Netflix Largest Source of NA Downstream Traffic
Netflix and BitTorrent are two applications that use the most bandwidth according to a recent report.
A new report provided by Sandvine reveals Netflix to be the single largest source of peak downstream Internet traffic in the United States, surpassing YouTube, BitTorrent, iTunes and even Facebook. Out of the top ten applications that account for 84.5-percent of America's downstream traffic, Netflix consumes 29.70-percent, up from 21-percent seen last fall, the report claims.
Naturally the numbers will only progressively get worse, as Netflix can now be accessed through web-enabled HDTVs and Blu-ray players, the three gaming consoles (Wii, PS3, X360), iOS devices and now a handful of Android devices. Netflix is also slated to arrive on the Nintendo 3DS and will likely be integrated into Nintendo's upcoming Project Cafe console and Sony's NGP handheld.
But for now, Netflix is consuming more downstream traffic than HTTP websites which only accounts for a meager 18.36-percent. YouTube's 11.04-percent command of the downstream traffic is surprisingly meager and actually higher than BitTorrent's 10.37-percent. Facebook is towards the bottom of the top ten, consuming 1.91-percent while dominating Hulu's meager 1.09-percent. Surprisingly, BitTorrent downloads only use 10.37-percent but dominates the chart with a hefty 52.01-percent in upstream Internet traffic.
On a whole, Real-Time Entertainment – the term used to encompass services like video and music streaming – accounted for 49.2-percent of downstream traffic in March, 2011. P2P file sharing came in a distant second with 18.8-percent followed by actual web browsing at 16.6-percent. Real-time communications and "bulk entertainment" barely registered on the radar while social networking, gaming and secure tunneling had 9.7-percent of the downstream traffic combined.
In the case of Netflix, CEO Reed Hastings predicted that the numbers would reach this level over ten years ago when he initially started planning for the video streaming service. Thanks to Moore's Law and improvements in bandwidth technology which could be plotted over the years, he saw that homes would have 14 Mb/s connections by 2012. Now he claims that by 2021, every home in America will have a gigabit broadband connection.
As for BitTorrent, it's no wonder why the RIAA, MPAA and other entities are trying to strike fear into the hearts of file-sharers. 52.01-percent in upstream Internet traffic is a huge number, indicating that there are a lot of users uploading video, audio, software and additional digital media to other torrent users. Between BitTorrent and Netflix, it's understandable why ISPs are wanting to throttle traffic or resort to tiered plans.
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It doesn't matter how fast of a connection you have if ISPs have hard caps in place like they do now. Your Netflix bill is going up very soon when backbone providers start charging ISPs for all the bandwidth they are sucking up. L3 going after Comcast due to Netflix traffic is just the beginning.
ISPs just improve your crappy networks already! It's like AT&T with the iPhone. It was obvious the iPhone was going to burn through bandwidth, yet AT&T did absolutely nothing about it. Now 4 years later AT&T has finally realized that maybe improving the network might be a good idea before you lose tons of customers to your rival. It's not like the improved networks will be ground-breaking, Europe has had lightning-fast speeds for years! But it all boils down to ISPs being greedy and not wanting to improve their infrastructure until people have had enough and demand faster speeds and no bandwidth caps.
Is throttling the internet really that understandable? I guess so when you refuse to upgrade the network.
And yet all it would take is a simple upgrade to the networks to allow this to not be a problem. But no, the ISP companies would rather spend billions buying other companies instead of improving their own!
But, but, but....web infrastructure updates = less money in greedy, corrupt hands...we can't have that now can we???
We must institute data caps! Raise our rates! And lobby congress for more tax breaks/maintenance bonds! That way we can keep our bottom line up. How dare you expect us to actually invest in our own services.
/sarcasm before people flame lol
I love Netflix, I watch it all the time. I almost never watch cable TV anymore. If you have a Roku box it is possible to record what you are watching to DVD like this...
http://www.tech-adventures.com/201 [...] o-dvd.html
"and even Facebook" your kidding right? Is the author of this worthless article just grabbing at straws for content?
OH, and guys... it's not that easy for them to upgrade their networks. The FCC is in the way most of the time, and its not easy digging a 15 foot deep trench across the country in order to lay new/more fiber.....
Death to data caps!!!
The REAL DIRTY SECRET is the PRICE YOU WILL PAY TO HAVE such very high speed connections as well.
Considering the economic situation facing most Americans today ( and things don't look like they are going to improve anytime in the near future) I'll be surprised if too many households will have the money for basic cable or phone service, they sure as heck ain't gunna have the cash for most premium speed broadband connections, period.
As usual big business is DREAMING big, hoping to pull the wool over shareholders eyes.
here is the thing.
most Europe countries are small, like the size of texas small, and have less people than texas to boot
laying a fiber line for them is cheap.
now, for america, laying a fiber line costs FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR more than them.
realy the only places i ever expect to see a fiber line are million + urban areas, in rural areas i dont expect to ever see great internet.
thats why i'm thankful for having a 4mb down speed and a 300kb up stream, faster than most city lines. granted i pay 80+ for it but it gets the job done with not enforced cap
Yeah...work more for free, that's what we should all do. I'm sure those of you calling for ISP to upgrade their infrastructure for free are also willing to work overtime for free to improve your own marketability.
Few consumers ever get what they pay for when it comes to internet speed. At least the FCC was trying to keep ISPs honest but I am sure it will again be business as usual to offer less than promised bandwidth! :-P
@ robochamp:
EXACTLY! You hit the nail on the head!
I wonder how many customers of the major providers actually get the advertised speeds they pay for (on a consistent basis ) ? My guess is almost NEVER!!!!!
I think this is probably one of the biggest ripoffs in telecommunications history!
Yeah considering most customers haven't actually received the speed they pay for these companies need to take away the excessive pay for the CEOs and improve their networks so they can stop stealing from their customers!
What I don't understand is why don't they come up with a way when they are putting in these network lines to make them easily upgradeable. It doesn't take a genius to know that rather than putting a line straight in the ground, why don't they put it in a tube and save themselves some serious bucks when they have to upgrade the line in another 5 years. A few years ago in the area I live in they put in a fiber line straight in the ground (yes the people in my area didn't get dsl until a few years ago) and it left me wondering "why did they do that when it's going to need an upgrade in 5-10 years?"
The great thing about fiber optics is that we can keep on pushing more and more data.. Its the gift that keeps on giving. How ever.. ISP's need to have the equipment on both ends up to date. Not our fault they can't handle the traffic because they are to lazy to upgrade.
"Between BitTorrent and Netflix, it's understandable why ISPs are wanting to throttle traffic or resort to tiered plans."
What.... the... #*@%!!!!!
And that marks the end of my support for THW....
This is only going to help the Canadian "ISPs" (more like oligarchs) push for Usage-based billing and stricter caps. I already am capped at 100GB/month which is nothing. They'll want to restrict me more.
They already use tiered plans. I get a "25 Mbit" connection. That's a tier. Over a month, that works out to a theoretical cap of 8.6 terabytes. That's a cap. Just one that I'll never reach.
Which brings me to my complaint of the day. If I'm paying for 25 Mbit, then give me 25 Mbit. Always. Unless the host can't dish out content fast enough, I want my 25 Mbit. If it's impossible to guarantee me 25 Mbit all the time, then don't call it 25 Mbit. I don't care how fast it can theoretically go if nobody else is using it, I care about how fast it is when everyone is using it, because that's what it will likely be when I'm using it. If it's actually just 2.5 Mbit when under full load, then tell me that.
Also, I'm pretty sure that 52% isn't a number, it's a percentage. It's a large percentage, but a small number. Torrenting requires a lot of upload bandwidth from a small number of people, regular web usage requires a small bit of upload bandwidth from a large number of people. Is it any surprise that the two take about the same amount? Downloading one 4 gig HD movie = 4+ gigs worth of uploads from other people, which works out to a lot of Tweets, Google searches, Facebook minigames, and the occasional audio/video/photo attachment.
So in short, no. It doesn't mean that a lot of users are uploading content. Just that the content is very big.
Finally, I'm calling BS on most people having Gigabit by 2021. You know what my peak download bandwidth was in 2001? About 16 Mbit. You know what it is now? About 24 Mbit. I'll be happy if I break 100 Mbit by 2021.
@ robochamp:EXACTLY! You hit the nail on the head!I wonder how many customers of the major providers actually get the advertised speeds they pay for (on a consistent basis ) ? My guess is almost NEVER!!!!!I think this is probably one of the biggest ripoffs in telecommunications history!Yeah considering most customers haven't actually received the speed they pay for these companies need to take away the excessive pay for the CEOs and improve their networks so they can stop stealing from their customers!
While I agree with most of the woes I have read here. I would like to point out that not getting rated speed is not as universal as you claim. I get a full 30mb down and 5mb up 99% of the time. I would say 100% of the time, but most would consider that unrealistic.
Alas, it is my experience. I have never had an internet provider that didnt provide me the speeds they claimed on a higher than 90% basis. For the record, I am avid about checking my speed. I do so multiple times per day. Perhaps myself and my small group of friends are lucky, if so...im perfectly ok with that. lol
I usually got the advertised speeds from my last 3, ISPs, BellSouth, Adelphia, and Windstream, and when I didn't I usually just need to reboot something.
I doubt most user's would ever notice the difference though.
True, the numbers will just get worse.