Snail Mail Still Winning The Bandwidth War

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Snail Mail Still Winning The Bandwidth War

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Monday September 23, 2002 @08:18AM from the first-mover-advantage dept.

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.)"

9 of 257 comments (clear)

LAG! by Tyler+Eaves · 2002-09-23 08:20 · Score: 5, Funny

Lag's a bitch though.

Not millisecond.
Not second.
Not minute.
Not hour.

Lag measured in DAYS.

Hell, even carrier pidgeon is probably faster ;)

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TODO: Something witty here...
Next they're going to tell me by keep_it_simple_stupi · 2002-09-23 08:22 · Score: 5, Funny

that I could send a couch via FedEx easier than I could over the internet? These people are just plain nuts.

Oh wait...
Really old quote by RocketJeff · 2002-09-23 08:22 · Score: 5, Funny

"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes" - SysAdmin humor
1. Re:Really old quote by Soko · 2002-09-23 08:50 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Here's the low latency patch for that, by the way. Might bring down the ping times. ;-)
  
  Soko
  
  --
  "Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
Re:Disclaimer by phriedom · 2002-09-23 08:43 · Score: 5, Funny

You only think you don't work for the Illuminati. ;-)

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Just imagine how fast snail mail would be... by Quixadhal · 2002-09-23 08:49 · Score: 5, Funny

...if you didn't have to share bandwidth with all those spammers.
Re:Streaming? by Waffle+Iron · 2002-09-23 08:52 · Score: 5, Funny

You can't stream the mail.
Streaming snail mail doesn't work for DVDs, but you can get it to work for VHS.
The trick is to pull one end of the tape out of the cartridge, then glue it to a post card. Drop the postcard in the mail and leave the rest of the tape next to the mailbox.
Now, as the head end of the tape makes its way through the postal system, it automatically despools the rest of the tape which streams along behind it.
As soon as the head end of the tape arrives, the customer inserts it into in an empty cartridge and starts to play it . As the VCR plays, it sucks the remainder of the tape out of the postal system at the appropriate speed.
Re:Pretty good security too... by Space+Coyote · 2002-09-23 09:10 · Score: 5, Funny

Just think, there was a virus attack on the USPS network last fall, and it was front page news for months, even though it only infected a handful of network nodes.

Meanwhile Klez keeps popping up in my Inbox again and again..

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Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
Re:-1 redundant by EnderWiggnz · 2002-09-23 09:46 · Score: 5, Funny

never underestimate all your base in a beowulf cluster of hot grits down natalie portmans pants! ...

profit!

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... hi bingo ...