4 ms·

This analysis is flawed in that it equates size of traffic with individual user actions. Of course YouTube or another video heavy site like FB is going to domin

This analysis is flawed in that it equates size of traffic with individual user actions. Of course YouTube or another video heavy site like FB is going to dominate when only size is considered. A better metric would be a measurement of user initiated actions. Now sure how to pull that off, but it would be a more accurate measure of how the net is changing.

throwawayReply 9y ago
That's reasonably captured by the "upstream" table which isn't as weighted by large content. Besides, the direction and relative values show clear and growing dominance.
inglor 9y ago
There are a lot of other video content websites that aren't YouTube and are struggling to compete with the large players like YouTube and Netflix that can put a box in every ISP in the world.
- King_of_Tech 9y ago
  I agree the popularity of YouTube and Netflix won't let other video websites Grow
- inglor 9y ago
  Seeing this got more attention than I assumed - at Peer5 (YC W2017) we attack this by doing distributed video delivery. It's very challenging to figure out how to do this in a way that benefits users and improves user experience - we are very careful about being fair to users on mobile connections - but I think that a distributed web platform is the future and the only way we can combat the (lack of) net neutrality.
  - BatFastard 9y ago
    Just wait for the next season of Silicon Valley to solve it! We already have a distributed internet, just not as distributed as we had hoped for from a censorship perspective.
uberswe 9y ago
Agreed, I wonder how many youtube videos are embedded as well. Bandwidth is expensive and many let youtube host the video for free instead of paying to host it themselves which is why it is no surprise that Youtube tops the list.
- loup-vaillant 9y ago
  > Bandwidth is expensive This is easily solved by switching to peer to peer protocols, which would work like a charm if our providers did the sensible thing and gave us a symmetric bandwidth to begin with.
  - Eridrus 9y ago
    P2P/Mesh protocols are less desirable when many nodes are running on battery.
    - loup-vaillant 9y ago
      I was talking about using Bittorent to distribute videos. I was also talking about the ADSL tragedy. We should have had SDSL from the beginning. (And yes, the corresponding decrease in raw download rate would have been worth it).
      - digi_owl 9y ago
        DSL had nothing to do with it, pervasive NATs on the other hand...
        loup-vaillant 9y ago
        How do you think pervative NATs were enabled in the first place? First came dial-up modems. Can't have a server with those without monopolising the phone. Then came the DSL. Providers noticed that nobody has a server, and deduced in their immense commercial wisdom that they didn't want a server. So they made the DSL Asymmetric. Now people could have a server, but the upload was so terrible it wasn't worth it. Conclusion: the ISPs were right: nobody wants a server. There was this P2P fluke, but the copyright lobby kindly explained this was only used for illegal stuff. Everything's mostly back in order now. Anyway, now we've established nobody needs nor wants a server, we can put NATs everywhere and nobody will notice. --- DSL was the first avoidable mishap in a long string of centralisation trends.
coldtea 9y ago
>Of course YouTube or another video heavy site like FB is going to dominate when only size is considered. That would be flawed if individual sites couldn't also host videos -- or if we didn't care whether they do.
- BatFastard 9y ago
  It's the video itself that throws off the statistics. In that is it hundreds of times more bandwidth intensive that text traffic is. Of course others can host the video, but how many people actually DO that? Its easier and cheaper just to upload it to YouTube and put a link on your site.
pavement 9y ago
a measurement of user initiated actions how to pull that off Sounds like a horrible idea to enable such behavior. It’s a quick window into bandwidth throttling, for any number of reasons. Traffic is traffic, and it’s no one’s business whether I’m watching a video, clicking a button, issuing shell commands, or typing a reply to a message. No thank you, to the idea of changing protocols, or forcing people onto the application layer, in furtherance of analyzing our already-over-analyzed activities with an electron microscope.

throwawayReply 9y ago

That's reasonably captured by the "upstream" table which isn't as weighted by large content. Besides, the direction and relative values show clear and growing dominance.

inglor 9y ago

There are a lot of other video content websites that aren't YouTube and are struggling to compete with the large players like YouTube and Netflix that can put a box in every ISP in the world.

King_of_Tech 9y ago
I agree the popularity of YouTube and Netflix won't let other video websites Grow
inglor 9y ago
Seeing this got more attention than I assumed - at Peer5 (YC W2017) we attack this by doing distributed video delivery. It's very challenging to figure out how to do this in a way that benefits users and improves user experience - we are very careful about being fair to users on mobile connections - but I think that a distributed web platform is the future and the only way we can combat the (lack of) net neutrality.
- BatFastard 9y ago
  Just wait for the next season of Silicon Valley to solve it! We already have a distributed internet, just not as distributed as we had hoped for from a censorship perspective.

uberswe 9y ago

Agreed, I wonder how many youtube videos are embedded as well. Bandwidth is expensive and many let youtube host the video for free instead of paying to host it themselves which is why it is no surprise that Youtube tops the list.

loup-vaillant 9y ago
> Bandwidth is expensive This is easily solved by switching to peer to peer protocols, which would work like a charm if our providers did the sensible thing and gave us a symmetric bandwidth to begin with.
- Eridrus 9y ago
  P2P/Mesh protocols are less desirable when many nodes are running on battery.
  - loup-vaillant 9y ago
    I was talking about using Bittorent to distribute videos. I was also talking about the ADSL tragedy. We should have had SDSL from the beginning. (And yes, the corresponding decrease in raw download rate would have been worth it).
    - digi_owl 9y ago
      DSL had nothing to do with it, pervasive NATs on the other hand...
      - loup-vaillant 9y ago
        How do you think pervative NATs were enabled in the first place? First came dial-up modems. Can't have a server with those without monopolising the phone. Then came the DSL. Providers noticed that nobody has a server, and deduced in their immense commercial wisdom that they didn't want a server. So they made the DSL Asymmetric. Now people could have a server, but the upload was so terrible it wasn't worth it. Conclusion: the ISPs were right: nobody wants a server. There was this P2P fluke, but the copyright lobby kindly explained this was only used for illegal stuff. Everything's mostly back in order now. Anyway, now we've established nobody needs nor wants a server, we can put NATs everywhere and nobody will notice. --- DSL was the first avoidable mishap in a long string of centralisation trends.

coldtea 9y ago

>Of course YouTube or another video heavy site like FB is going to dominate when only size is considered. That would be flawed if individual sites couldn't also host videos -- or if we didn't care whether they do.

BatFastard 9y ago
It's the video itself that throws off the statistics. In that is it hundreds of times more bandwidth intensive that text traffic is. Of course others can host the video, but how many people actually DO that? Its easier and cheaper just to upload it to YouTube and put a link on your site.

pavement 9y ago

a measurement of user initiated actions how to pull that off Sounds like a horrible idea to enable such behavior. It’s a quick window into bandwidth throttling, for any number of reasons. Traffic is traffic, and it’s no one’s business whether I’m watching a video, clicking a button, issuing shell commands, or typing a reply to a message. No thank you, to the idea of changing protocols, or forcing people onto the application layer, in furtherance of analyzing our already-over-analyzed activities with an electron microscope.