Superfast internet cafe

[empip]

Ultimate?

... said: "It would be possible to use the cafe's computers to download in less than 15 minutes a file the equivalent size of the DVD version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, with its 19,000 illustrations, 629 audio and video clips and 100,000 articles....

The cafe ---

..An internet cafe offering connections 50 times faster than typical broadband services has opened in Cornwall.
Computers at Goonhilly satellite station, on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, are connected to BT's global internet protocol network.
That means users can download data at speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps).
It is thought to be the first time such high speeds have been seen at a UK internet cafe.
The service will be free to visitors....

In the event that internet access becomes as quick as a local hard drive of today.
Will we then be held to ransome?
For example, industry standard software if not everything -- rental only?

 

[Softus]

In the event that internet access becomes as quick as a local hard drive of today.

Eh? So do you anticipate each Internet client computer having a dedicated server, in turn served by its own ultra high speed Internet connection...

 

[ninebob]

Domestic service at 24Mbps is already available: www.bethere.co.uk

100Mbps (as that cafe) surely less than a couple of years away for the home user?

Then I think there'll be a lengthy pause as most people's ethernet cards won't do more than 100Mbps.

Interesting point you raise though - do you mean that you think software will no longer be installed on user's machines, but streamed live from the server with perhaps a "per-use" charge?

 

[Softus]

Domestic service at 24Mbps is already available: www.bethere.co.uk

Will I really get 24 megs?

The actual bandwidth that you will receive is based on three factors: the length of the wire that connects your premises with the BT exchange, the quality of the copper, and signal interference from other users or devices. If the quality of the copper is perfect, and there is no line noise, you will receive 24 megs up to a kilometre from the exchange. If your line is two kilometres long then you can expect to receive up to 15 megs. Your bandwidth will decrease further as line length increases, and we do not offer our service if you are further than 5.5 kilometres from the exchange. While bandwidths are not guaranteed, we do offer the highest bandwidth available using ADSL2+ to your premises.

And at what contention ratio, one wonders?

100Mbps (as that cafe) surely less than a couple of years away for the home user?

Using what technology?

And why would such technology be better than a local drive, which already has a media transfer rate IRO 0.5 to 1Gb per second?

 

[empip]

In the event that internet access becomes as quick as a local hard drive of today.

Eh? So do you anticipate each Internet client computer having a dedicated server, in turn served by its own ultra high speed Internet connection...

Who knows what the future holds? Costs tumble .. performance increases.
I envisage perhaps software downloads paid for on a time basis - rented modules or some such thing. How many people buy M$ Office, then merely 'word process' or use Excel to simply produce lists or the odd one off graph? .....
Where there is a shilling to be made ...

 

[hermes]

Computers at Goonhilly satellite station, on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, are connected to BT's global internet protocol network.
That means users can download data at speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps).

I'll be down at Goonhilly in August, I'll give it a go.
Personally I'm waiting for the day when the downloads happen as soon as you think it!

 

[empip]

They do ... But only as soon as you think 'that was unwise' !

 

[ban-all-sheds]

"Honest, love, I couldn't help it - I didn't do it on purpose - I was just watching Wimbledon and Anna Kournikova was playing - that must be how those downloads got there"

 

[cambece]

kicking speeds like that around is hard...signal power would be limited to around 100 ft unless assisted by repeaters and/or switches...i think, if you were able to blast a full dvd in 15 minutes over the internet...idk thats so fast. even 10/100/1000 cards cant move that fast via internet due to end-user limits and broadband caps...ok now its just jibberish im speaking so i will leave it at, i dont think a cafe would offer that for free

Cambece

 

[hermes]

kicking speeds like that around is hard...signal power would be limited to around 100 ft unless assisted by repeaters and/or switches...i think, if you were able to blast a full dvd in 15 minutes over the internet...idk thats so fast. even 10/100/1000 cards cant move that fast via internet due to end-user limits and broadband caps...ok now its just jibberish im speaking so i will leave it at, i dont think a cafe would offer that for free

Cambece

But Goonhilly has a very up-market internet cafe. This is one of their 60 satellite dishes:

 

[johnny_t]

Nice pic. I have a funny feeling I used exactly that one on a company catalogue once, as I was too tight to pay out for stock photography.

I suspect that the internet delivery is not by satellite but, given that it is the main earth station for all international traffic, it will be connected to the main BT network by an enormous lump of fibre, if not positioned on the main fibre ring, which is where it will get its speed from.

There had been attempts to get domestic 'ultra-broadband' through wireless mesh networks up at around 28GHz, though they had trouble getting the price down to an acceptable level for the consumer units (I designed the waveguide filters, if anyone's interested and/or still listening and made them suitable for pressure die-casting).

Possible way to go for future as an in-between stage is satellite downlink but continuing to use telephone uplink, as receiving equipment is relatively cheap to mass-produce, but transmitting equipment is super-expensive...