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I work at a smaller international airport and recently the airport authorities are claiming that the network bandwidth is being maxed out due to employees (no more than say 7 personal computers at any given time) watching netflix, hulu, or youtube. The airport currently has a T1 connection. I don't know enough about it but would netflix or hulu be capable of maxing out bandwidth on a T1 line?

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Easily. In fact, a T1 is barely adequate for a single person to watch live streaming video. With everything being HD these days, watching Hulu or Netflix over a T1 is painful even if you're the only person using it.

Hulu's requirements say "In addition, you will need a broadband internet connection. We recommend a downstream bandwidth of at least 1.5 Mbps for a smooth playback experience." A T1 is about 1.5 Mbps.

Netflix's requirements say "1.5 Megabits per second - Recommended broadband connection speed. 3.0 Megabits per second - Recommended for DVD quality. 5.0 Megabits per second - Recommended for HD quality". So even a single user couldn't get DVD or HD quality over a T1.

Youtube videos typically only stream at about 1Mbps or less. So a single Youtube video can easily take 2/3 of a T1. If you specifically select a high quality, it can be more.

T1s are not suitable for streaming video.

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    FYI Aaron, The difference with a T1 and a normal DSL/Cable is that the the downstream/upstream are both a dedicated 1.5 Mbps. ie, you can have someone downloading at 1.5Mbps and uploading at 1.5Mbps. This is different from normal connections where downloading affects the upload speeds.
    – kobaltz
    Dec 11, 2012 at 2:50

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