Re: FCC proposes higher speed goals (100/20 Mbps) for USF providers

[Mike Hammett <nanog () ics-il net>]

"The question I have for other operators: if you have a group of customers that subscribe to a 100Mb service, and all 
of them suddenly switched to a 1Gb service, would you expect an increase in overall bandwidth usage? " 


As someone offering up to gigabit, I wouldn't. They don't use what they have now, so why would they use more? 


I'm sure it's more than a 0 difference, but it isn't statistically relevant. 


That's, however, assuming you've spent the money to overbuild the infrastructure in that area to support something not 
needed. 




----- 
Mike Hammett 
Intelligent Computing Solutions 
http://www.ics-il.com 

Midwest-IX 
http://www.midwest-ix.com 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Kord Martin" <kord () firstnationscable com> 
To: nanog () nanog org 
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2022 3:10:06 PM 
Subject: Re: FCC proposes higher speed goals (100/20 Mbps) for USF providers 




I don’t think game manufacturers expand their games based on available download bandwidth. I think that games have 
gotten richer and the graphics environments and capabilities have improved and content more expansive to a point where 
yes, games are several BluRays worth of download now instead of being shipped on multiple discs. 



When I was a rural DSL customer, my problem wasn't necessarily with the size of the games, but rather that you'd have 
to re-download the entire game every week. It would take almost an entire week to download a game, then by time it's 
finally updated they've updated a tree texture and you need to download the whole game again. I understand why this 
happens but customers who didn't have access to broadband just got the shaft. 
I still have a lot of friends who don't have access to broadband and simply can't play modern games because of the 
always-online requirement and constant, huge updates. 
<blockquote>

If the target is a non-fiber service, then 100/20 might make sense. If Fiber is being installed, then it’s hard to find 
a rationale for 1Gbps being more expensive than any lower capacity. 
</blockquote>

The question I have for other operators: if you have a group of customers that subscribe to a 100Mb service, and all of 
them suddenly switched to a 1Gb service, would you expect an increase in overall bandwidth usage? 

I've been looking around for some other comments on bandwidth trends but I don't know how much of that would/should be 
confidential based on privacy or trade secret.