Has anyone actually noticed any increases in residential
broadband traffic due to Halo 2?
- ferg
http://news.com.com/Does%20the%20Halo%202%20effect%20threaten%20broadband/2100-1034_3-5481727.html
Heya,
Has anyone actually noticed any increases in residential
broadband traffic due to Halo 2?http://news.com.com/Does%20the%20Halo%202%20effect%20threaten%20broadband/2100-1034_3-5481727.html
Here's a really useless datapoint for you 
We have about 12,000 students in our dorms. Because we force students to
register their computers via the Web and the XBox/PS2's don't appear to have
web browsers, we have somewhat of a handle on who many are in use on campus.
We've generally average about four or five new XBox/PS2's per month over
the past year but we registered 12 in November (all were on or after 11/9).
We're also tracking down another five to ten hosts that we believe are also
XBox/PS2s. There were three more registered so far in December. Obviously,
this doesn't include any gaming systems that sit behind NAT-boxes.
Overall, we typically move around 190/230bbps inbound/outbound from our campus
and we've seen no real noticable change in our bandwidth. We do have a few
peer-to-peer limiters in the network, so its also possible that the gaming
systems are being caught in there.
Eric
I doubt Halo 2 would show anything on most stats as its relatively low
bandwidth.
However, Half-Life 2 I believe did for some larger residential operators.
Many moons ago when Doom 2 was released we busied out modems so we could
get more bandwidth over to the US to get it downloaded quicker though.
Pizza Hut and Doom Deathmatches on the LAN 
Regards,
Neil.
[Transit capacity was 256kb/sec [yes k]
Overall, we typically move around 190/230bbps inbound/outbound from our campus
Oops.. that should read 190/230Mbps...
Eric
In addition, there were (until Halo 2 came out) large numbers of users playing Halo 1 on mac/windows/xbox. Halo 2 is xbox only, and Halo one traffic has dropped off. If anything, I would guess there is less related traffic rather then more.
This is my professional opinion as a mac Halo 1 participant 
-Tom
This is lost in the noise of P2P traffic, which is the big bandwidth
eater by far.
I note that the story is essentially based around statements made by
Sandvine. They aren't saying that the amount of broadband traffic is
going to increase significantly because of online gaming; they're saying
that broadband networks need to prioritize and QoS traffic from gamers,
as more people game online.
And oddly enough, Sandvine offers a box that does this! They're
jumping on the press coverage of Halo 2 to try and raise awareness of
their product line. Not that what's being said doesn't have merit, but
it's definately a PR push, and definately not a "End of the net
predicted, film at 11" moment.
Bob
Hi Paul:
The article you mention is similar to one at the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk./2/hi/technology/4079397.stm
The source cited in both articles is the same: Sandvine.
These guys are not unbiased. They make bandwidth-limiting devices.
They proffer their boxes to cable/dsl operators that are trying to
avoid spending money on needed infrastructure improvements.
(Why provide good service, when you can take the same money and try to buy Disney...)
Bob Snyder wrote:
And oddly enough, Sandvine offers a box that does this!
jumping on the press coverage of Halo 2 to try and raise awareness of
their product line. Not that what's being said doesn't have merit, but
it's definately a PR push, and definately not a "End of the net
predicted, film at 11" moment.
To quote Daniel Golding from a few months ago, one of my favourite ones:
It has become trendy, in some circles, to lament the Internet's poor
performance/congestion/non-deterministic nature/lack of security/<insert
issue here>. After firmly denouncing the Internet, the company or individual
then touts their product, which will fix/replace/augment the Internet.
It's somewhat longer road without making the tabloid headlines, but I'd be happy to introduce interested parties to solutions we feel are elegant and seamlessly fit operational practises of ISPs.
Pete