As internet service providers race to offer faster speeds, a new area of competition is underway. Initially, the race was to provide the fastest download and upload speeds. Recently, however the speed race has outpaced the abilities of users’ hardware. This has created a new variable for the internet service providers. The bandwidth cap is rapidly becoming the new battlegrounds where these companies will be forced to compete.
There are market cost limitations on monthly bandwidth. While users may feel that there is a global conspiracy preventing them from getting their desired monthly bandwidth caps at a reasonable cost, in reality there are massive hardware costs involved in getting data to your computer at speeds that most consumers now feel entitled to. On the bright side, though, prices are generally determined by the amount a consumer is willing to pay for a product. Currently, the costs advertised by most internet service providers meet the needs of consumers. However, a change in user behavior looms on the horizon. This inevitability threatens the present comfortable footing on which service providers build their business models. The normal consumer will some time soon want to see high definition television content on their PCs. This will be the death knell of television as we know it.
While cable companies might have a vested interest in forestalling the inevitable by limiting monthly bandwidth, they will be unable to force this price control on the market indefinitely. Wireless internet will soon be available nearly everywhere at blinding speeds. This will make it impossible for this media transition to be prevented by any corporate interest.
This means great things for the consumer. As companies start to boast that they provide more bandwidth for your money, these caps will increase very quickly due to market pressure. Companies that offer hardware to internet service providers will need to lower their prices in turn. This is just the way of the world.
With all of the various ways to transfer data, there will be a huge focus on quality. For the consumer who wants to view high quality content, this will mean a dramatic improvement on the current online experience. High quality content naturally comes with higher bandwidth demands.
Higher bandwidth limits will also affecthave an impact on the quality of content made. Most current media files are compressed to meet bandwidth limits. When it becomes possible to send more data faster, these limitations will melt away. This might lead to new advancements in music storage software. Why not use large music files if they can be transferred very quickly? The same goes for video files and any other content that people may attempt to share online. If distributers can deliver bigger files, then movie files will be available with increased quality. Over time this will permit for serious growth in the quality of audio and video files.
Online games will benefit from this boom too. As data transfer rates explode, you can count on game developers to take full advantage of all the newly available bandwidth. Online games may never need to use as much bandwidth as streaming video or music, but it would be a mistake to ignore the demands of the online gaming market.
There is a bright future for online content. While some whine about the current bandwidth caps, the future holds a race between providers to deliver the increased bandwidth at lower costs. In the long run, this will mean great things for the consumers of high quality online content.
Geek Choice understands that consumers enjoy high quality video and audio. As a nationwide computer repair company, we work very hard to help people enjoy the experience with their computers. If you are having problems with your media center PC, call our office at 1-800-GEEK HELP (433-5435).
Tags: bandwidth, cable, dsl, fiber, fiber optics, fios, Internet