Every so often, when I am blessed with a
mandatory upgrade to my service plan or, happen to get struck with a sudden
bout of boredom, I feel the need to check my internet speed to make sure that I’m
not getting robbed by my ISP. I inevitably discover that I am not quite getting
the 12mbs promised (more like 4) and, through a bout of intense rage, end up
slamming my laptop screen shut and then, for obvious reasons, begin to immediately regret it.
My most recent journey along this never ending
cycle has, however, got me thinking about just how much has changed since I was
first introduced to the net (in 1998). Suddenly it dawned on me that less than
the internet itself, it is the speed in which I am now able to access data that
has dramatically changed my life (and the world at large).
In the early 90’s, before the advent of the xbox
or playstation, The majority of gaming (though game consoles still existed) was
done on the pc (or mac). Back then the average internet speed, primarily
supplied by a dialup connection (anybody remember that!) was a lot (A LOT!!)
slower than the speeds of today. In those days, in order to “play” with friends
you had to set up physical connections between machines (called a LAN party).
Gaming today however, is a completely different
beast with every major release (whether it makes sense or not) incorporating
some sort of feature that requires (fast) connectivity. Internet speed is
especially critical in the fast paced world of
multiplayer first person shooters where the slightest bit of lag
(internet slowdown) can mean the difference between life and death.
It has gotten to the point where there now exists
mobile games that cannot be played without a connection to the internet. These
games rely on the fact that the majority of us (even in many third world
countries) have phones that are constantly connected, whether through 3g or 4g,
to the internet. This is something that was simply unfathomable of just a
decade ago.
The concept of the phone call is quickly becoming
head scratcher to youngest of us and, when you consider the options (when it
comes to communication), it is not too difficult to figure out why. Why spend
your money on a phone call (worse overseas) when there are a plethora of free
services available that enable users to perform the exact same task (and
sometimes better). VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) services has allowed
users to take advantage of blazing fast internet speeds to communicate with
friends and family (and maybe acquaintances) over the web (free of cost).
Services such as Skype, Google Hangouts,
and Fring has not only allowed users to do just that but, also come with the
choice of making Video Calls.
The recent boom in internet speed as even changed
how we approach our chosen profession. Many of us, including myself, are now
fully reliant on having a constant and speedy connection to the web in order to
be effective at what we do. Many people, on
a daily basis, take advantage of online services such as Google Docs,
Dropbox, Evernote and Microsoft Skydrive, all of which require constant high speed
connectivity to be usable. Most of these services would have been inconceivable
even eight years ago.
Even Big business has been transformed due to the
constant pressure gain the slightest edge over the competition. A smart man
once said “He who rejects change is the architect of decay” and, in the modern
business landscape, change is swift and unforgiving. In an effort to keep up
with these new rapidly shifting markets, business have implemented a multitude
of information systems in an attempt to cope with the gargantuan onslaught of
data bombarding their servers on a daily basis.
These businesses have no choice but to implement
infrastructure (like fibre optic cables) that are capable of sending huge
amounts (sometimes Petabytes) of data to both local and foreign offices. With
current bandwidth speeds now in the terabytes (for fibre optic) this data can
still take days or months to be transferred.
All in all it is clear that we are living in a
remarkable era but, as bandwidth speeds begin to approach warp speeds, there is no telling what the
future has in store for us.
Author: Rashin Sundaran
I am a Blogger and E.H.Interested in all tech works like Web Designing, Blogging Creating, Seo Works, Security Works And soon
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