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?
1 Answer
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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1FYI 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.– kobaltzDec 11, 2012 at 2:50