Broadband Speeds Drop by 35% In the Evenings

According to comparison site uSwitch, UK broadband speeds drop by an average of 35% from their off-peak highs during the evenings when most people go online.

The report said that peak surf times were between 7pm and 9pm, meaning that was the slowest time to be online.  It went on to say that the best time to be online was between 2am and 3am.

There were also huge regional variations between evening and early morning surfing times.  Users in Evesham, Worcestershire, fared worst, according to the survey, with a massive 69% drop-off between off-peak morning and evening surfing.

Broadband speed is becoming more important as bandwidth-hungry services such as on-demand TV become more popular.  Telecoms regulator Ofcom recently revealed that British households download an average of 17 gigabytes of data every month over their home broadband connections.

Critics say consumers are being misled by internet service providers who continue to advertise their maximum broadband speeds, even though many users do not get them.

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Bandwith Problems Solved by Space

A small spacecraft system manufacturer has announced that they plan to put 78 small satellites into orbit to carry the internet.

Microsat Systems Canada Inc (MSCI) have called the project "CommStellation", and plan to deploy the system from 2014-2015. It will require six rockets to take the platforms to an altitude of 1,000km.  From there, the network will act as backhaul, linking the traffic of local telecoms and internet service providers to the global fibre infrastructure.

It seems that there is a new wave of manufacturers recognising the fact that space may offer a simple solution to the bandwith problem facing the world. 

David Cooper, President and CEO of MSCI, said that “There are immense backhaul shortages now and it's going to get worse”

CommStellation is planning something very similar to O3b, which is planning a constellation of eight internet backhaul satellites in a medium-Earth orbit (8,000km) around the equator. This system is also expected to start to roll out in the middle of the decade.  However, CommStellation would be very much lower in the sky than O3b and would circle the Earth via the poles.

Read more on O3b:

http://adodolive.blogspot.com/2010/11/broadband-satellite-launches-in-5432.html

http://adodolive.blogspot.com/2010/11/satellite-broadband-update_30.html