Disclaimer

The content of this blog is my personal opinion only. Although I am an employee - currently of Nvidia, in the past of other companies such as Iagination Technologies, MIPS, Intellectual Ventures, Intel, AMD, Motorola, and Gould - I reveal this only so that the reader may account for any possible bias I may have towards my employer's products. The statements I make here in no way represent my employer's position, nor am I authorized to speak on behalf of my employer. In fact, this posting may not even represent my personal opinion, since occasionally I play devil's advocate.

See http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcxddbtr_23cg5thdfj for photo credits.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Implications of paying for data transfers at home

More and more broadband providers are starting to set limits on bandwidth available to home broadband users, and/or to charge for "excessive" bandwidth use.

This will impacting folks who download movies.

But it may also impact folks like me,who don't download movies, but who do work at home. My biggest bandwidth usages are:?

a) downloading software to install on my work PC

This includes both open source software like Open Office or Cygwin, as well as company provided software. I often do such downloads overnight, at home, instead of at work, so as not tio impact work time.

b) backing up my lapop PC - company provided backup software that mainly, again, runs overnight, typically when I am at home.

c) installing software updates, bug patches, etc.

Again, stuff pushed to me by IT.

If I run into such bandwidth limitations at home, how will it impact productivity at work?

This is another nail in the coffin

a) of the "free ride" companies have been getting on home broadband

b) of laptop PCs - if my work PC were a desktop at work, it could use company bandwidth

c) of PCs overall - keep the high bandwidth stuff on a centralized server.

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