AT&T: 15 Mbps Internet connections "irrelevant"
Edward B. DREGER
eddy+public+spam at noc.everquick.net
Sat Apr 1 07:16:21 UTC 2006
MA> Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2006 08:34:36 +0200 (CEST)
MA> From: Mikael Abrahamsson
MA> http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060331-6498.html
MA>
MA> "In the foreseeable future, having a 15 Mbps Internet capability is
[ snip ]
MA> Is this something held generally true in the US, or is it just pointed
MA> hair-talk? Sounds like "nobody should need more than 640kb of memory" all
MA> over again.
I think the Comcast and "cheaper cable plant" references answer your
question. With "new AT&T" adverts, political lobbying, selling retail
DSL below loop/backhaul-only, and consolidation costs, how much money is
left over for last-mile upgrades?
Call me cynical. I just seem to recall AT&T ads in US news magazines
bragging about backbone size _and_ the large portion of Internet traffic
they [supposedly] carry. (I say "supposedly" because claims might be
technically true, but misleading, when traffic passes over AT&T _lines_
via other providers' IP networks. Shades of UUNet and Sprint[link] from
years gone by, anyone?)
So... uh... assuming all three claims -- "backbone is bottleneck", "we
have big backbone capacity", and "we carry big chunks of Internet
traffic" -- are true... I'm puzzling over what appears a bit
paradoxical.
The IPTV reference is also amusing. Let's assume a channel can be
encoded at 1.0 Mbps -- roughly a 1.5 hr show on a CD-ROM. I don't see
two simultaneous programs, Internet traffic, and telephone fitting on a
DSL connection.
Perhaps the real question is which regulatory agency, or shareholders,
needed to hear what the article said. ;-)
Eddy
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