You’ll Need 165Mbps Internet in Just 6 Years, Study Finds

Google Fiber is an Incredible Consumer Internet Service — Currently the Best, by Far — but, as the Rest of the Country Routinely Laments, it’s Barely Available Anywhere. The Service Doesn’t Seem to Roll Out to New Areas Quickly Enough and that’s a Terrible Shame, because a New Study suggests that, your Puny $50 per Month 30Mbps Speed Offered by your Basically-a-Monopoly ISP, Isn’t Going to Cut it in just 6 Years. You’ll Need over 5 Times the Speed by 2020. We’re All Doomed. Conducted by NL Kabal and Cable Europe, the Study States that, the Sufficient Provisioned Speeds for 2013 — Basically the Speeds you Need to Get by Without a Headache — were 15.3Mbps Down and 1.6Mbps Up. That’s More or Less What Even the Most Money-Grubbing ISP Monopolies Offer. However, by 2020, the Study Found that, those “Required” Speeds will Jump to a Staggering 165Mbps Down and 20Mbps Up. Considering it Feels Like we’ve been Stuck at our 30Mbps Down and 5Mbps Up Time Warner-Comcast Plan for Years, we’re All Likely Boned.


The Actual Data to Arrive at the Estimation, which the News Release Doesn’t Seem to Show, Cites the Growth of an Average User’s Data Consumption — a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 40.3% Down and 43.9% Up. By 2020, the Study Predicts, the Average Household will Require 8GB of Down Data per Day and 3GB of Up. To Compare, a Common Mobile Data Cap right now for an Entire Month is 2GB. At the Moment, Google Fiber is Barely Anywhere — Kansas City (Kansas and Missouri), Austin, Texas and Provo, Utah. That’s it and it’s been Available for a Few Years Now. As for the Service’s Expansion Plans, they’re Not too Expansive. If the NL Kabal and Cable Europe Study is Correct, our (Widely Despised) ISPs are Going to Have to Up their Ante Very Soon — and Most Customers would Tell you that, they Don’t Really Have a History in Doing that.