Britain not wired enough to handle the Olympics’ demand for Internet access
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Planning for an Olympics is hard. You have to have places for the athletes to stay, figure out where the Equestrian events will happen, lots of details. And apparently when it comes to Internet access, preparations are not going well. The British government is now issuing documents warning businesses that the country’s infrastructure may not be able to handle the demand about to be placed on it and is urging businesses to consider shifting workers’ schedules to kind of even out the demand for access.
Quoth the Guardian:
The document, shared with government departments, states: “It is possible that internet services may be slower during the Games or, in very severe cases, there may be dropouts due to an increased number of people accessing the internet.”
The document says that internet service providers “may introduce data caps during peak times to try to spread the loading and give a more equal service to their entire customer base”, leading to concerns that major corporations or those in areas of high usage could experience problems.
On a personal note, I would like to applaud the Guardian’s use of the lower case for the word internet. Because really. It’s time.
Britain’s games are certainly likely to be the YouTubiest ever, with lots of people in Britain and all over the world leaning on video being pushed like a pig through a pipe over data networks. It’ll be a right bloody mess. Guv’nor.
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