As internet service providers race to offer comsumers faster speeds, a new area of competition is underway. At first, there was a race to provide internet service at the fastest possible speed. Recently, however the speed race has outstriped the abilities of consumers hardware. This has created a new variable for internet service providers. The bandwidth cap is rapidly becoming the new battlegrounds over which companies will compete.
There are cost limitations on the amount of bandwidth a consumer may use in a month. While users may sometimes feel that there is a global conspiracy preventing them from getting the bandwidth they want at a reasonable price, there are massive hardware costs involved in getting data to your computer at any reasonable speed. However, prices are generally determined by the amount a consumer is willing to spend on a product. As it stands, the costs offered by most internet service providers are satisfactory. However, one change in consumer behavior looms on the horizon. This inevitability threatens to annihilate the present comfortable foundation on which service providers build their business models. The normal consumer will in the near future want to watch high definition television content on their PC. This will spell the end of television as we know it.
While cable companies undoubtedly have an interest in forestalling the inevitable by limiting monthly bandwidth, they will be unable to force this price control on the market forever. Wireless internet is being made available nearly everywhere at lightning fast speeds. This will make it nearly impossible for this media transition to be prevented by any corporate interest.
This is wonderful news for the consumer. As companies start to advertise that you get more bandwidth for your money, these caps will go up rapidly. Companies that sell hardware to internet service providers will have to lower their prices as well. This is of course simply how the market works.
With all of the various ways to transfer data, there must be a huge focus on quality. For the consumer who likes to view high quality videos, this will mean a dramatic improvement on the current online experience. High quality content leads to higher bandwidth demands.
Bandwidth limits will also have an affect on the quality of content produced. For example, most current media files are compressed to meet bandwidth limitations. If it s possible to transfer more data at faster speeds, these limitations would disappear. This may result in new advancements in music recording software. Why not increase the size of music files if they can be transferred very quickly? It s the same for video files and any other content that people may attempt to share online. If a content provider can deliver bigger files, then movie files would be available in increased quality. Over time this will allow for serious growth in the quality of audio and video files.
Online games will participate in this expansion as well. As data transfer rates go through the roof, you can expect game developers to take full advantage of the extra bandwidth. Online games may never tie up 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 an exciting future for online content. While many may whine about the current bandwidth caps, the future holds an all out race between providers to deliver the best value for the money. In the end, this will be a win for the fans of high quality online content.
Geek Choice understands that everyone enjoys high quality media. As a nationwide computer repair company, we work very hard to help people enjoy their computers. If you are having problems with your media center PC, call our office at 1 800 GEEK HELP (433 5435).
Author Resource:
Gregg Housh holds the position of Technician Manager at Geek Choice. At Geek Choice we solve computer problems such as: Slow computer, Virus Removal, Spyware Removal, Computer startup problems, and much more.
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