P2P Really Stresses the Upstream

Overall, peer-to-peer file sharing represents 43.5 percent of total North American consumer broadband consumption, while Web browsing represetns 27.3 percent and streaming contributes 14.8 percent of overall demand.

But those statistics conceal something far more fundamental about P2P impact on access networks.

In the upstream direction, P2P absolutely dominates. The three biggest traffic generators in the upstream direction are P2P at 75 percent of total load, tunneling at 9.9 percent and Web browsing at 9.1 percent. Entertainment, not productivity, is driving bandwidth consumption during the peak evening hours.

Web traffic and streaming videos account for 59 per cent of downstream bandwidth consumption as well, says Sandvine. The three biggest traffic generators in the downstream direction are P2P at 35.6 percent, Web browsing at 31.6 percent and streaming content at 17.9 percent.

Over time, the proportion of P2P traffic might decline as a percentage of total, as more streaming services aimed at PCs and TVs take hold. Those services will add more demand primarily in the downstream direction.