Will World Cup Streaming Cause Internet Meltdown?

MetaNick writes "It seems with every worldwide sporting event, e.g., Olympics, World Cup, we hear warnings of a "meltdown" as more and more broadband users attempt to stream video of the event to their browsers. And such predictions have just begun for the World Cup just getting underway: World Cup streaming to cause network meltdown, World Cup by broadband endangers networks. Has this ever really happened? Will it happen with this the World Cup just getting underway? I tend to doubt it. I looked for articles discussing how predictions of meltdowns did NOT come to pass, but I couldn't find any."

Comments

Nope

[ToyImp]

I don't see anything like this happening for a long time. Television is still widely used. Only thing people watch that is streamed over the net is... well use your imagination.. And its not barney..

Re:Nope

[RonnyJ]

The difference here is that many of these games will be on at 2pm, when many people are at work with no television. The World Cup is hugely popular, and I am sure there will be a huge amount of demand for watching the BBC live streams.

Of course, the internet won't 'melt down', but this will surely be the biggest test for the BBC's live video streaming abilities so far.

Misleading titles

[kjones692]

If the submitter had bothered to RTFA (I know, I know, "You must be new here") he would see that these articles are about local networks being brought down by lots of users trying to stream World Cup footage at the same, not an "Internet meltdown".

Whether such a meltdown is even possible is another question entirely, but one not covered by these articles.

soccer (football) != porn

[MrSquirrel]

if porn doesn't choke the internet, no sport ever will!

Re:I propose a meltdown test...

[McGiraf]

ahem* "Football".

Well they play with a ball , using their foot, therefore: Football. Why the quotes and the ahem*?

Re:Common Sense

[Spad]

People who like to drum up a bit of publicity for themselves by fearmongering every time anything happens that might result in a bit more net traffic than usual.

Personally, I'll be watching all the 2pm-kickoff matches from work courtesy of the BBC and I suspect that somehow both the NHS.net connection and the BBC site will stand up to the strain.

Re:Errr QWZX

[rovingeyes]

Funny, actually most of the world knows World Cup but not many know super bowl or world series. By the way you do realize that "world" in world series is a cruel joke right? oh well...

Re:Common Sense

[nmb3000]

No. Who asks these questions anyways?

Alarmist news sells. Whether it be about cars, credit cards, or global warming, news sources try to make it as sensational and alarming as possible because it gets the ratings/hits and ad/commercial views.

What sounds more interesting?

Online coverage of World Cup predicted to cause increase in bandwidth usage across the globe.

or

OMG! The "other" football is going to make teh Interweb MELT! Run for the hills! Details at 10.

Re:No

[Fatchap]

Becuase America is the only place that has this "Internet" right?

Re:I propose a meltdown test...

[trashbat]

Well they play with a ball , using their foot, therefore: Football. Why the quotes and the ahem*?

Could be because the term "football" would probably be interpreted as what Brits call "American football" by the majority of AOLers.

Re:Errr QWZX

[digithed]

I know you're only a troll. But anyway the the World Cup Final is the single biggest sporting event in the World period. It dwarfs the so called World Series in baseball and the Super Bowl and any of the individual Olympic events. It also happens to be a sporting event that actually deserves the word "World" in it's title unlike the World Series in baseball which as far as I can tell is contested between teams from USA and Canada exclusively and the Super Bowl where the winners are crowned as World champions (what a joke!)

Not even close to a meltdown this time

[Araxen]

99% of the USA doesn't even care(free's up a ton of bandwith) about the World Cup of Soccer so I highly doubt the Internet is suddenly going to implode.

Re:Not even close to a meltdown this time

[jrumney]

99% of the USA doesn't even care

Which is sad really, considering your team is currently ranked 5th in the world by FIFA. Instead you go mad over "world series" of games that noone else plays.

Re:Common Sense

[flooey]

No. Who asks these questions anyways?

Well, considering the only guy quoted by both articles is a manager for a company that sells packet shaping systems...

Re:Errr QWZX

[screamingPants]

Don't worry; yes, he's only a troll but his words belie the typical insecurity that Americans have about their place in the world. They have their own sports like Baseball and "Foot"ball (that nobody else plays) because they have to be different from the rest of the world to re-inforce their "we are the best" image.

It's the same as their silly "spelling", their insistence on the absurd "system" for measurements, (distances, weights, volume...) and their absolutely braindead un-democratic governmental system, which has shown itself to be a farce.

BUT BUT BUT

There is a HUGE number of very well-educated, free-thinking, pro-choice, pragmatic and worldly people in the USA too, and they are the ones who suffer thanks to the behaviour of their asshole politicians and moronic christian-right idiots.

And for those who are interested, "Soccer" has more players that any other sport in the US, and its popularity is climbing rapidly. If it were true that 99% of Americans "don't care about the World Cup", why on >earth would ABC and ESPN be showing every game in HDTV? Why are the games being shown on at least three channels simultaneously? I think it'd be fair to say in reverse that the rest of the world couldn't give a shit about the "World" Series or the "Super" Bowl, two sporting events that are pretty sad and self-important.

Troll.

"world" series a cruel joke?

[Anonymous Coward]

World isn't just 2 countries huh?

Re:No

[colin_daly]

yeah why is it called the "World Cup" anyways I mean its not a truly international event like ... the "World Series"

Re:Common Sense

[Nasheer]

"People who like to drum up a bit of publicity for themselves by fearmongering every time anything happens that might result in a bit more net traffic than usual."

One should not believe it is bandwidth-related only. I bet you all still remember the chaos and panic the media reported about the Y2K bug. It's all about doom, plain and simple, no matter what it is about.

Asteroids that may collide and extinguish life on Earth, a computer bug that will throw us all back to the middle ages, a World Cup that will cause a "meltdown" (SIC) and render all communication in the world broken.

Doomsayers. And, why oh why, "doomsaying" reflects in AUDIENCE.

Re:Errr QWZX

[presarioD]

I think it'd be fair to say in reverse that the rest of the world couldn't give a shit about the "World" Series or the "Super" Bowl, two sporting events that are pretty sad and self-important.

Basically I think americans still need a couple of light-years before they comprehend that there can be a sport that teams can actually tie up, and there is no winner, leader, best team, Fuhrer to venerate and buy T-shirts from... It kind of damages their prepackaged perception of the importance of leadership and winning all the time, under any circumstances, no matter what, if you want to be somebody in life, and preferably under spectacular circumstances...