Cable companies facing big bandwidth crunch.

If you’re starting to become frustrated with the download speed of your cable ISP or the relatively low number of HD channels available, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Your local cable provider will soon be faced with a serious bandwidth crunch, according to a new report released by ABI Research. The problem comes from more demanding applications, including high-definition video, video on demand, online gaming, and higher-bandwidth Internet applications. The result? Big problems—like fewer HD channels and sputtering download speeds—if the industry doesn’t respond to the challenges in front of it.

Some of you know that I myself work for a cable provider based out of the Midwest. I thought this article was pretty interesting so I thought I’d link to it here with some of my thoughts.

Bandwidth really is a big subject right now; there are so many demanding applications and technology that really use the pipe beyond its full potential. Our company is in the process of launching VoIP phone service and we have definitely seen a nice spike in overall band usage now that we’re approaching a good amount of customers. I wouldn’t say that we can’t keep up but we are starting to find new ways to manage the bandwidth more efficiently so that we can offer the best quality of service possible.

This article is pretty interesting though, it shows some of the challenges that the major players in the cable industry are starting to face. If you have any interest in the technology behind bandwidth prioritization and rate shaping I would recommend taking a look.