The United Kingdom has long put regulation of The Internet into government hands and, up to now, that hasn't worked out too badly.
But coming soon.....Internet Rationing?
Yeah, it made no sense to me until I read the article in a very much respected London newspaper:
Internet rationing needed as UK cannot keep up with demand - Telegraph
"Internet access may soon need to be rationed or restricted because the UK’s power supply and communications network cannot cope with consumers’ appetite for online video, the Royal Society will hear this week"
"The Internet is already consuming at least 8 per cent of Britain's power output, equivalent to the output of three nuclear power stations, and demand is soaring," Andrew Ellis, professor of optical communications at Aston University, told the Sunday Times. "
He said: "It is growing so fast, currently at an exponential rate, that, in theory, it could be using all the UK power generation by 2035. “We cannot make all that extra power, so we will have to restrict or reduce access, perhaps by metering consumers so they pay for what they use."
Laying extra cables to take more data is likely to lead to sharp rises in Internet access costs and also the amount of power needed, he said. New cables could quickly reach their limit too, at the current rate of demand.
Andrew Lord, head of optical access at BT, said: “It's the first time we have had to worry about optical fibres actually filling up.“We could expand the network by laying more cables but the economics of that do not work and it would increase power consumption."
He said one solution would be rationing, where Internet users including businesses and households would be charged for data usage. "New cables laid now could fill in a year or two of being installed, which is far too short," he said. "If we don't fix this then in 10 years time the Internet could have to cost more."
But it can't happen here..........of course not......
Right????
But coming soon.....Internet Rationing?
Yeah, it made no sense to me until I read the article in a very much respected London newspaper:
Internet rationing needed as UK cannot keep up with demand - Telegraph
"Internet access may soon need to be rationed or restricted because the UK’s power supply and communications network cannot cope with consumers’ appetite for online video, the Royal Society will hear this week"
"The Internet is already consuming at least 8 per cent of Britain's power output, equivalent to the output of three nuclear power stations, and demand is soaring," Andrew Ellis, professor of optical communications at Aston University, told the Sunday Times. "
He said: "It is growing so fast, currently at an exponential rate, that, in theory, it could be using all the UK power generation by 2035. “We cannot make all that extra power, so we will have to restrict or reduce access, perhaps by metering consumers so they pay for what they use."
Laying extra cables to take more data is likely to lead to sharp rises in Internet access costs and also the amount of power needed, he said. New cables could quickly reach their limit too, at the current rate of demand.
Andrew Lord, head of optical access at BT, said: “It's the first time we have had to worry about optical fibres actually filling up.“We could expand the network by laying more cables but the economics of that do not work and it would increase power consumption."
He said one solution would be rationing, where Internet users including businesses and households would be charged for data usage. "New cables laid now could fill in a year or two of being installed, which is far too short," he said. "If we don't fix this then in 10 years time the Internet could have to cost more."
But it can't happen here..........of course not......
Right????
