> On April 23, 2015 10:06:42 AM EDT, Ray Soucy <rps at maine.edu> wrote:
>>
>> It's amazing, really.
>>
>> Netflix and YouTube now overtake BitTorrent and all other file sharing
>> peer-to-peer traffic combined, even on academic networks, by order(s) of
>> magnitude.  The amount of peer-to-peer traffic is not even significant in
>> comparison.  It might as well be IRC from our perspective.
>>
>> Internet usage habits have shifted quite a bit in the past decade.  I
>> think the takeaway is that if you provide content in a way that is fairly
>> priced and convenient to access (e.g. DRM doesn't get in your way), most
>> people will opt for the legal route.  Something we were trying to explain
>> to the MPAA and RIAA years ago when they shoved the DMCA down our throats.
>>
>> I'm certainly in favor of symmetrical service.  I think there is a widely
>> held myth that DOS attacks will take down the Internet when everyone has
>> more bandwidth.  The fact is that DOS attacks are a problem regardless of
>> bandwidth, and throttling people isn't a solution.  The other (somewhat
>> insulting) argument that people will use greater upload speeds for illegal
>> activity is pretty bogus as well.
>>
>> The limit on upload bandwidth for most people is a roadblock to a lot of
>> the services that people will take for granted a decade from now; cloud
>> backup, residential video surveillance over IP, peer-to-peer high
>> definition video conferencing.  And likely a lot of things that we haven't
>> imagined yet.
>>
>> As funny as it sounds, I think Twitch (streaming video games) has been
>> the application that has made the younger generation care about their
>> upload speed more than anything else.  They now have a use case where their
>> limited upload is a real problem for them, and when they find out their ISP
>> can't provide anything good enough they get pretty upset about it.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 22, 2015 at 6:02 PM, Jay Ashworth <jra at baylink.com> wrote:
>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> > From: "Frank Bulk" <frnkblk at iname.com>
>>>
>>> > Those are measured at the campus boundary. I don't have visibility
>>> inside
>>> > the school's network to know who much intra-campus traffic there may
>>> be .
>>> > but we know that peer-to-peer is a small percentage of overall Internet
>>> > traffic flows, and streaming video remains the largets.
>>>
>>> BitTorrent makes special efforts to keep as much traffic local as
>>> possible,
>>> I understand; that probably isn't too helpful... except at scales like
>>> that
>>> on a resnet at a sizable campus.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> -- jra
>>> --
>>> Jay R. Ashworth                  Baylink
>>> jra at baylink.com
>>> Designer                     The Things I Think
>>>  RFC 2100
>>> Ashworth & Associates       http://www.bcp38.info          2000 Land
>>> Rover DII
>>> St Petersburg FL USA      BCP38: Ask For It By Name!           +1 727
>>> 647 1274
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ray Patrick Soucy
>> Network Engineer
>> University of Maine System
>>
>> T: 207-561-3526
>> F: 207-561-3531
>>
>> MaineREN, Maine's Research and Education Network
>> www.maineren.net
>>
>
> --
> Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
>



-- 
Ray Patrick Soucy
Network Engineer
University of Maine System

T: 207-561-3526
F: 207-561-3531

MaineREN, Maine's Research and Education Network
www.maineren.net



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