[ NNSquad ] Re: True Cost of using BitTorrent for Distribution

[Brett Glass <nnsquad@brettglass.com>]

At 08:55 PM 3/8/2008, bj wrote:

> <http://nrkbeta.no/thoughts-on-bittorrent-distribution-for-a-public-broadcaster/>
>
> If these numbers are true, then BitTorrent is here to stay.

The true cost of using BitTorrent for distribution includes the 
cost of bandwidth which is taken from ISPs to transmit the content. 
This bandwidth is much more costly, to the ISP, than bandwidth 
which can be had at a server farm -- both because it congests local 
loop facilities and because ISPs' backbone connections and 
bandwidth are much more expensive than bandwidth at any major 
co-location facility. Thus, the lesson that can be learned from 
this Norwegian broadcaster's "experiment" is that P2P cuts the cost 
to the distributor of the content but both shifts it to the user's 
ISP and increases the cost overall. In short, it's not economically 
efficient. And if ISPs begin to pass their costs on to users it 
will cost the users substantially more than if they paid the 
broadcaster a small amount of money to run a server.

--Brett Glass