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Snail Mail Still Winning The Bandwidth War

LR_none writes "Today's New York Times has this short piece suggesting snail mail is the leading broadband technology, at least for video movies on demand. The article states that the 8 to 9 gigs of data on a DVD would take two weeks to download at 56kb, making Netflix' three-day distribution by mail seem speedy. (Since they can send three or more movies at once, Netflix compares favorably with DSL download speeds, too.) The author estimates Netflix alone distributes 1,500 terabytes a day, which is impressive considering the Internet carries 2,000TB a day (by estimates cited in the article). The 'immediate gratification' aspect of Internet consumerism has given a huge boost to companies like FedEx and UPS, but it's surprising to think of the post office as being the leading infrastructure provider for digital entertainment, in terms of market share and efficiency, for the forseeable future. (Disclaimer: I don't work for Netflix or the post office.)"

3 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. Must be a slow day. by jellomizer · · Score: 2, Flamebait

    Well Duh. of course you can ship huge amount of information faster by Mail then via Digital resorces. If you want I can transfer you 90 TerraBytes of information in one day via FexEx. Or lets say every molicule in a piece of paper is considered information there you have it I have sent more data. Mailing information is a 3d way of shiping and storage and in our 3d perceved world it is the best way to move data compared to the 1d Internet. Of course if you are shipping small amounts of information then Internet will win.

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    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  2. Re:Do the math: 1 GB == 56 hours by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    56 hours of dialup time equals about 2-3 weeks of "real time". You have to take into account how shitty dialup really is. Plus you'd be hard pressed to test a whole heck of a lot of modems around the US and get them all saying 56k. A lot of places only connect 28k

  3. Re:Netflix is great, but... by Ominous+Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    No, it's Worcester, MA. Go look it up.

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    Ceci n'est pas une sig.