"What are your opinions re: adsl problems? Will adsl also have the U=B/N limitation...or I am mixed up on POTS wiring?"
ADSL doesn't have that problem per se, because, unlike a cable system, the POTS switching system is point to point; cable systems are "broadcast" systems, which is a very good model for cable TV, where one "message" is sent to many receivers, but not so good for the Internet, which wants to connect each receiver to a different message. ADSL will not be the problem once it is widely deployed; the problem then will be at the sources. Servers, switches and routers will have to be MUCH better than they are today, or the Internet will be as slow with ADSL as it can be with cable when many subscribers are logged on. But then, that is true for ANY high speed network, and is a problem which is being addressed already on the Internet. If you were to suddenly deploy ADSL overnight, though, it would be disappointing much of the time, as the Internet could not supply the data as fast as ADSL could transport it.
"Also with all the new high bandwidth technologies "coming out" how capable is the present or projected internet backbone to handle the flow?"
The present Internet backbone (from that I believe you mean the Internet as a whole; it really doesn't have a single "backbone" structure) is not up to the task of handling future high bandwidth technolgoies "at the edge" of the Internet (at the edge means between you and, say, the phone switch or cable site or wherever your connection is from home/office). I am sure that it will get better though. Since the Internet cannot even handle peak traffic loads NOW, with many users connected via dial up modems, there is quite a bit of attention being paid to the problem. Of course, there is disagreement about how to fix it, and the opinions expressed by different companies coincide with their products; that is, switch makers believe the problem will be solved with improved switches, router makers believe better routers are the answer, satellite proponents believe satellites are the answer, and so forth. No surprise there! I suspect that for a while, the Internet will lag bandwidth available at the edge; that is, performance at the edge will improve until the Internet cannot keep up, then the Internet will be souped up to meet the new demand, and the cycle will repeat. The Internet at this time is not paying for itself, so to speak, so it is unlikely that whomever IS paying for it will spend more than they have to. When the Internet starts turning big profits, that is when you will see big technologies applied rather quickly. Until then, growth will be a bit sporadic and will probably be hard to measure and especially, to predict.
At least, that is what I believe.
Larry |
