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Re: Regional differences in P2P

  • From: Mikael Abrahamsson
  • Date: Thu Jul 15 05:27:32 2004

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004, Sean Donelan wrote:

> Apparently CacheLogic based most of their conclusions on data collected
> from a European "tier 1" ISP.  However, another study by Sandvine found
> regional differences in file sharing networks.  Europe and the US don't
> have the same file sharing patterns, or even popular file sharing
> programs.

I would also like to add that over here Direct Connect is quite common 
among the more organized and hard-core file swappers, while the 
really-hardcore guys of course are still using private ftp servers.

With proliferation of 10 meg ethernet (full duplex) connections for 
residential use in (especially) northern europe and in asia, users are 
more likely to serve content to other users around the world.

I have made some studies regarding the bandwidth usage pattern between
equal size populations where the difference is if they have ADSL 8M/800k
or if they have 10M/10M. The amount of data served is 1/3rd on ADSL
compared to the symmetric ethernet population, and as a population they
serve out more content than they download (approx twice the amount) on
ethernet. The ADSL population peak at approx twice the bw as they serve,
but on average they serve a little less than they download.

Hmm, the above wasn't very clear, but here it goes in another format:

Ethernet:

Peak almost twice upload as download.
Average is 2.5-3 times more upload than download.

ADSL 8M/800k:

Peak twice the amount download as upload
Average is 1.3-1.5 more download than upload
Upload bw usage is almost flat over time
Download bw peak is approx double the average level.

My interpretation of this is that p2p networks are quite intelligent in 
using the available bandwidth, and that Copyright holders only solution is 
a "content crunch" due to providers limiting their users upload potential 
due to heavy usage, such as capping the amount of bandwidth allowed per 
month or alike.

-- 
Mikael Abrahamsson    email: [email protected]