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Will World Cup Streaming Cause Internet Meltdown?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the cry-wolf-phenomenon dept.

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."

4 of 312 comments (clear)

  1. Unlikely by David+Horn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think the closest we've been to an internet meltdown is the July 7th bombings in London.

    The BBC's website was practically unusable and as far as I know they limited streaming video to UK citizens. I find it doubtful that the BBC feels they have sufficient capacity to knock out internet across the whole country.

    What do I know, anyway? I can't stand bloody football!

    --
    PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
    1. Re:Unlikely by Scorchio · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Reminds me of an idle Tuesday afternoon (UK time) back in September 2001, when yet another refresh of the /. homepage brought up a curious story about a plane in the side of a building. First thoughts were "some kind of silly advertising stunt with a giant inflatable?", but the unbelievable summary suggested otherwise. Slashdot was taking forever to load the story, so I tried BBC news... and then Sky news, then CNN, and several other news sites, finding that they were all extremely slow. Finally, we tracked down a tv set in the office and learned the full extent of the events occurring in NY. That's as close to a meltdown as I've seen, although that's probably more those particular news sites being swamped, rather than the entire net grinding to a halt.

      As popular as football is, I doubt that you'll get that many people all hammering the internet simultaneously to create a full meltdown.

  2. This really scares me... by knardi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This reminds me of the "power crisis" in California 7 or 8 years ago in which hundreds of power companies agreed to simulate brownouts in order to effectively hold energy to ransom, and raise energy prices to the insane amount that they are at today in California. Of course, many power companies went bankrupt in the resulting aftermath of legislation, but the big ones survived and profit from the scandal to this day.

    What if these predictions are meant to set up a huge telecommunications breakdown on the day of the World Cup? Then AT&T and the Bells, et al., all simulate 100% traffic simulation on their networks, and "crash" their systems. Then they can say, "I told you so. Vote no on Net Neutrality so that the Internet keeps working," and effectively hold the Internet up for ransom. They may lose money in the short term, but they'd gain complete oligarchical control over the Internet.

    The possibility really does scare me.

  3. Re:Misleading titles by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Every company I've ever worked for has shipped in a TV for events like this.

    It comes down to:

    1. Lose 2 hours of work when half the office watches the match on TV
    2. Lose 8 hours of work when half the office call in sick to watch the match in the pub/at home
    3. Lose your entire internet connection when half the office streams it from the BBC.

    (1) is the better option really.