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Tired of slow internet connections? CableLabs announces a new version of DOCSIS 3.1 (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) with Full Duplex 10Gbps connectivity. From an article at The Register:
Which is why an announcement by the cable industry's research and development arm, CableLabs, this week is such good news. The organization has completed work on an upgrade to the next-generation DOCSIS 3.1 spec that in the next few years will replace the "M" in Mbps with a "G" for gigabit.
DOCSIS 3.1 is the cutting edge of home cable technology, and big players such as Comcast in the US are testing it in specific markets with a new generation of modems. That testing and rollout of near-gigabit broadband in the US, UK, Canada and beyond has been somewhat marred, though, by the fact that high-speed DOCSIS 3.1 home gateways powered by Intel Puma chips suffer from annoying latency jittering under certain conditions, and can be trivially knocked offline by attackers. No fixes are available.
Those hardware problems aside, the DOCSIS 3.1 spec has another issue: it sticks to the age-old sucky 10-to-1 downlink-uplink ratio.
No longer with the Full Duplex Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification. Full Duplex DOCSIS 3.1 will allow broadband subscribers – in the next two years – to benefit from up to 10Gbps both up and down. And it will be possible on existing household connections rather than requiring the installation of new fiber.
[...] You can find out more about Full Duplex DOCSIS 3.1 on the CableLabs website.
So, you could reach your monthly 1 TB data cap allowance in just under 3 hours, assuming, of course that the upstream link is not so oversubscribed that you only actually get a fraction of that.
All kidding aside, that is a huge speed improvement. A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that a 100GB BDXL Blu-ray disk could be downloaded in about 2 minutes. As the connection is full-duplex, it could be uploaded in about 2 minutes, too.
I can't even think of anything where that kind of speed would be useful in a home, except for making for speedier downloads of game/OS updates/installs and maybe for offsite backups.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Monday October 16 2017, @09:05PM (6 children)
While 10GB/s is, perhaps, a bit excessive for residential use, the real benefit is the full-duplex bit. If I can host my own content in a secure manner (of which there are many ways and many use cases) with the additional upload bandwidth, the cloud (i.e., someone else's servers) becomes much less attractive.
Not just from a storage perspective, but from a freedom perspective. I can securely encrypt information and don't need to worry about middlemen holding encryption keys. I can host the content that *I* want without a bunch of ethically-challenged advertising whores spying on my every keystroke.
When we have enough bandwidth (preferably symmetrical) we can host our own content with those of our choosing without the spying, sucking up personal data wholesale on "social networks" and other unwholesome activities.
When I have the bandwidth (and no abusive TOS), with which to directly and securely communicate with others, with no gatekeeper or middleman, my liberty (and those I communicate with as well) is increased.
Sure, a lot of people don't know or care that being bent over in this way. Personally, I'm sick of it.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 16 2017, @09:21PM (2 children)
What about it? Have you ever had it?
(speaking for myself, I'm paying my ISP $10/mo for dedicated IPv4 address and the contract doesn't stop me to host whatever server I want. Problem is... except for a period of 6 months some years ago, I don't really need it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday October 16 2017, @11:45PM (1 child)
I have multiple *free* IPv4 addresses and my ISP doesn't care that I run all manner of servers too. And that's great. For what it is.
The rub is that my upload bandwidth is small, so I can't share (securely or otherwise) much, whether it's photos from a family wedding, medical information or video from a company softball team. it's just too slow
Without reasonable upload bandwidth at a reasonable cost, we're incented to use systems that interpose themselves between those who create, share and/or communicate.
Those who control such systems are, at best, using that position to make money by spying on people. At worst, they're actively seeking control as well as profit by deciding *what* you see and read, and in which order. The truth is likely somewhere in between.
Some folks have created tools and other software to create decentralized ways to replace those systems but they failed to garner much interest, largely because the slow upload capacity (whether limited by bandwidth or TOS) for most users makes it impractical.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 16 2017, @11:50PM
I'd wish I could retract my comment, but I can't. The best I can do is to apologize for it (and offer a link to an updated one [soylentnews.org]).
Yes, indeed, the liberty to host your own server should be derived and be defended by net neutrality (assuming such a thing still exists).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by nobu_the_bard on Monday October 16 2017, @09:25PM (2 children)
You can purchase business lines with higher upload speeds and host stuff at home/work.
Personally I don't recommend it though for your purposes; it's more prone to problems than data center connections, bandwidth issues aside. Your content goes down if metal thieves decide to attack your lines outside or whatever. By hosting stuff on your home setup you also get stuck with all of the hassles; DDoS, botnet probes, etc, all happening on the same line you use for your internet access. You could just rent a rack at a data center (a real one, not a virtual instance with a web interface) and host your own "cloud".
I see your point but don't think it is a good strategy for anything you intend to host with any level of seriousness, whatever the bandwidth. If you just want to throw up stuff for your friends/family/co-conspirators/etc and use tunnels or something to restrict access though .... hmm...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 16 2017, @10:12PM
It's cheaper, though, and you have better security. I'm going to buy a high bandwidth home internet connection anyway, and I have a Linux desktop PC anyway. So I slap two extra hard drives into the PC and an extra 16GB of RAM, and now it runs my own instance of the open source Sandstorm software 24/7 (broadly similar to OwnCloud but arguably much better) while I can still play the occasional game, surf the web, watch movies, and so forth. Total cost is $300 for the two extra drives, SATA cables, and RAM and maybe $13 per month for the higher bandwidth connection. I can also run some Linux ISO torrents 24/7 (I don't pirate... not that I expect anyone to believe me) and maybe a node for Yacy or GNU Social or similar.
How much would I have to spend to get an equivalent server from some other server provider? And while law enforcement issues can get a warrant to seize my servers, it's unlikely to happen unless they have a good cause. Compare that to hosting at some colocation center, where overly broad warrants can allow an agency to sift through your data because someone else once shared torrents of Scary Movie 4 from the same virtualization host.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Tuesday October 17 2017, @12:16AM
I am aware. But that's not the point.
The point is not whether *I* have decent upload bandwidth, but that synchronous (and *fast*) bandwidth can decentralize and get us away from the "cloud" and centralized communications hubs.
My purposes aren't what you think they are. I'm interested in replacing the spies and advertising executives with secure, easy to use, peer-to-peer communications That will require both quality, easy-to-use software and a credible federation system.
It also requires wide usage. As such, it's not my upload bandwidth that's at issue, it's *everyone's*.
At least WRT this discussion, I'm thinking a little bigger. I want to be a participant in an environment that allows me to control and share my stuff in a secure fashion without intermediaries. As long as there are middlemen, they have control, for whatever purpose.
Unless large numbers of people are able to securely share (i.e., with significant upload bandwidth), that will be a complete non-starter.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr