Multicasting solves bandwidth issues

Bandwith hungry applications such as high quality live video streaming are likely to congest the broadband internet still further - a point picked up in the last post.

Perhaps the ISPs see a charging model here but if they enabled multicasting on their networks this issue would be removed with the flick of a switch (or configuration of some routers and switches).

Outside of Global-MIX and INUK very few people are looking at multicasting but the reason for this is that it requires the ISPs to implement it - BT, in particular, given the control they have over the UK's internet backbone. However in the same way that BT ran a "stalingrad" defence to LLU they seem equally stubborn about multicast.

Whichever Government "leads" the country after the next election could give Broadband Britain a big boost by driving a multicast strategy across the UK internet and freeing up bandwidth for all.