IP Democracy: Symmetrical P2P Drives Demand on Asymmetrical Networks

Reuters reports that “[a]bout 60 percent of the Internet’s total bandwidth consists of P2P traffic, according to [a] CacheLogic study, while Om Malik estimates that “[d]ue to P2P’s symmetrical nature on average 80% of upstream capacity is consumed by P2P.” Om concludes that “P2P is driving consumer broadband demand…and broadband is driving P2P uptake,” but that “[i]n the long term…P2P traffic if not managed properly is going to become a big problem.”

And while Om suggests that “[broadband] service providers have little or no reason to block P2P traffic in the near term, because it drives growth,” the dominance of relatively symmetrical P2P traffic—and the prospect that it will grow dramatically in the future—stands in painful contrast to the asymmetrical nature of today’s residential broadband networks.

For example, a review of download and upload speed-test data at broadbandreports.com indicates that cable operator’s upload speeds are only 10-20% of download speeds, and closer to 10% for most operators, with none faster than 800kbps and most below 400kbps. Though DSL networks are less asymmetrical, this reflects the fact that their download speeds are about half those of cable network, while their upload speeds are roughly comparable.

Posted by Mitch Shapiro on August 30, 2005 3:44 PM to IP Democracy