Global increase in internet traffic calls for faster
commercial internet speed
Since the world's governments have implemented stay-at-home
and lockdown measures as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a
significant increase of internet traffic, which has strained global internet
infrastructures.
According to The Independent, European governments began to implement measures
this past March in order to cope with
increased internet traffic, forcing streaming services such as Netflix and
YouTube to reduce viewing quality. As more people are encouraged to stay at
home in order to contain the spread of the virus, there is a demand for an
improvement in bandwidth and internet speeds.
Recently, research in Australia, compiling the efforts of
teams in Monash, Swinburne, and RMIT Universities, recorded the fastest
internet speed known to man at 44.2 terabits per second. This newly achieved
speed allows for the download of 1000 HD movies in under a second. The
researchers achieved this new technology by developing a "micro-comb" chip that
transferred data across the communications infrastructure of Melbourne.
In an interview with The Independent, Bill Corcoran
from Monash University stated that there is a global race towards the
commercialization of technological devices like this that would make ultra-fast
internet speeds available to the public. Corcoran also stated that it would
take another five years before this technology is available for
commercialization.
The micro-comb chip innovation would allow governments and
internet streaming corporations to navigate and come up with solutions to
tackle the negative effects of the rising global demand for the internet.
Currently, Singapore holds the fastest internet speed
available to the public around the globe, at 197.3 megabits per second (Mbps). As
a basis of comparison, TechRepublic.com reports that the average U.S.
internet speed clocks in at just 50 Mbps. However, internet users in Bayside,
New York—with the fastest internet in the country—can happily download data at
as much as 100 Mbps. On the other hand, Ville Platte, Louisiana, ranked number
5 for slowest speeds in the country, at an average of only 8 Mbps.
