One dirty little secret is that most phone calls and videoconferences ram their way past data transmissions by using a bully of a communications method called UDP. Unlike the more polite Transmission Control Protocol, TCP, which drops back when it detects congestion, UDP continues at full speed, elbowing ahead of TCP traffic.
Sigh, I guess you need to have part of your network shut down by the above-described effect to appreciate just how unusually accurate a portrayal that description is.
Its a good thing none of these journalist used the train, telegraph, or telephone systems when they were growing at these extact same rates, or we wouldn't have trains or telephones today. A little research into the growth of the telephone network reveals very similar patterns.
What research into the growth of telephone, telegraph, and train systems immediately reveals is usage-based pricing generating revenue to pay for the infrastructure to handle the growing traffic. At the net's edges a large portion of use is purchased with usage-based pricing right now, where usage is measured by connect time for dialup users and by data transfer for servers.
Clue seems to be a conserved quanitity in the universe, such that as the net gets lager the clue-denisty gets lower, thus causing most of the problems we see today.
The people with a clue are those who can tell the difference between predicting the death of the net and predicting the end of the free lunch. -- Dick St.Peters, Gatekeeper, Pearly Gateway, Ballston Spa, NY stpeters@NetHeaven.com Owner, NetHeaven 518-885-1295/800-910-6671 Albany/Saratoga/Glens Falls/North Creek/Lake Placid/Blue Mountain Lake First Internet service based in the 518 area code