Re: COVID-19 vs. our Networks

[Mike Bolitho <mikebolitho () gmail com>]

> *Seems arbitrary.   Lots of networks have lots of Netflix/etc capacity.
> Who determines what is "mission critical"?  Our mission as an ISP is to
> deliver Internet to our customers.  If they want to play online games or
> watch video, who am I to say that isn't critical to THEIR mission?...*



*...The last thing we need are a bunch of kids in quarantine that have
> NOTHING to do because Mike Bolitho thinks their entertainment isn't part of
> the "mission" of the Internet.*


We already have that. It's called Telecommunications Service Priority and
this is the charge:

Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP) is a program that authorizes
> national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) organizations to
> receive priority treatment for vital voice and data circuits or other
> telecommunications services.


I work for a hospital, we ran into some issues last week due to congestion
that was totally outside of our control that was off of our WAN (Thanks
Call Of Duty). Now, the issue we ran into was not mission critical at the
time but it was still disruptive. As more and more people are driven home
during this time, more and more people will be using bandwidth intensive
streaming and online gaming products. If more and more TSP coded entities
are running into issues, ISPs, IXPs, and CDNs will be forced to act.

For more information:

https://www.cisa.gov/telecommunications-service-priority-tsp

https://www.fcc.gov/general/telecommunications-service-priority

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Service_Priority

*These views are my own and do not reflect the opinions or official stances
of my employer etc etc.*

- Mike Bolitho


On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 9:27 AM Clayton Zekelman <clayton () mnsi net> wrote:

> Seems arbitrary.   Lots of networks have lots of Netflix/etc capacity.
> Who determines what is "mission critical"?  Our mission as an ISP is to
> deliver Internet to our customers.  If they want to play online games or
> watch video, who am I to say that isn't critical to THEIR mission?
>
> The last thing we need are a bunch of kids in quarantine that have NOTHING
> to do because Mike Bolitho thinks their entertainment isn't part of the
> "mission" of the Internet.
>
> About the only thing that might be useful is something to smooth out the
> big jumps in utilization on game releases - but even that is something that
> can be managed by adding capacity.
>
> To quote Jay Leno - Crunch All You Want, We'll Make More.
>
> At 12:16 PM 14/03/2020, Mike Bolitho wrote:
>
> Basically that. It's probably more streaming services that could crowd out
> what would be considered "mission critical" infrastructure. Maybe the
> Netflixs and Hulus of the world will limit 4K streaming or something along
> those lines. Basically cap resolution to 720p for the time being.
>
> - Mike Bolitho
>
>
> On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 1:06 AM Hugo Slabbert <hugo () slabnet com> wrote:
> > Â The impact of all these bored school kids on the networks due to gaming
> might cause some issues. I know that if I'm working from home and my
> videoconferencing slows down because of someones gaming, I'm taking the
> necessary action (read, change some rules on my firewall).Â
>
> People are welcome to do whatever they want on their own networks. I just
> didn't get the suggestion that online gaming services would shut down. Or
> were you saying, Mike, that online gaming would crowd out other services
> and so "shut down" those other services?
>
> On Fri., Mar. 13, 2020, 21:42 Owen DeLong <owen () delong com> wrote:
> You don’t have kids, do you…
>
> They have the attention span off Koi these days. They’ll play most games
> for about 15 minutes or so before downloading the next one. (At least
> that’s been my observation of behavior among my GF’s daughter and her
> friends).
>
> Owen
>
>
> On Mar 13, 2020, at 20:31 , Darin Steffl <darin.steffl () mnwifi com > wrote:
>
> Playing games doesn't take much bandwidth. Downloading games does. So as
> long as everyone already has their games and there's no updates, playing
> the game is typically under 100 kbps which is negligible compared to
> streaming video which takes 1 to 25 mbps.Â
>
> On Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 8:52 PM Sabri Berisha <sabri () cluecentral net> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I don't know where y'all live, but here in the SF Bay Area, pretty much
> all public and private schools have closed down. My school district (in
> Santa Clara County) will be closed until Spring Break.
>
> The impact of all these bored school kids on the networks due to gaming
> might cause some issues. I know that if I'm working from home and my
> videoconferencing slows down because of someones gaming, I'm taking the
> necessary action (read, change some rules on my firewall).Â
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sabri
>
>
> ----- On Mar 13, 2020, at 4:12 PM, Hugo Slabbert <hugo () slabnet com> wrote:
> I think under circumstances like this, I could definitely see some of the
> online based games shutting services down.
>
> Â
> How so?
>
> Signed,
>
> Someone who works for an online gaming company and has heard nothing of
> this.
>
> --Â
> Hugo Slabbert       | email, xmpp/jabber: hugo () slabnet com
> pgp key: B178313EÂ  Â | also on Signal
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 13, 2020 at 2:52 PM Mike Bolitho <mikebolitho () gmail com>
> wrote:
> I think under circumstances like this, I could definitely see some of the
> online based games shutting services down.
>
> - Mike Bolitho
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 13, 2020 at 2:41 PM Ahmed Borno <amaged () gmail com> wrote:
> Its already happening in Italy, and now that schools are shutting down
> here as well, its going to get interesting:Â
>
> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-12/housebound-italian-kids-strain-network-with-fortnite-marathon
>
> The ultimate traffic test is coming, looking forward to hearing about it
> on this thread.
>
> Maybe its a good time to start a communication channel between content
> providers/gaming companies and ISPs/CDNs.
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 13, 2020 at 11:22 AM Rubens Kuhl <rubensk () gmail com> wrote:
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 12, 2020 at 3:46 PM g () 1337 io <lists () 1337 io> wrote:
> With talk of there being an involuntary statewide (WA) and then national
> quarantines (house arrest) for multiple weeks, has anyone put thought into
> the impacts of this on your networks if/when this comes to fruition?
>
> We're already pushing the limits with telecommuters / those that are WFH,
> but I can only imagine what things will look like with everyone stuck at
> home for any duration of time.
>
>
>
> People will turn to you and every other ISP hoping you keep them online.
> So besides demand issues, keeping your network up will be important to a
> whole lot of people.Â
>
>
> Rubens
> Â
>
> --

Clayton Zekelman
Managed Network Systems Inc. (MNSi)
3363 Tecumseh Rd. E
Windsor, Ontario
N8W 1H4

tel. 519-985-8410
fax. 519-985-8409