In the communications connectivity business, mobile or fixed, “more bandwidth” is an unchallenged good. And, to be sure, higher speeds have enabled new applications.
But it might also be fair to argue that, beyond a certain point, “more bandwidth” supplied to consumer users of mobile apps and devices has reached something of a point of diminishing returns.
As a test, I have spent months on a fixed network connection that rarely exceeds 70 Mbps in the downstream and perhaps 7 Mbps in the upstream.
Do I experience the difference between the symmetrical gigabit connection I am used to? Yes. But has my work or other use cases been unpleasant or unworkable? No.
And even if I detect some difference when on a PC, do I experience any difference on my mobiles when connected to Wi-Fi? Not really.
That has been a shocking realization.
Don’t get me wrong. I still favor higher speeds and more bandwidth. As time goes by, the cost to supply higher capacity is no greater than supplying less bandwidth once did.
If one’s network is built to supply symmetrical 5 Gbps, then supplying lower speeds does not really cost much, if anything. The shock has been that the usefulness of today’s networks is so high that even limited bandwidth supplies high value, and does not seemingly impair the “typical” user experience.
The caveat, of course, is that I have no need to continually upload large files, and as part of the test, have made sure there is only a single user on the test account, and have typically connected only two devices simultaneously, typically using only one device actively.
For starters, mobile applications are designed to work efficiently even on sub-optimal network conditions (using data compression, caching, and low-resolution defaults), so absolute “highest capacity” network access is less important.
And though data delivery matters, it often is the device’s processing speed that matters more, in terms of supplying a satisfying user experience.
At a certain point (often cited around 10-20 Mbps for high-quality video streaming), human perception limits the value of ever-increasing speed.
Once a webpage loads in under a second or a video streams instantly, a further increase from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps offers little discernible benefit to the typical user for those common tasks.
My point is that it is shocking how good access networks now are; how optimized the apps are and how fast the latest devices actually process.
It has changed my evaluation of value-price relationships for access networks, both fixed and mobile. I still prefer gigabit networks. On the other hand, I am well aware that in many instances, all that bandwidth is unnecessary.
So different value-price decisions are rational. Higher speeds remain “nice to have.” But beyond a (to me) shockingly low point, higher speeds are not necessary.
That is quite a shift from the days when I used to pay $300 a month for a 512 kbps connection, and thought that was money well spent. But apps did not use video; streaming music was likewise unavailable; real-time apps were few and far between and devices were much more limited in terms of onboard processing.
